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Hannie Caulder (1971)

Pretty terrific western is outlandish, yet engrossing, satisfying and often funny (both intentionally and unintentionally). After being violently raped, widowed and left for dead by three dirty, cackling brothers, Raquel Welch learns to shoot a gun from hot-headed bounty hunter Robert Culp and hopes to seek her revenge on the mangy trio. Welch is sexy and droll as Hannie Caulder, and we are on her side from the get-go. She receives excellent support from Culp, Christopher Lee as a gunsmith and the three villains, Jack Elam, Strother Martin and Ernest Borgnine. A fairly unusual western which, until “Ms. 45” and “Sudden Impact”, pretty much stood alone in the female sharpshooter genre. A large portion of its success belongs to Ms. Welch, convincing and sympathetic while riding the vengeance trail…but always remembering, “win or lose–you lose.” Nobody won any awards for this, but it is exceptionally well done.