Hannie Caulder

When Raquel Welch was at the height of her popularity in the late 1960s and early 70s, studios struggled to find star vehicles that took full advantage of both her looks and the sense of female empowerment she projected. One of her few such leading roles was as the title character in “Hannie Caulder,” an offbeat Western that was a relative box office disappointment when released in 1971. Since then, however, the film has rightfully grown in reputation, with Quentin Tarantino among its champions. It’s one of the better Westerns of that era and perhaps Welch’s best lead role.In “Hannie Caulder,” Welch plays the wife of a remote stagecoach station manager. Three outlaw brothers (Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, and Jack Elam) in need of fresh horses kill Welch’s husband, rape her, and burn the station down, leaving her for dead. She recovers, fashioning a poncho to wear out of a blanket that is one of the few items that survive the fire. (The image of Welch in that poncho, which she wears for the rest of the film, is one of the actress’ most iconic.) She is rescued by a bounty hunter (Robert Culp), who helps train her as a gunfighter, although he fears it will destroy her life. She also gets a specially designed pistol from a gunsmith (Christopher Lee) living in near seclusion in Mexico. Eventually, Welch and Culp go in pursuit of the three brothers.If this plot summary sounds familiar, it should. “Hannie Caulder” is essentially a reworking of a Steve McQueen Western, “Nevada Smith,” from a few years earlier, with Welch in the McQueen role. But while McQueen’s pursuit of the men who killed his wife occupied most of “Nevada Smith,” with various dramatic subplots along the way, Welch’s confrontations with the three Clemens brothers are compressed into the last 20 minutes of “Hannie Caulder.” In fact, the entire film is only a brisk 85 minutes long. Yet despite the brief running time, “Hannie Caulder” never feels rushed. Instead, writer/director Burt Kennedy has eliminated any extraneous plot elements and boiled the story down to a straightforward tale of revenge.Although Raquel Welch is top-billed here, Robert Culp shines as a bounty hunter with a conscience. Culp always came across in his films as being highly intelligent, and he patiently schools Welch in the intricacies of gunfighting (all of which come into play during her confrontation with the Clemens brothers). All the while, he tries to talk her out of revenge, not because she might get killed but because it would destroy her inside. Although Culp and Welch don’t exchange a single romantic gesture in the film, they have excellent chemistry. Christopher Lee is also effective in a change-of-pace role for him. This was his only Western, and he plays a surprisingly effective, low-key character.The only real weakness of “Hannie Caulder” is the portrayal of its villains. Burt Kennedy was a Western veteran, both as director and screenwriter, but his films usually had a lighter touch (he wrote and directed “Support Your Local Sheriff” and its sequel). Kennedy makes it very clear in the opening scene that the Clemens brothers are cold-blooded killers and rapists. But he insists on portraying them subsequently as a bumbling group of nitwits, sort of a cross between the Three Stooges and Strother Martin’s gang of bounty hunters in “The Wild Bunch.” The three manage to botch every robbery they pull, making the audience wonder how they make it to the final showdown with Welch. Martin, Elam, and Borgnine are talented comic actors, but their scenes consistently strike the wrong note. Cast Richard Boone and Lee Van Cleef in those roles, and the film would have been much stronger.Fortunately, the rest of Kennedy’s work makes up for this shortsightedness. The script does contain some better-placed comic zingers, such as when Martin tells Welch, “I hear you got real smart since we saw you last.” Welch then replies, “Funny, I didn’t hear the same thing about you.” That’s a line Clint Eastwood could well have muttered in one of his Westerns. The action scenes in “Hannie Caulder” are crisply shot, including one shootout filmed in slow motion. The big set piece occurs when a group of Mexican bandits attacks Culp and Lee at the latter’s house for reasons never disclosed, and the scene includes several good bits of business.“Hannie Caulder” was produced by Welch’s then-husband Patrick Curtis, in conjunction with a British company specializing in Hammer-style horror films (which may explain Christopher Lee). Filmed in Spain, the movie has the look of a spaghetti Western but a distinctly American feel. The filmmakers also knew what audiences wanted to see in a Raquel Welch vehicle, and they put the actress on display repeatedly in her peekaboo poncho. (Welch refused to do nude scenes, so her costuming here involved considerable strategically staged teasing.) In a good touch, Welch has to work her way up to be a stone-cold killer, but when she hits her stride, she exudes the same toughness that any male star might in a similar role. The relative weakness of the movie’s villains prevents “Hannie Caulder” from being a minor classic, but Western fans and Raquel Welch fans will definitely want to give it a look.

