A Few Words About A few words about...™ Hannie Caulder -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Burt Kennedy's 1971 Hannie Caulder has been a long time coming to a quality Blu-ray.

It has several favorites my quarter.

My favorite Raquel Welch film.

My favorite Robert Culp film.

And it's right up there on my list of great Kennedy projects.

It's a odd one.

A story of the old American west, produced by a British production company (owned by Ms Welch and her then husband, Patrick Curtis), with exteriors shot in Almeria, Spain. Interiors were done at Twickenham, along with post production work.

Yes, I know. You'll be thinking of the words "The miracle is accomplished. Garlands for the conquerer. Tribute for the prince. Flowers for the man."

Hannie Caulder is an extremely sparse, and compact film, especially at 85 minutes. Shot on a tiny budget, but never looking so. With a superb cast, and truly great cameos.

Part of it's success, is the overall look accomplished by DP Edward Scaife (The Dirty Dozen), whose work is gorgeous. Especially them sunsets.

It's a simple story.

Three really bad dudes, having failed in a bank robbery, end up at Hannie's home in search of fresh horses. They kill her husband, and rape her -- all three -- Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin -- playing brothers that make the Stooges look brilliant.

From then on it begins to take the shape of a film to be made three decades hence by Quentin Tarantino, when for possibly the first time, a woman takes justice into her own hands in the wonderful world of cinema.

Hannie is the latest release (along with Welles' Macbeth) from Olive's Signature Collection, and they've done it justice.

The image harvest, aside from a few niggling problems that should have been dealt with by Paramount, is top quality. It appears to be struck from an IP, the final reel of which may be defective.

Nonetheless, I don't believe there will be a single complaint, as the film stands the test of time beautifully.

For those with an interest in antique post- Civil War firearms, you'll find an interesting selection on display. Where normally, an entire western will be represented by Colt SAA, here you'll also find Remingtons, and an Adams.

If you're adding just a couple of films to your library this month, Hannie Caulder should be one of them.

It's that special!

Image - 4.75

Audio - 5

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

Highly Recommended

RAH

 

[Mark-P]

Robert, as there is no mention in your review, I guess you are unaware that this "Signature Edition" is Olive's second go-round for Hannie Caulder. They first released it in 2011 and you never reviewed that one.

 

[Robert Harris]

Robert, as there is no mention in your review, I guess you are unaware that this "Signature Edition" is Olive's second go-round for Hannie Caulder. They first released it in 2011 and you never reviewed that one.

How could I have left that out?

Terrific fillum.

 

[Robin9]

Well, I'm a bit surprised at Mr. Harris' enthusiasm for this film. I saw it when it was new and I thought the film was a pretty feeble. Maybe I should buy this disc to have a second look at the film.

 

[cadavra]

In fairness, the picture was taken away from Kennedy--presumably by Curtis and Welch--and hacked up, which would partly explain the brief running time. He used a pseudonym (Z.X. Jones) for the screenplay, though he kept his directorial credit. I saw it when it came out and it did feel like things were missing. Many years later I asked him about this and he still didn't want to talk about it, which struck me as tacit confirmation of its mutilation.

Mike S.

 

[Robin9]

In fairness, the picture was taken away from Kennedy--presumably by Curtis and Welch--and hacked up, which would partly explain the brief running time. He used a pseudonym (Z.X. Jones) for the screenplay, though he kept his directorial credit. I saw it when it came out and it did feel like things were missing. Many years later I asked him about this and he still didn't want to talk about it, which struck me as tacit confirmation of its mutilation.

Mike S.

Thank you. I didn't know any of that background stuff.

 

[ArnoldLayne]

Thank you. I didn't know any of that background stuff.

One of the extras is a fantastic interview with Sir Christopher Frayling, where you can learn this and much more! I agree with RAH, this is a fantastic film-