Hannie Caulder

Hannie Caulder

Original poster
Directed by Burt Kennedy
Produced by Patrick Curtis
executive
Tony Tenser
Written by Z.X. Jones
Burt Kennedy (uncredited)
Based on characters created by Ian Quicke and Bob Richards
story by Peter Cooper
Starring Raquel Welch
Robert Culp
Ernest Borgnine
Strother Martin
Jack Elam
Christopher Lee
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • November 8, 1971 (1971-11-08)
Running time
 85 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English

Hannie Caulder is a 1971 British-made Western film. The film was directed by Burt Kennedy and starred Raquel Welch, Robert Culp and Ernest Borgnine.[1] The screenplay was rewritten by Kennedy, who wasn't credited.[2]

Plot

Hannie Caulder is a frontier wife, living with her husband at a horse station between towns in the American West.

After a disastrous bank raid, the inept Clemens Brothers gang arrive at the station. They murder Caulder's husband, gang-rape her, burn down her house, and leave her for dead. They go on a crime spree, while Caulder recruits professional bounty hunter Thomas Price to help her seek revenge by training her to be a gunfighter.

The pair travel to Mexico to have gunsmith Bailey build her a specialized revolver allowing her to become a fast draw specialist. When bandidos surround the house, a gun battle erupts, but Hannie is unable to kill a man face to face. Price recommends she give up her quest for revenge, but she refuses, telling him to get out. She was only using him and doesn't need him anymore. He leaves, telling her she's a bad liar.

As he goes, Price sees the Clemens brothers arrive in town. His attempt to take down Frank goes awry when Emmet throws a knife into Price's belly, mortally wounding him. Hannie goes after them, taking down Frank in a whorehouse. The two brothers swear revenge on her, but she also takes down Rufus in a store when he tries to kill her. She lures Emmett to an old prison for a showdown and almost meets the same fate as Price, but Emmett's attempt to throw a knife into her back is thwarted by the Preacher, who shoots it from his hand. Hannie kills Emmett face to face, but realizes that Price was right: taking revenge will change her forever.

Cast

Production

Patrick Curtis, then married to Raquel Welch, met with Tony Tenser of Tigon British Film Productions with a view to get funding for a movie starring Welch. Curtis proposed a horror movie or a Western; Tenser, who had always wanted to make a Western, picked the latter. Tigon put up 100% of the budget while Curtwel (Curtis and Welch's production company) put up their services. Neither Curtis nor Welch took a salary, instead taking profit participation. Before Hannie Caulder was released, Tigon and Curtwell co-produced The Sorcerers (1967), a horror film starring Boris Karloff. Thus, Curtis and Tenser did team up for both a western and a horror film.[3]

The movie was filmed in Spain, mostly around Almeria, beginning on 18 January 1971.[4]

Stephen Boyd has a brief, uncredited appearance as a gunfighter known simply as "The Preacher". Flamenco guitar virtuoso Paco de Lucía makes a cameo appearance as a Mexican musician.

Fast draw artist Rodd Redwing was a technical adviser to the film, working with Robert Culp. Redwing suffered a heart attack on the plane returning from the filming in Spain and died shortly after landing in Los Angeles.

Reception

The film performed well at the UK box office and was reasonably successful in the United States.

Influence

Quentin Tarantino said the film was one of his inspirations for Kill Bill. "Why I love Hannie Caulder so much is Robert Culp. He is so magnificent in that movie. I actually think there's a bit of similarity between Sonny Chiba and Uma (in Kill Bill) and Raquel Welch and Robert Culp in Hannie Caulder."[5]

References

  1. ↑ Greenspun, Roger (1971). "Hannie Caulder". The New York Times.
  2. ↑ p. 147 Joyner, C. Courtney Burt Kennedy Interview in The Westerners: Interviews with Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers McFarland
  3. ↑ John Hamilton, Beasts in the Cellar: The Exploitation Film Career of Tony Tenser, Fab Press 2005 p 194-198, 218-221
  4. ↑ Jonathan Rigby, Christopher Lee: The Authorised Screen History, Reynolds & Hearn 2001 p 143
  5. ↑ Gerald Peary, Quentin Tarantino: Interviews, Revised and Updated Univ. Press of Mississippi, 17 Oct 2013 p 119

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.