Hannie Caulder is set in the American Wild West where three scumbag brother's Emmtt (Ernest Borgnine), Frank (Jack Elam) & Rusfus Clemens (Strother Martin) rob a bank & in the process kill a few people, they ride off chased by local soldiers. Eventually they find themselves at a ranch owned by Jim Caulder whom Rufus brutally kills, inside the house the three brother's find Jim's wife Hannie (Raquel Welch) & they take it in turns to beat & rape her before setting the house on fire & riding off into the distance. Hannie is left for dead but survives & by chance a bounty hunter named Thomas Luther Price (Robert Price) finds her, Hannie convinces him to show her how to shoot properly in an attempt to hunt down the Clemens brother's & take revenge by killing them...
This English production was directed by Burt Kennedy & was produced in part by Tigon films who were responsible for a slew of Anglo horror films such as Curse of the Crimsn Altar (1968), The Blood Beast Terror (1968), The Haunted House of Horror (1969), The Beast in the Cellar (1970), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), Doomwatch (1972) & Virgin Witch (1972) so this cross between an exploitation flick & a spaghetti Western on the surface seemed like a strange choice of film for Tigon to make. Anyway, the script by director Kennedy & David Haft under the odd pseudonym of Z.X. Jones is an entertaining cross between a Sergio Leone Western & I Spit on Your Grave (1978) with a touch of Monty Python style slapstick thrown there for good measure. It's a curious mixture that isn't entirely successful but at the same time provides good entertainment, it's surprisingly violent & bloody on occasion which almost seems at odds with t's Three Stooges type slapstick antics of the main villains who one moment can be nasty pieces of work & the next bumbling idiots. The character of Hannie Caulder is kept to a minimum & she barely says a word, Robert Culp's bounty hunter is a good likable character who gets most of the dialogue. The film surprised me as it killed off one of it's leading character's which you don't see too often although it's not perfect as there are pacing problem's with the middle third of it being a tad dull, you never find out who the man in black is or what his motives are along with never discovering why that gang of Mexicans attack the gun-maker & anyone who has seen Hannie Caulder will know what I'm talking about. Overall though I' say this is a neat little Western with a commendably dark exploitative edge when it's not trying to be a comedy.
Director Kennedy does a good job, unfortunately I was forced to watch a hideously grainy, scratched to buggery blown up pan and scan version which frankly looked horrible where only the opening & closing credits were letter-boxed at it's correct ratio of 2:35:1 & I can only imagine how much better the film looks presented that way throughout. Set in America & Mexico it was actually shot in Spain which would have been cheaper for a British based company like Tigon. It looks nice enough with good period detail & some decent shoot outs & action. There's some gory gunshot wounds & a fairly explicit rape which is just about graphic enough to get it's point across without slipping into pure unnecessary exploitation. For those wondering Raquel Welch does not get naked in this film at any stage.
Technically the film is fine with decent enough production values, good sets, costumes & period detail although it does use the day-for-night process on a few occasions which I never like. The acting is pretty good by a strong cast including Diana Dors & an unusual role for Christopher Lee, Welch looks nice enough but isn't much of an actress so maybe it's a good thing she doesn't have to say a lot.
Hannie Caulder is a neat rape/revenge Western that has some oddball comedy moments in it as well, it's a mixture that doesn't always work perfectly but it's entertaining all the same & definitely worth a watch preferably in it's original widescreen ratio if at all possible. Overall I liked it, what more can I say?
This English production was directed by Burt Kennedy & was produced in part by Tigon films who were responsible for a slew of Anglo horror films such as Curse of the Crimsn Altar (1968), The Blood Beast Terror (1968), The Haunted House of Horror (1969), The Beast in the Cellar (1970), Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), Doomwatch (1972) & Virgin Witch (1972) so this cross between an exploitation flick & a spaghetti Western on the surface seemed like a strange choice of film for Tigon to make. Anyway, the script by director Kennedy & David Haft under the odd pseudonym of Z.X. Jones is an entertaining cross between a Sergio Leone Western & I Spit on Your Grave (1978) with a touch of Monty Python style slapstick thrown there for good measure. It's a curious mixture that isn't entirely successful but at the same time provides good entertainment, it's surprisingly violent & bloody on occasion which almost seems at odds with t's Three Stooges type slapstick antics of the main villains who one moment can be nasty pieces of work & the next bumbling idiots. The character of Hannie Caulder is kept to a minimum & she barely says a word, Robert Culp's bounty hunter is a good likable character who gets most of the dialogue. The film surprised me as it killed off one of it's leading character's which you don't see too often although it's not perfect as there are pacing problem's with the middle third of it being a tad dull, you never find out who the man in black is or what his motives are along with never discovering why that gang of Mexicans attack the gun-maker & anyone who has seen Hannie Caulder will know what I'm talking about. Overall though I' say this is a neat little Western with a commendably dark exploitative edge when it's not trying to be a comedy.
Director Kennedy does a good job, unfortunately I was forced to watch a hideously grainy, scratched to buggery blown up pan and scan version which frankly looked horrible where only the opening & closing credits were letter-boxed at it's correct ratio of 2:35:1 & I can only imagine how much better the film looks presented that way throughout. Set in America & Mexico it was actually shot in Spain which would have been cheaper for a British based company like Tigon. It looks nice enough with good period detail & some decent shoot outs & action. There's some gory gunshot wounds & a fairly explicit rape which is just about graphic enough to get it's point across without slipping into pure unnecessary exploitation. For those wondering Raquel Welch does not get naked in this film at any stage.
Technically the film is fine with decent enough production values, good sets, costumes & period detail although it does use the day-for-night process on a few occasions which I never like. The acting is pretty good by a strong cast including Diana Dors & an unusual role for Christopher Lee, Welch looks nice enough but isn't much of an actress so maybe it's a good thing she doesn't have to say a lot.
Hannie Caulder is a neat rape/revenge Western that has some oddball comedy moments in it as well, it's a mixture that doesn't always work perfectly but it's entertaining all the same & definitely worth a watch preferably in it's original widescreen ratio if at all possible. Overall I liked it, what more can I say?