Watching Burt Kennedy's Hannie Caulder, I found myself swimming in questions. These questions included things like: Oh, Ernest Borgnine...you are Hollywood's teddy bear...so how are you so good at playing amoral, psychotic villains? Why haven't I ever watched a film with Raquel Welch before? Is Raquel Welch my new crush? And, finally, am I really enjoying a rape/revenge flick? The answers, in order, are: who knows, because I'm a moron, yes, and yes. Hannie Caulder may be a rape/revenge flick, but unlike other "classics" of the genre like I Spit on Your Grave (1978), it doesn't linger on the actual rape and doesn't outright exploit the heroine. Well, that's not true. There is one scintillating scene where Raquel Welch takes a back while wearing her pants and gives us a stunning profile of her backside. But even that didn't have any frontal nudity. This film is actually concerned about the central character and not her assault. Three outlaws named the Clemens brothers come to Hannie's homestead one day after a ruined bank job. They kill her husband, rape her, and burn her house to the ground. Afterwards, she tracks down professional bounty hunter Thomas Price (played by the magnificent Robert Culp) and makes him teach her how to be a gunfighter. From there the film follows Hannie as she picks off the brothers. Despite its sleazy premise, real artistry went into this film. Raquel Welch absolutely stunned me with her convincing performance. The film boasted a surprisingly effective soundtrack and beautiful photography of the barren Southwest. I enjoyed this film. And, uh, not just for, *ahem*, Raquel Welch's backside.
7/10
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