Hannie Caulder Revisted: Tidbits

Mining the Google news archive for Hannie Caulder resulted in tidbits that were more of the one line Hollywood trashy gossip vague variety rather than anything of any substance. Some of it left me scratching my head, such as this titillating tidbit from entertainment writer/television critic Jack O’Brian in April of 1971: “The big explosion in Spain was Raquel Welch and Bob Culp battling for real on the set of “Hannie Caulder.”

And that’s all he wrote. What?! Are we implying here that Culp and Welch went toe to toe about something? Or did somebody confuse Culp with Patrick Curtis, Welch’s husband at the time? (The two were on the outs during the filming of this movie.) Of course, do you think I could find anything more about this supposed battle royal? Of course not.

A year later, in May of ‘72, Mr. O’Brian wrote: “Raquel Welch wears just a poncho and a gun in her “Hannie Caulder” Western. Her contract lets her okay every still used.”


I then found a few mentions by the blunt and often catty Hollywood columnist Joyce Haber, who wrote in May of 1971, “There’s a scandal brewing over ‘Hannie Caulder,’ the Raquel Welch starrer recently finished in Spain. Few, if any, collected their salaries beyond the first two weeks after shooting started. Certainly not Burt Kennedy, the director, or the cast which co-starred Ernest Borgnine and Robert Culp. ‘Hannie’ is a co-production of David Haft’s Tigon and Raquel “Pat Curtis” Curtwell. But Kennedy has spoken to his lawyer.”

She then followed up on June 2, 1971 with a correction: “David Haft cables from Twickenham Studios, London, that he had nothing to do with Raquel Welch’s latest film “Hannie Caulder.” That’s the one Burt Kennedy has consulted his lawyer about for default of salary. ‘The company is not David Haft’s Tigon nor am I in any way, shape or form responsible for its activities of financial obligations. Any difficulties between that company, Patrick Curtis (Miss Welch’s estranged mate), Burt Kennedy et al, are neither related to nor concern me. I would be most appreciative if you would make this a matter of record.’ Matter recorded, Mr. Haft.”

Incidentally, I found nothing more about the salary dispute and can only assume it was resolved and everyone was paid.

Earl Wilson chimed in as well, commenting on the situation between Raquel Welch and husband Patrick Curtis. Things were not well but on April 8, 1971, Wilson reported that things had been “resolved.” I’m guessing that resolved meant they split up, which was what was reported four days later by Norma Lee Browning of the Chicago Tribune. (Welch and Curtis were divorced by January of ’72).

If the trite breathless Hollywood “news” items weren’t bad enough, reviews for ‘Hannie Caulder’ were not particularly kind or enthusiastic. “A travesty of the western genre.” “Bland Mediocrity.” One reviewer points out that the film can’t seem to make up its mind if it’s a tragedy or a comedy (which I’ll concede is a legitimate point).

Culp, however, apparently took most critics by surprise. In fact, one review put it that “Culp is a surprise also, the pleasantest one.” Another review calls Culp “personable” and says he “plays it like he did in ‘I Spy’ on TV and charms Miss Welch and the audience. “

On the other end of the spectrum, Jamie Portman of the Calgary Herald wrote on August 9, 1972, “With his greying beard, dark jacket and granny glasses, Thomas Luther looks more circuit preacher than lethal gunslinger. Look closer and you make the improbable discovery that it’s really Robert Culp hiding behind all that foliage.

“Mr. Culp appears more embarrassed than smitten by Miss Welch’s charms. Objecting to their ample display, he loans her a pair of his trousers. The trousers, unhappily, are baggy, but Miss Welch solves that problem by visiting the territory’s haberdasher and decking herself out in a pair of suede pants which, after repeated immersion in a bath-barrel, give the impression that she’s been poured into them.”

Mr. Portman later added that “Mr. Culp is stalwart in a bizarre sort of way.” Not sure exactly what he means by that…


Norman Dresser of the Toledo Blade wasn’t thrilled much with the movie at all, commenting that “Miss Welch wears a sack-like poncho throughout the movie, which hides 90 percent of her screen personality.”

And of Culp? Mr. Dresser wrote, “Also on hand, in another off-beat bit of casting, is Robert Culp as a bounty hunter who teaches Miss Welch how to shoot so she can carry out her mission. He teaches her very well, indeed.”


Stefanie Pettit of the Spokesman Review (Spokane, WA) was blunt. “Bland at best, this film has simply nothing at all to recommend it” and “if by some chance, (Welch) should become flat-chested later in life, all her talent will be gone.”

Man. As I read these reviews all I could think of was how hard these critics had to work to try an outdo each other in the snark and smarm department back then. Then I realized that nothing’s changed since.

