Any movie with Christopher Lee as a gun-maker living on a beach in Mexico can't be all bad, to be sure. I simply wish this was better. There's some fine direction, taking into account the landscapes and the attitudes of the characters. But Raquel Welch can just barely bring the protagonist to life, and while it's always a hoot seeing dudes like Ernest Borgnine and Jack Elam and Strother Martin playing bad asses (not badasses, they're bag guys here), they're thinly written cartoon characters with one characteristic each, if that. Robert Culp probably gets the meatiest role as the bearded bounty hunter mentor (a forefather for Dr. King Schultz mayhap), though if he had been played by, say, Kris Kristofferson I might've liked the movie more. It's a decent exploitation revenge fantasy that runs out of steam just when it should get nasty and wild.
Review of Hannie Caulder
