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Duellists, The [DVD] [1977] starring: Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, Albert Finney, Edward Fox, Cristina Raines

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Rating: - The film that launche Ridley Scott's career

This is by far my favourite movie, yet it is surprisingly little known. Natural lighting, excellent locations, realistic duelling scenes combined with great attention to detail in the period manners and uniforms create a sense of considerable authenticity. The tense relationship between the two protagonists is brilliantly portrayed by Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine, one driven by ego and the other trapped by the conventions of the period. Over the years I have purchased several copies of the Duellists to give to friends and all have agreed that it is a truly beautifully movie - hardly surprising when it is directed by Ridley Scott and produced by a young David Puttnam.

Rating: - HIGHLY STYLISED BUT SATISFYING

This was Ridley Scott's first movie and it won him an award at Cannes too ,with a great cast including Harvey keitel ,Keith carradine ,Edward fox and many more ,he had a great oppurtunity and he did not waste it for sure .
There are obvious flaws in this really glossy look at eighteenth century europe where two maniacs duel with swords and pistols in every corner of europe from Marseilles to Lubeck over a period extending to almost two decades.

Scott lights every corner and bush with a candle light or luminous mist to make this almost a romantic painting by Fragonard or Delacroix-but ultimately the 2 actors rescue him from turning the script into a stylised monstrosity-though only by a slight margin itself.

Both Carradine and Keitel are magical and underplay their parts to perfection as the enemies sworn to put honour before life,they are excessive in both their zeal and passion appropriately unlike the script which is subtle at times and very pretentious intermittently .

The Napoleonic russian debacle is very well staged and is the best part of the story as the characters behave according to logical restraints .

Women are rather appendages and treated as accessories almost like the fobs and cravats and the wigs that the menfolk wear in the glossy adventure .

Scott has an overdone visual sense which he corrected later in blade runner but this is a good debut nevertheless and is still quite an eyeful to look at with the french castles and lush country woodland visualised in every light composition possible to conceive by human mind.

USMAN KHAWAJA
- jbz7879

Rating: - A classic

Great story, acting, and direction. And to my mind the end shot, when combined with the haunting soundtrack, is the most beautiful ever to have been comitted to film - imo.

Rating: - Superior filmmaking

I watched this many years ago on BBC2 and found it a fleeting curiosity (being quite young and believing there would be more battles etc. I expected more). However, I've just watched it again (on a very big screen) and reappraised what a gem this actually is. Scott's direction is assured and each frame drips with shadow and washed out colours, like a faded painting of the era. The characters are little clichéd in places, but their motivations are interesting and their constant collisions resulting in duels are suspenseful and exciting. I watched this not long after Barry Lyndon, and must say The Duellists is a superior film.
Picture: 5 of 5
Sound: 4 of 5
Extras: 2 of 5

Rating: - Brillant cult

As a child I saw this remarkable movie on TV, and I remember thinking: WHAT am I witnessing? Like with all great art you simply can not believe what is being opened so generously before your eyes. This DVD Special Edition gives me a lot of answers to questions I never got the opportunity to ask. One thing is the lavish and extremely well-constructed film itself and the eternal questions it rises, another thing is to hear Sir Ridley Scotts wonderful commentary. Ranging from the locations chosen (and why), to useful experiences from the advertising business, to who made what and why on the set (a delayed thank-you to the original crew), to the inspiration from 19th century painters, and when to listen to your instinct in the process of filming. The Duellists, you find out, was blessed with unpredictable as well as totally planned beauty and meaning.It is also an intricate look into Scotts way of working to be able to compare the original storyboarding sketches with the actual shot from the film.
Sir Ridley Scotts first short-film, Boy and Bicycle, from the sixties, is a wonderful freewheelin' bonus, as well. And The Boy in that film is acted by his brother, later-to-be director Tony Scott!What a cameo.
All in all this Special Edition gives you the opportunity to get behind the scenes of the film, and actually feel quite close to the person and craftsman Sir Ridley Scott, looking back. He may have seemed to have become a somewhat blockbuster-fixed mastermind, but, remember, he is a visionary, a storyteller. And a highly focused artist of the finest quality. And as such: Always a head of his time.

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