I have to be honest up front. Unless Paramount totally and completely screwed this disc up, there is no way I was going to give it a bad review. Fortunately, Paramount has made my job easy.
'Hannie Caulder' is a 1972 western starring screen goddess Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Strother Martin and Christopher Lee. With a cast like that, who needs a story. Well, you get one anyway. Borgnine, Elam and Martin are the Clemmens brothers, three sadistic, yet bumbling, outlaws. They are on the run from Mexican Federales after a botched bank robbery. Looking for food and fresh horses, they come across the Caulder homestead. They immediately gun down Mr. Caulder and then discover Mrs. Caulder (Welch). Being red-blooded American outlaws, they then proceed to repeatedly rape the woman and then burn the ranch, leaving her for dead. Hannie survives, now only wanting vengence on the men who destroyed her life. Wandering through the wilderness, Hannie meets up with bounty hunter and gunslinger extraordinaire, Thomas Luther Price (Culp). Hannie tries to convince Price to teach her to use a gun but he refuses. She follows Price and continues to try to persuade him to help her exact her revenge and he continues to resist until discovering the nature of the outlaw's actions. The pair then head for Mexico to the hacienda of a friend of Price's named Bailey (Lee), a master gunsmith. Bailey makes a custom .45 for Hannie and Price teaches her how to use it. The rest you can probably figure out, but it's fun to watch anyway.
I once considered 'Hannie Caulder' a 'guilty pleasure', a description usually applied to a film that one knows is bad but one likes anyway. After screening this new disc however, I have to reconsider that title. I think one can enjoy 'Hannie Caulder' without any guilt. Certainly not Academy AwardŽ material, it is, none the less, a competent action/western with a decent script and fairly impressive production values.
Though I count myself a fan of this film, I am also accutely aware of it's less than blockbuster status. When Paramount announced a letterboxed laser release I was not just suprised, but shocked and only hoped for a decent transfer. The transfer that Paramount has released on this new disc exceeds even my wildest dreams. The image is incredibly clear and sharp. The level of detail is as good as this format gets. While I would have expected worn and faded color from a film of this age and stature, instead, colors are mostly accurate and highly saturated with only a trace of noise. Contrast and brightness are excellent (almost perfect, in fact). The film element does have a few signs of age. An occasional scratch or speckle, but is in generally good condition. Much better than, say, 'Once Upon A Time In The West', a film that deserves this kind of transfer (and didn't quite get). 'Hannie Caulder' was shot in anamorphic Panavision and the transferred ratio trims the frame a bit at about 2.20:1. Close enough for me.
The mono soundtrack is, considering it's age, rather impressive. As you might expect, frequency response is somewhat limited, lacking any real bass but what is there is clear with good depth, particularly the better than average score. Dialog is suprisingly clear and natural sounding though I did detect the slightest bit of distortion in a few passages.
'Hannie Caulder' runs a mere 87 minutes and the disc contains 15 chapters. Of course, Paramount didn't include the trailer. The side break is well placed, coming right at the end of a music cue. Retail price is $39.95.
While I doubt that 'Hannie Caulder' will make Parmount's best seller list, I do hope it finds a new and appreciative audience. Those that do venture into these uncharted waters will find an entertaining and somewhat unusual little movie featuring an actress that I consider one of the most elegant and beautiful to ever grace the screen.
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