The New Mae West

By JAY COCKS

HANNIE CAULDER

Directed by BURT KENNEDY Screenplay by Z.X. JONES

Before too long--say around the fourth or fifth minute of running time --Raquel Welch is gang-raped by three desperadoes and left to die in her flaming hacienda. Things got pretty rough back there in the Old West.

As has been amply proved in the past, Miss Welch's acting ability is greatly overshadowed by her endowments. Consequently, her thrashings and grimacings while being assaulted assume an air of piquant comedy. Nothing will do after being so shamed but for Miss Welch to ride out for revenge. This presents a problem since the scoundrels have swiped the horses as well as murdered her husband. The resourceful Raquel, of course, gets both a new mount and a new man in the person of a bounty hunter named Thomas Luther Price (Robert Gulp). Price takes her to Mexico and teaches her how to shoot. Admirably, he seldom seems distracted by her wardrobe, a pair of skintight leather pants and a beat-up poncho that flies open frequently.

Miss Welch seems obsessed with becoming Mae West. Perhaps it's just that she never recovered from Myra Breckinridge, but Raquel tosses out lines like "There aren't any hard women, only soft men" that are the sort that Miss West used to dispense. She, however, had a shrewd sense of self-parody. Raquel doesn't get the joke.

Still, there are some excellent things in Hannie Cuulder. Hurt Kennedy's direction is robust, the scene about learning to shoot a pistol is superb, and the homicidal Three Stooges -- Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin (both of The Wild Bunch) and Jack Elam -- are the best bad guys around.

. Jay Cocks

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