Zandy's Bride is a 1974 American Western film directed by Jan Troell.
Zandy Allan (Gene Hackman) is a surly cattle rancher who sends for a mail-order bride, Hannah Lund (Liv Ullmann). Their marriage is off to a bad start as Hannah is older than advertised and Zandy is unconvinced that she can bear him the children he wants, and to make things worse, he rapes her on the first night. The two are little better than strangers sharing the same roof at first, but the spirited, tough Hannah is unafraid of demanding respect from Zandy and calling him out on his behavior. The two very slowly take a shine to each other, but Zandy's interest in another girl, Maria (Susan Tyrrell), throws a wrench into their budding relationship.
Tropes:
- Babies Ever After: The film ends with Hannah presenting Zandy with not one, but two healthy babies that she bore him.
- Bears Are Bad News: A bear attacks Zandy's cows and he has to kill it, resulting in him wrestling the bear armed with just a knife after his gun fails him. He sustains some nasty injuries because of this, though he makes a full recovery.
- Child by Rape: Hannah is afraid of getting pregnant from Zandy's rape because she believes that pregnancies from rape result in mentally challenged offspring. The rape ultimately does not result in pregnancy, though.
- Mail-Order Bride: Zandy sends for Hannah after seeing her advertising for marriage in a newspaper and the two get married the day she arrives, which is also the first time they meet.
- Marital Rape License: Zandy rapes Hannah on their first night together. They argue about it the day after, with Zandy insisting that since it was his right, it wasn't rape.
- Old Maid: Hannah is 32 instead of the 25 years old that she put down on the advertisement. Zandy is mad at this as he thinks 32 is long past prime child-bearing age, though he still marries her.
- Spiteful Spit: Zandy dunks Hannah's head in water to punish her for dolling herself up to go to a party. She spits at him in response, so he dunks her again.
