As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
I introduced TL to Hannie Caulder, a most brutal movie of rape and revenge, in the best of terms. It is directed by Burt Kennedy, a fine director, the score is perfect, the cinematography is superb.
They always say that women never had any good roles in Hollywood, but Raquel Welch was given a platform which she was stellar in, and was never rewarded for with the best performance of her life. She earned her spot as an actress and in typical Hollywood tribal fashion she was never awarded the respect.
The cast is stellar. Jack Elam, Strother Martin and Ernest Borgnine as the rapists in being pure evil. Robert Culp stars and puts in the best performance of his career, and Christopher Lee, puts in the same performance of his career.
The movie has a number of good lines in it.
You killed our brother and they don't grow brothers on trees you know.
There aren't any hard women. Just soft men.
A man ought to leave more than tombstones in life, a woman too.
And Raquel Welch is quite the pistolero in the end sequences in gun play. Hanguns do not just spin on your finger. You have to learn how to twirl them and Raquel Welch put in the time to add to her performance.
This movie is outstanding in the realities of a woman in a hostile world, in though she is told she loses for winning, it is the woman who is leading in the end.
This is not a child's movie. This is an adult movie. Raquel Welch plays vulnerable in clawing her way through and Burt Kennedy does a spectacular job in getting that performance out of Welch.
This movie teaches handgun shooting, the art of gun fighting, gunsmithing and the reality that good shots are made with practice and work, not luck.
Hannie Caulder is one of the best westerns ever filmed. The score reminds me at times of Big Jake with John Wayne, and I consider Mr. Wayne's Big Jake and Rio Lobo the best of westerns and Hannie Caulder ranks with them.
Raquel Welch is the one who pulls this off. She is acting. She acts better than Katherine Heburn or any Oscar winning actress in their high drama. She presents her emotions to full the scene, instead of emotionally wrestling with the scene as most do.
She should have gotten more respect.
Nuff Said
agtG
