Hannie Caulder (1971)

The Clemens brothers (Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin) commit a robbery and stop at a way station to requisition fresh mounts and find something to eat. They wind up killing the station manager, raping his wife and torching their home.

The widow — Raquel Welch as Hannie Caulder — wraps herself in the only blanket that survived the fire, buries her husband, picks up his rifle and heads out on the vengeance trail. On the first night, she crosses paths with Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp), a bounty hunter with a dead man over his saddle.

She wants him to teach her to shoot; she offers herself as payment. He declines the payment. Reluctantly, he eventually agrees to provide the lessons, though with a grim warning — that win or lose, she’ll lose. So they head off ot Mexico where a gunmaker crafts a special six-gun just for Hannie.

Once she’s sufficiently skilled as a shootist, the pupil and the mentor head back to the states in their search for the bumbling Clemens brothers.

Review:

From the plot to the blood-letting, it’s impossible to miss the Spaghetti Western influences on this film, probably the best of the three film Westerns featuring Raquel. It’s also the sexiest, since she spends much of the early part of the film walking around in nothing but a blanket that she has to keep holding against her because of the wind.

What makes the film so successful is the performance or Robert Culp as a bounty hunter who knows his business, is certainly capable of training a gunfighter, but who also comes to care about what happens to Hannie. Christopher Lee also turned in a fine performance as the gunsmith named Bailey, who lives south of the border with his wife and a passel of children.

Less effective — and at times downright annoying — are the antics of our three villains, who are too dysfunctional to accomplish much as an outlaw band. At one point, they blow up a safe — and all the money that’s inside.

There’s also a mysterious, all-in-black stranger who follows Hannie and plays a key role in the final showdown. Opinions vary on who he’s supposed to be — just a fellow bounty hunter or, perhaps, an angel of death. Plus a nice theme song.

Directed by:
Burt Kennedy

Cast:
Raquel Welch … Hannie Caulder
Robert Culp … Thomas Luther Price
Christopher Lee … Bailey
Strother Martin … Rufus Clemens
Jack Elam … Frank Clemens
Ernest Borgnine … Emmett Clemens
Stephen Boyd … Man in black
Diana Dors … Madame

Runtime: 85 min.

Memorable lines:

Rufus: “We stoppin’ here, Em’?”
Emmett: “No, we ain’t stoppin’ here, ‘Em. We’re going to keep right on going until we find us a nice place to starve, you idiot.”

Rufus, upon entering the Caulder home and spotting Hannie: “Look what we got for supper.”

Hannie Caulder to Price: “You kill men for money?”
Price: “Do you know a better reason?”
Hannie: “I sure as hell do.”

Price: “If I was to teach you to gun, you’d then go out and get your ass blowed off.”
Hannie: “It’s my ass.”
Price: “Shame to get it shot full of holes. It as a pretty a one as I ever laid eyes on.”

Price to Hannie: “Man oughta leave something else behind him other than headstones. So should a woman.”

Price, to Hannie as she sets out on the quest for vengeance: “Win or lose, you lose. You’ll not be the same person.”

Price when the Clemens brothers arrive in town: “Frank, there’s a hundred dollars on your head. And that’s what I call inflation.”

Sheriff: “Dammit woman, you didn’t have to cut him in half, did you?”
Hannie Caulder: “Both halves match, don’t they?”

Hannie Caulder: “Hello, Rufus.”
Rufus: “I hear you got real smart since we saw you last.”
Hannie: “Funny, I didn’t hear the same thing about you.”

Rufus: “That was a good ol’ time we had back at your place. Wasn’t it?”
Hannie: “Depends on which end of the good ol’ time you were on.”

Sheriff: “You know, you’d be doing me a big favor, Miss Caulder, if you would get yourself right the hell out of my town before some innocent people get caught in your crossfire.”
Hannie: “I wonder you didn’t say the same thing to the Clements.”
Sheriff: “They weren’t bothering nobody. They were just riding around being wanted. You’re shooting the hell out of the place.”

Sheriff: “You’re a hard woman, Hannie Caulder.”
Hannie: “Like the man said, “‘They’re aren’t any hard women. Just soft men.”