"Hannah Lee: An American Primitive" was originally a 3-D movie filmed in color. However, the copy I found was so bleached out, it looked like a black & white film. And, without the 3-D glasses, the film loses a lot as well.
The casting of the lead baddie in "Hannah Lee" was very strange. After all, Macdonald Carey was a very ordinary looking guy and often played in contemporary films as well as having a very long run in soap operas. So seeing him playing a hired assassin in the old west...well, that's a bit odd to say the least.
The story begins with Bus Crow (Carey) arriving in some town and immediately you realize what an awful jerk he is. After slapping the crap out of a kid, he then enters the nearby bar and begins slapping the crap out of the adults there as well. And, he's so mean that no one is willing to stand up to him. Not surprisingly, a group of baddies who want to run everything approach Crow with a proposition...kill a few homesteaders and help drive away all the small ranchers. Considering what a sociopath Crow is, he takes the money...and killings begin. But because Crow is killing folks with a high powered rifle at a great distance, no one can prove Crow is behind the killings....but it is painfully obvious Crow is the murderer.
Because of the killings, a Marshall (John Ireland) arrives in town and he seems to be the only one sure of Crow's guilt or who is willing to stand up to him. The rest of the town is either afraid or paying him!
The inexplicable person in all this is Hannah Lee (Joanne Dru). She runs the saloon and initially hates Crow...then falls for him. Considering how he treated her like dirt and how mean his is, this just didn't make a lot of sense....especially since she is supposed to be a strong career woman.
Aside from the fun in watching Carey's over-the-top performance, there isn't a lot to make this film stand out one way or another. The ending is pretty good but everything is so obvious that there really isn't much in the way of suspense. A watchable time-passer and that's all.