Raquel… well, is Raquel with brief flesh flashesSurprisingly Robert Culp’s performance was stellar.All in all an entertaining film that SHOULD be free by the way … considering it’s over 50 years old and not ever a blockbuster… perhaps a money grab playing on her recent passing? Grrr Buddy Bezos!

Rachel Welch is Hannie whose life is devastated when an outlaw gang is on the run from a bank robbery. They outlaws come up on her home and kill her husband. They violate her and burn her home down.The outlaws are played by Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, and Jack Elam. Robert Culp is a bounty hunter who teaches Hannie to use a weapon; and the rest of the movie is a revenge movie against the outlaws that did these terrible things. There is nothing graphic in this movie but it does have some old west violence. Raquel Welch died a few days ago; and this was a fairly good movie that she starred in playing the lead role of Hannie. This movie really in a 3.5 star rating with my opinion.

I have wanted to own this movie for several years, and after Raquel Welch's recent death, I could not pass up this excellent deal.

I like Raquel Welch in the few films I've seen her, notably the Musketeer films from the early and mid 1970s. I've never seen Fathom, though I did see her dino pic and 100 Rifles.The thing that strikes me most about this film is that the sound is just poor beyond belief, and we really don't get too much inter her rage at the world for being assaulted by three bandits who killed her husband. It's just not a strong revenge film for the kind of outrage her character suffers.The other thing that holds this film back is the poor film stock. The shot setups are okay, but the film imagery just isn't picking up all of the details. That, and there aren't many extras nor art direction in terms of filling the background with people, horses, carriages, and just other artifacts of the Old West that you might see in a town. It's a pretty barren film.Welch's character goes to the top level and runs into a madam, but we don't get any kind of tension or other notions of Welch's character regarding the sex industry in the Old West.It's a blank film that is done with a kind of competence, but a lack of thoroughness. In short Welch didn't kill enough desperados. There wasn't enough training. The sound, like I mentioned, is bad. The lensing is reasonable, but again the art direction has hardly anything other than the town in front of the camera. A lost opportunity to express the outrage of anyone who has been violated.Either way a better Welch western is 100 Riles, or check out Bandolero! as well. If you have the spare time then check out a copy at the library.

Raquel was one of the sexiest actresses ever. Along with a huge cast of great actors, she does one of the best revenge movies I’ve seen. The trio of villains are almost deserving of a movie all their own.

enjoyable movie

HANNIE CAULDER was an international production, with funds coming from France, Spain, Britain and the USA. The result was an extremely gimmicky spaghetti western, but one of the most entertaining films ever made. The film is loaded with gunfights, chases and cliches. Raquel Welsh looks great as the home steader who is raped and let to die by bungling bandits the Clement brothers (Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin). After enlisting the help of the bounty hunter Thomas Price (Culp) to teach her how to shoot, Hannie goes gunning for her attackers. The plot is a very conventional one that is made fresh and new by the performances of Welsh, Culp and especially Strother Martin. My main disappointment was with the disc itself. There are no extras or talent bios or even a chapter menu. Anchor Bay could have done much more.

After watching this movie on TV and not being too thrilled at the quality of the print I decided to buy it on DVD.Was sort of a good idea the print on the DVd was still not what I would call perfect ,infact the opening and closing titles are in German or Spanish.I this day and age surely it cannot be too difficult to get a decent print of a film thats not even 50 years old. Still watchable though and for the price I paid cannot quibble to much.

A good movie, the villians are fun, the main character is enjoyable to watch, in more ways than one! The movie takes it's time to flesh out her character, we actually see her train to become a gunslinger, something we don't see very often in movies today. It might feel a little dated to some, but still a very entertaining film.

A interest concept of a picture, the violence and the dialogue is a mixed combination good cast and emotive score and some memorable scenes in a odd UK production from 71 1.85.1 and French dub interesting

At last I found this excellent female revenge western , it's quite brutal for the year it was made surprisingly . My favourite Raquel film she never looked more beautiful and sexy .