5. Hannie Caulder (1971)
On the surface there might not appear to be many similarities between Hannie Caulder and Django Unchained, but there’s proof in the mentor-type relationships that the title characters share with those men who take them in. It’s Robert Culp here, who trains the beautiful Hannie Caulder (Raquel Welch) as a gunfighter after she’s raped and beaten. Together they set out to reek revenge on three outlawed brothers who did the ill deed, the same plot point that brings Django and Dr. King Schultz together in Tarantino’s flick.
Christoph Waltz even seems to be channelling some of Culp’s mannerisms and sensibility in his own performance. Whether or not that’s an intentional detail is anybody’s guess, but Hannie Caulder is an assured, entertaining little western that blends both spaghetti western stylings with the popular “women rape revenge” movies of the 70s. Luckily, it takes the best from both genres and comes out guns blazing.