Hannie Caulder

1971's HANNIE CAULDER is a decent showcase for Raquel Welch, but did little to convince me of her acting skills.  It will sound cynical and misogynistic to state that she was chosen merely for her stunning beauty, but for some movie stars it's all about presence.  Robert Redford has it.  Natalie Wood had it.  They were good actors, yes, but there is something about them just being in front of a camera that inspires a type of awe.  Maybe sexual for some but I'm thinking more, I dunno, metaphysical.  Larger than mere life.  They command your attention.  

Of the handful of films I've seen with Ms. Welch, this is certainly the case.  Her striking features hypnotize, but even in long shot there's just something about her.  Here she plays the title character, a frontier wife who becomes a widow and rape victim at the hands of three silly, argumentative, bumbling, yet vicious criminals who happen to be brothers, the good for nada Clemens boys - Emmett (Ernest Borgnine), Frank (Jack Elam), and Rufus (Strother Martin).   Felons so inept that they blow up the money too when they dynamite a safe in a bank.   After they murder Hannie's husband, have their awful way with her, and burn down her house, she seeks the skills of a passerby named Thomas Price (Robert Culp), a bounty hunter who shows up for some water for his horses.

Of course, he initially refuses.  Maybe it isn't because he doesn't think she can learn how to handle a revolver.   He knows the toxicity of a vengeful soul, knows there is no way back.  Maybe he falls in love with her and vice versa.  You can probably guess how this movie turns out, but you might not get all the details.

Director Burt Kennedy solidly directs this compact Western with a fairly light hand.  I especially liked the sequences as Hannie and Thomas visit a gunsmith named Bailey (Christopher Lee) at his beachfront house in Mexico.  Some nice character building, and even a thwarted siege for the requisite shoot out quotient.  There is an awkward slow motion sequence that could've been handled better (and won't make you forget THE WILD BUNCH), but otherwise this is a dandy time.   

As the scumbag trio, Borgnine, Elam, and Martin are entertaining but enjoying their antics is troubling when you consider what louts they are. The script by "Z.X. Jones" (actually the director and David Haft), never quite reconciles these vile creatures in terms of their comedic and despicable traits.  Culp is wonderful.  And Raquel looks great and is certainly up to the physical demands of the part.  She does get to emote a bit.  And she has presence.  Maybe not Clint Eastwood level, but not too many miles off.

P.S. - Ms. Welch passed away earlier this week.  She was 82.