Watch Hannie Caulder For Free

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

To me, this movie is perfection.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

One of the top ten Westerns of all time. Otherworldly acting by Raquel Welch. Is Racquel Welch Hannie Caulder? Or is Hannie Caulder Raquel Welch? Great supporting cast: Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin, Jack Elam, Stephen Boyd, and Christopher Lee. One of those rare movies like Casablanca or The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance that you can watch once a year, and every time it is like watching it the first time.

British Westerns were a very rare commodity indeed and few, if any, were ever box-office draws; so it was curious – to say the least – for Tigon, a company usually deemed a third-rate Hammer Horror wannabe, to want to branch out by tackling such an offbeat genre. Shrewdly, however, they did not presume to know as much about the form as the Americans; therefore, they opted to rope in much Hollywood talent for the task (abetted by few choice homegrown names).The result is interesting for a number of reasons, yet the low budget involved is betrayed by the overall unassuming nature of the piece and its rather trim duration (85 minutes). That said, the film is fashionably bloody and amoral (its trio of caricature villains – unconventionally played in broadly comic terms by Western stalwarts Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin shoot, pillage and rape their way through the proceedings with abandon and evident glee). Similarly, a scantily-clad Raquel Welch (though an American, she first came to prominence in Britain with Hammer's ONE MILLION, B.C. {1966}) in the title role could do no wrong. The rest of the cast is made up of: Robert Culp as a conscientious bounty hunter (he always gives back a fraction of the reward money to pay for the victims' funeral expenses!) who befriends the heroine and molds her – against his better judgment – into an avenging angel; a dignified Christopher Lee as a gunsmith with a Mexican wife and a brood of kids in tow (always relishing non-horror parts, this proved his only foray into the Western); Diana Dors barely registering as a brothel madam; and, uncredited, Stephen Boyd intriguingly shrouded in mystery (the finale would suggest that a sequel may have been intended where he would have taken over from Culp as Caulder's mentor, but perhaps the film was not the expected runaway success and the idea was scrapped).Director Kennedy, another genre staple, handles the narrative with customary competence – displaying an eye for wide open spaces (aided in no small measure by a stirring Ken Thorne score) but also a few welcome stylistic flourishes (notably the violation of Welch's character in which the lusty brothers seem to blend into one another as they take turns assaulting her and Borgnine's slo-mo knife throw at Culp's expense).

Raquel Welch stars as the title character in this lively, oddball Western that alternates between a serious tone and a comedic one. Ms. Welch, who looks MIGHTY fine throughout, has her life forever altered by the villainous Clemens brothers. They kill her husband, take turns raping her, then burn down her house! Hannie becomes coldly determined to exact vengeance upon them, and keeps pestering bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp) to teach her the fine art of shootin'. Eventually, he agrees.The movie has an extremely intriguing pedigree: it's produced by the British company Tigon, was shot in Spain, and was directed by American Western specialist Burt Kennedy ("The War Wagon", "Support Your Local Sheriff!"). Not only that, but it actually plays its nasty bad guys for laughs much of the time, and Ernest Borgnine (as Emmett), Jack Elam (as Frank), and Strother Martin (as Rufus) are priceless as they spend much of their time bickering with each other; Martin is particularly funny.This thing gets off to one Hell of a great start by coming up with a unique way to view a bank robbery: through the barrels of a shotgun! Superb widescreen photography (cinematography by Edward Scaife, camera-work by John Harris), beautiful scenery, and soaring music by Ken Thorne only add to the fun factor. Welch is quite easy to watch, and Culp, in one of his best ever roles, is excellent as the reluctant teacher. Diana Dors is wasted in a nothing role as a madame, but there's still great curiosity value in seeing Sir Christopher Lee here, as he plays Bailey, the kindly gunsmith who lives out in the middle of nowhere; his performance is wonderful. Look also for Aldo Sambrell, uncredited as a Mexican soldier, and Stephen Boyd, who has perhaps the most interesting role in the entire movie, as the mysterious and ultimately helpful "preacher". He utters not a word, yet has an undeniable presence.A jaunty pace and generous doses of the red stuff help to make this a solid visceral entertainment. Quotable dialogue includes the gem "There are no hard women, only soft men." Clocking in at a trim 86 minutes, "Hannie Caulder" doesn't overstay its welcome, or ever get too draggy. It's sexy, violent, and a real hoot, and one of the influences on Quentin Tarantino's pair of "Kill Bill" films.Eight out of 10.