Despite all that, I did find one redeeming piece of Hollywood gossip. This, from an uncredited column from March 12, 1971: “Bob Culp – in Spain doing it with Raquel Welch in ‘Hannie Caulder’ flying on still another trip. Got his shirts back from a local cleaning chick with something new in laundry marks – the home phone number of the senorita who did the ironing.”

Call me. I’ll press your shirts anytime…

My non-snark, non-smarm overview and screen caps of “Hannie Caulder” can be found here.

Inside Out Revisited: Tidbits

I didn’t start mining through the Google newspaper archive until I was doing research for the movie A Name for Evil and now I find myself getting lost looking back through old newspapers. (I’m a history buff anyway).  Subsequently, I’ve been digging through looking for whatever I can for whatever Robert Culp movie or TV show I’m writing about next but since I only just started doing this, movies such as Inside Out (and Hannie Caulder) missed out initially.

So, I did a little searching around and found a couple of interesting tidbits for Inside Out. The first being a note in one of Marilyn Beck’s columns from March 19, 1975, saying that Robert Culp took part in a tennis tournament in Berlin during filming of Inside Out. The tournament, held annually, was called “The Divided City Tennis Competition” and Culp’s partner was a US Consul and career CIA political officer, Merron L. Latta. Culp and Mr. Latta defeated their French opponents 9 – 6.

Another tidbit involved not Culp, but Telly Savalas, who endured tabloid garbage from the Daily Mail alleging that during filming he partied all night until 4am, didn’t remember his lines and kept his co-star (James Mason) waiting.  Savalas filed a libel suit against the Daily Mail and a year later won, to the tune of $56,700.

Mason, for his part, defended Savalas and paid him compliment in court, talking about how inexperienced people tend to put too much emphasis on learning just the lines, while actors like Savalas exercise a little more creativity with the words and dialogue.

Nowhere in any of the articles I found relating to this was there any comment or quote from Culp, who I imagine kept otherwise busy with the tennis tournament and stayed the hell out of  Savalas’s legal issue.

And, of course, I found a few reviews of the movie.  Michael Marzella, a staff writer for the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times panned the movie in February of 1976 calling it “dull” and “hollow trash.” He went further to say that after seeing the movie “any jury in the land would convict (the) actors of attempted suspense and recommend no mercy.”  For Culp specifically, he noted, “Culp smiles very nicely and usually remembers his lines.”

Ouch. Perhaps Mr. Marzella was just having a bad day?

Another reviewer, Jim Moorhead of The (St. Petersburg, FL ) Evening Independent wasn’t quite as harsh in February of ’76, but he lamented the films’ lack of a clever plot. Despite various faults he found with the movie (the lack of using actual German or Russian dialogue in the scenes involving Germans and/or Russians) he did say the film is “a diverting and amusing evening’s entertainment.”

And the last tidbit I found comes from the North Island Gazette of Port Hardy, British Columbia, where the film was screened in the 16mm format fairly early in the film’s release period (March/April, 1976) due to Warner Brothers apparently deciding not to release Inside Out in the 35mm market. This was apparently significant at the time and the Port Hardy screening was only the second such screening of the movie throughout all of British Columbia (after Vancouver). I’m not all that well versed on the technical aspects of the film world at that time, the difference between American and Canadian releases, nor do I fully understand what the difference is between the 16mm and 35mm market – other than the 16mm was usually screened much later after a film’s release, according to the article. But apparently this was a “minor coup” at the time for 16mm markets. If anyone can comment further on this, please do as I’ll admit I’m curious. The article can be read here.

And one final note, from the same Port Hardy article, while the two reviewers in Florida panned the film, Canadian film critic Michael Walsh described Inside Out as “a completely compentent caper film.” I certainly enjoyed the film and you can check out screen caps and my overview here.

A Name for the Last Taboo

Okay, this will probably bring in some interesting Google search results but I had to comment on this. Last week, Newsweek had an article about male nudity in film and how it seems to be happening more and more nowadays (and beyond film, now “showing” on stage productions and even television.) The article does mention how various A-list actors over the years have bared all in a movie, so it’s not like this is anything new but my first thought was how Robert Culp pushed that envelope himself in the movie “A Name for Evil” over 40 years ago.  What I don’t know is if it was at all noted or realized at the time. The movie technically was never finished and was edited together and released three years later to hardly any notice. It seems that, in recent memory at least, any time an actor or actress bares all in a film, it’s all over the entertainment news. (Anne Hathaway anyone?)

As cosmic timing would have it, I’ve recently completed a post for “A Name for Evil.” Look for it next week!

Get Smart – “Die Spy”

Here’s another one of those miscellaneous clips I found on YouTube back in 2008 that just fueled my growing interest in Robert Culp. This clip amused me to no end and I still get a good laugh from it when I go back and watch it. This particular episode of Get Smart was a spoof of I Spy and although Culp is not credited for this appearance, the scene is totally his.

So! Kind gentlemen and lovely ladies, it would please me to have you to watch this clip…