Who knew that Jane Got a Gun was a gateway drug to a bunch of other movies with women in the central role in Westerns? After watching that movie, I found out that Hannie Caulder inspired Jane Got a Gun, and 6 Guns was an official remake, which is now in the queue. Roger Corman’s Gunslinger (1956) inspired Hannie Caulder, but is unavailable for home viewing. How far does this rabbit hole go? Guess that I am about to find out.
Hannie Caulder is very dated and not as realistic as Jane Got a Gun, but it is more rigorously focused on a goal than a relationship so I would give it extra points for committing to a woman bent on revenge than rehabilitation and reintegration into society after experiencing the worst that it has to offer. The titular character is played by Raquel Welch, who was an active part of production so her kneejerk reaction to lean on her sexiness than her acting abilities is less exploitive than relying on her strengths. It is dissonant to see promotional materials with a rape victim posing seductively with her rapists, but hey, it was the 1970s. Her nudity is played as a light-hearted joke, and she never gets a shirt, but wears a poncho with nothing underneath it for the majority of the film. You do you, but aren’t you cold?
Like most early movies depiction of rape, the viewer sees things from the rapists’ point of view instead of the victim’s, but Hannie Caulder never veers into Sam Peckinpah territory. At least they made it very clear that it was rape and not consensual. While Welch may be flirty for the majority of the film, even when she is batting away sexual harassment, she does nail a grim determination mien when faced with her enemies. Like most revenge films, we get an elaborate training sequence with the focus of the film primarily on her mentor, Tom Price, a bounty hunter who looks more like a professor played by Robert Culp in one of his best roles.
Hannie Caulder emphasizes the tragedy that a luscious woman like Welch has decided to become a man (in Tom’s words) and seek revenge rather than be a woman and leave something more behind (babies) than tombstones, but stays on course instead of trying to mitigate her intent. Her assumption of the role of gritty bounty hunter astonishingly works as she faces derelict lawmen’s displeasure with contempt at their unwillingness to administer justice and allegiance with outlaws. We only get a solid seventeen minutes of her being a badass, but it feels earned, and when she missteps, it is because she is new at this and others with more experience made the same mistakes, not because she is a weak woman. My favorite scene is when she is shopping (still no shirt), and her arm is in a sling. Not today, Satan. Not today!
By the end, I wanted more Hannie Caulder, but it was a rocky road to get there, and the movie correctly ends on a grim triumphant note-she wins, but she loses. I’m surprised that they did not make a sequel. If you dig Westerns or revenge flicks and don’t mind the dated, tonal dissonance, then definitely check it out.