Celluloid Six-Guns #4 - Hannie Caulder (1971) With Sagebrush Spoilers

Hannie Caulder is an interesting hybrid, a British-made Western that incorporates elements of classic American Westerns, Spaghetti Westerns and the emerging brutal sensibilities of the Seventies. Although it has slipped into obscurity, it is a pretty good movie and well worth tracking down.

Synopsis

Emmett (Ernest Borgnine), Frank (Jack Elam) and Rufus (Strother Martin) are the Clemens brothers. They are violent scum, who are marauding their way across Northern Mexico and the Southwest US. They are also inept, showing little talent for robbing banks, or bushwhacking stagecoaches. While fleeing from a bank job, they come across a horse watering station, kill the owner and then take turns raping his wife, Hannie (Rachel Welch). The men set fire to the station and ride off, leaving her to die.

An odd poster, given that the provocatively
posed Welch is surrounded by her on-screen attackers.

Hannie survives, meets bounty hunter Thomas Price (Robert Culp) and convinces him to help her learn to use a pistol and track down her attackers. Price takes her into Mexico to meet Bailey (Christopher Lee), a master gunsmith living in a remote villa. After having a weapon made for her, Price instructs Hannie in its use, While in Mexico, she also meets The Preacher (Stephen Boyd) a mysterious gunfighter.

Returning to America, Hannie and Price cross paths with the Clemens brothers. Price is killed by Emmett. Hannie has to face the brothers on her own. She kills Frank and Rufus, before having a final showdown with Emmett in an abandoned fort. The Preacher shows up to lend a hand, but it is Hannie who kills Emmett. As credits roll, Hannie and The Preacher ride back to town with Emmett's body, where Hannie will collect the bounty on his head. The End.

Analysis

This is an odd film. Not bad; just odd. It begins like a brutal Western version of I Spit On Your Grave (1978). The assault on Hannie is graphic enough to hit the audience right in the face. We feel for Hannie as the men abuse her and leave her to die in the wilderness. Raquel Welch is pretty good in the role; however, there is a strange tonal shift. Hannie seems to recover from her attack way to quickly. And, there are a couple of scenes that are played too lightly for what has happened. This is where some of the older sensibilities of American Westerns seem to be in play. It's almost like the filmmakers said "man, this is gonna be too dark" and pulled back a bit. I don't lay this at her feet; rather, it is a function of the script

One thing that does work well is that at no point does Hannie use her "feminine wiles" to gain revenge. A lesser film would've had a Welch using her beauty to lull the Clemens into a false sense of security. Hannie does not do this. While the Clemens brothers underestimate her, that is because they are cretinous misogynists. Hannie is a straight-forward killer, one who has absorbed Price's lessons. To me, this is very empowering. It is noteworthy to have a tough, female protagonist in Western of this era. While Hannie is reliant on Price for training, she comes into her own once he is gone.

The film also benefits from Culp, who is great in his role as the experienced bounty hunter and conveys the tension between what Hannie wants - the tools to kill her attackers - and what he thinks she should do - not give into the urge for vengeance. Borgnine, Elam and Martin are also effective as the murderous Clemens clan. If there is a problem, it is that they're too well known as character actors - Borgnine in particular - to be believable as being quite so reprehensible. Finally, Christopher Lee is a welcome screen presence, as always. Although his character isn't particularly well-developed, he does have some good lines.

The film looks good, although there is nothing particularly spectacular or note-worthy about the cinematography. There are a few stand-out scenes - the opening shot of the bank robbery is seen through the barrels of Rufus's shotgun, the slow motion face-off between Price and Clemens brothers is well realized; but it is mostly workmanlike. This is not a bad thing; but don't expect the string of magnificent scenes that you'd see in a Sergio Leone or John Ford film.

Verdict

While the film has flaws - the biggest being Hannie's lack of long-term trauma from what happened to her - it is better than it's obscurity would suggest. Check it out.