Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Hannie Caulder Blu-ray Movie Review

The bad and the beautiful.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 2, 2011

Incredibly gorgeous women may have an easier path in establishing a toe hold in the wild and wooly world of show business, but that very beauty often hobbles their attempts to either expand on or simply hold on to that very same career. Over and over sex goddesses have found themselves victims of their own image, usually to their ultimate dismay. The ranks of nubile women are littered with the tragic stories of suicide or accidental death (Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield) or, should the young sex bomb actually make it to old age, the perhaps worse fate of becoming a camp icon (Mae West). Raquel Welch was one of the last certifiable outright sex symbols whose career was buoyed by her exotic and pulchritudinous appearance. But Welch had the odd distinction of becoming a superstar just when the Women’s Liberation Movement was also taking hold, and Welch suffered the brickbats of other, perhaps less photogenic, women who claimed Welch was the ultimate symbol of everything that was wrong with the movie business, at least with regard to its depiction of women. Welch long maintained that there was an actual brain behind the beauty, and her many in person appearances and in depth interviews do reveal a surprisingly thoughtful and self-aware entertainer who is only too willing to admit her good looks got her into the business and then largely prevented her from ever exploring her “craft.” Now some may argue there simply wasn’t much inherent material in Welch from which to build a serious actress, but the odd and rather interesting early 1970’s western Hannie Caulder suggests otherwise. Though the film doesn’t shirk from Welch’s obvious physical charms, there’s an intriguing depth to her portrayal of a wild west woman who is viciously widowed and raped and then sets out for revenge. A generation or more before another sex bomb—Sharon Stone—donned a duster and a cowboy hat and depicted a tough as nails woman sharpshooter in Sam Raimi's woefully underappreciated The Quick and the Dead, Welch blazed a trail in Hannie Caulder that was distinctive and at the very least hints at the actress behind the famously curvy façade.

The western, which had long been in decline, saw a rather remarkable renaissance as the 1960’s came to a close and the 1970’s began. 1969 had seen two incredibly iconic but completely different westerns become phenomenally popular. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid invigorated the western genre with a neo-modern slant and introduced a sly sense of humor into the proceedings, while The Wild Bunch took the opposite tack and provided gruesome but spectacular violence which at the time caused an incredible public outcry. Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone had also helped to bring a new style to the western with their Man With No Name series, and they had also proven that Spain could ably fill in for the American West in terms of scenery and ambience, a location which Hannie Caulder would also exploit. There is in a fact a certain tonal similarity between Leone’s offerings and Caulder, which was directed by veteran Burt Kennedy who immediately prior to Hannie Caulder had undertaken lighter Butch Cassidy-esque fare with both the sizable flop Dirty Dingus Magee (with Frank Sinatra) and the sizable hit Support Your Local Sherriff (with James Garner). Here, though, despite some rather ill fitting comic elements, Kennedy traverses a more dramatic path, guiding Welch along into a portrayal somewhat akin to Eastwood’s strong and silent type. Hannie, like the Man With No Name, isn’t prone to verbosity and instead imparts her feelings with a steely gaze and a bullet or two.

The bulk of Hannie Caulder concerns Hannie’s attempts to become proficient enough with a firearm to exact her revenge on the trio of buffoonish thugs (Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin and Jack Elam) who have killed her husband and raped her. She first enlists a bearded bounty hunter named Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp), who is somewhat reticent to teach a woman to shoot. Ultimately, though, Price hooks Hannie up with a gunsmith named Bailey (Christopher Lee), who builds Hannie a specialized weapon, helps after which Price helps her to become an expert markswoman. Part of Hannie Caulder’s unusual allure (aside from the obvious charms of Welch, that is) is the chance to see both Culp and Lee in rather atypical roles. Both of the actors are obviously relishing the chance to play at least partially against type, and they both deliver very nicely nuanced, understated performances that help to set the tone of the film very well.

What doesn’t work about Hannie Caulder is the almost Three Stooges aspect to the clown-like Clemens Brothers, the bad guys portrayed by Borgnine, Martin and Elam. Why Kennedy and co-scenarists David Haft, Ian Quicke and Bob Richards chose to go this route is anyone’s guess, but Kennedy’s recent flirtation with the comedy western may have played into the decision, at least partially. Unfortunately in the otherwise deadly serious environment of Hannie Caulder, this comic element grates horribly and simply does not jive with the rest of the proceedings. It’s especially unsettling given the brutal rape of Hannie in the film’s opening scenes. It would be as off putting as watching one of the slow motion killing sprees in The Wild Bunch be followed by a “nyuk, nyuk, nyuk”-fest.

While perhaps not as visually astute as the Leone epics, Kennedy imbues Hannie Caulder with a nice feeling of time and place, and best of all, the film is superbly paced, despite the lamentable lapses into occasional slapstick. Though Culp and Lee undoubtedly take home the major acting honors here (with nice cameos from Stephen Boyd and former British bombshell Diana Dors), it’s instructive to see Welch attempt something other than a glamour girl role (with or without dinosaurs and/or giant platelets) and to not just survive intact, but to actually thrive. Her Hannie, while reserved (at least until she learns to shoot), is full blooded (not to mention full bodied), easily one of Welch’s best portrayals from this era of her career.

Hannie Caulder Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Don't let the dirty, overly grainy opening credits sequence of Hannie Caulder worry you too much. Once the opticals have passed, Hannie Caulder's AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1 looks amazingly good for the most part. The image, while suffering from occasional minor flicker and registration issues, is manifestly sharper and better looking than Olive Films' simultaneous Blu-ray release of the somewhat older Crack in the World. Depth of field is quite impressive throughout the film, and fine detail is well above average, especially in close-ups. Flesh tones may strike some as just a bit on the pink side at times, but otherwise color is accurate and very nicely saturated. Best of all, Olive has not scrubbed this print to within an inch of its life, so grain structure is intact, though a few minor blemishes in the print remain. There is also some moderate edge enhancement noticeable from time to time.

Hannie Caulder Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Hannie Caulder is presented with a lossless LPCM mono track which sports good fidelity, but which is somewhat hobbled by a lack of amplitude. I had to turn my receiver almost up all the way to get what I considered to be a reasonable amount of volume. Other than that issue, this is a track which has withstood the ravages of time fairly well, and which still offers some nicely robust low end, especially effective in the many shots which ring out through the film. Ken Thorne's evocative score is also well represented, and putting aside the overall volume level deficiencies, the balance between dialogue, effects and score is very good. There is one very peculiar anomaly during the closing credits sequence. It sounds as if two cues, an instrumental and a vocal, are playing simultaneously. This may have been the result of a sort of filmic coda being tacked on briefly showing the principal actors with onscreen credit, and it is no doubt endemic to the source elements, but it's very strange indeed.

Hannie Caulder Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As with Olive Films' Crack in the World, nothing to see here, move along, thank you. There is at least a main menu with chapter stops available.

Hannie Caulder Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hannie Caulder may have served as Welch's brusque response to the Women's Libbers who accused her of being nothing more than a sex object. This is a film absolutely about female empowerment, and as such it works surprisingly well. If you can get past the buffoonish antics of the putative bad guys, as well as a few other odd comedic elements shoehorned into the proceedings, the rest of this film is very well done and features an array of excellent star turns and well done cameos. Welch may not exactly be in Oscar territory here, but she's convincing and appealing, a nice combination of steel and vulnerability. This is an unusual piece all around and while this Blu-ray's audio has some issues, and there are no supplements to round out the package, overall this interesting release comes Highly recommended.