In the third of what might be considered Raquel Welch's Western trilogy (1968's "Bandolero!," 1969's "100 Rifles" and the picture in question here, 1971's "Hannie Caulder"), we find the late-'60s' foremost sex goddess in very fine form indeed, despite the absence of bikinis, fur lined or otherwise. "Hannie Caulder" is a British picture that was filmed in Spain, though set in the American Southwest and Mexico; does its best to emulate an Italian spaghetti Western; and has as its star a woman of mixed Bolivian/Irish descent. (I will give your mind a moment to absorb this international stew while I fondly reminisce on the jolting impact that Raquel Welch had on the puberties of millions of us baby boomer boys, by dint of her appearances in such mid-'60s films as "One Million Years B.C." and "Fathom.") In the '71 picture, Raquel (as the end credits inform us) IS Hannie Caulder, the wife of a rancher, whose life takes an abrupt turn for the worse when the bumbling Clemens Brothers--Emmett, Frank and Rufus (played, respectively, by Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin)--fleeing from a botched holdup, kill her man, gang rape her, burn down her home and leave her for dead. Fortunately for the widow Caulder, she soon makes the acquaintance of Thomas Luther Price, a renowned bounty hunter (supremely well played by Robert Culp), who reluctantly teaches her the arts of shooting and the quick draw. Thus, before long, Hannie is suitably prepared to ride down the ol' vengeance trail....Though "Hannie Caulder" tells what is in essence a simple story, it is at least a compact one, with little flab. The picture is quite gorgeous to look at (and no, I'm not referring to Raquel here), with stunning scenery and color; a handsome production, to be sure, largely due, I suppose, to producer Patrick Curtis (Welch's husband at the time). The film sports a wonderful Western theme, thanks to Ken Thorne, and director Burt Kennedy (who had previously helmed such popular oaters as "The War Wagon," "Support Your Local Sheriff" and its follow-up, "Support Your Local Gunfighter," and the Frank Sinatra Western "Dirty Dingus Magee") adds some imaginative touches (I love that POV shot down a rifle's double barrel!). As for Hannie's nemeses, although the "Maltin Movie Guide" refers to the Clemens Brothers' antics as "Three Stooges"-like, I prefer the description of them to be found in the wonderful film book "DVD Delirium 3": "a malodorous triple-scoop of pond scum"! Still, without their shenanigans, this film would be virtually devoid of humor, although Moe, Larry and Curly were never as seriously nasty and violent as this trio. (The film, by the way, DOES get fairly violent at times, with lots of spurting red stuff; Peckinpah might have been pleased with it.) It must be added that although Racky's acting is just fine here, she really doesn't get to stretch her thesping abilities all that much, and her sexuality is de-emphasized behind an Eastwoodesque poncho (although her shrunk-to-fit leather breeches do look pretty hot on her). Still, the lady looks great; she'd look good in burlap sacking, of course, and still, remarkably, looks fantastic today, a full 40 years later. By default, it is Robert Culp--here three years after his three-year stint on TV's "I Spy"--as the bearded, bespectacled but supercool bounty hunter who easily walks away with the film's acting honors; he is simply terrific. Besides his always welcome presence, "Hannie Caulder" gives us a nice supporting role by Christopher Lee as an extremely talented gunsmith, as well as '50s sex goddess Diana Dors doing a cameo as a bloated bordello madame. In all, a pretty darn good Western, with a satisfying resolution. If "Bandolero!" taught us that it is not a good idea to force your "sexual favors" on a Mexican woman who is anywhere near a six-shooter, "Hannie Caulder" drives home a similar message threefold...with a vengeance!