Review of The Duellists (1977) by Walt H — 11 Jun 2005

On style and location shots alone this movie would be a 10. By appearances it looks a lot like Barry Lyndon: though a smaller movie, the period, the era the film was made and the cinematography march to the same drummer. Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel have a series of duels through the Napoleonic period, instigated on the most trivial grounds. Carradine as a fairly civilized D'Hubert is forced by a militaristic culture to duel with Feraud (Keitel), a man with no fuse at all.

Whether you like the occasional man skewered on your screen or the sometimes tedious dialog, there's no getting around the glorious settings and period costuming of the day. This was Ridley Scott's first movie and its a wonder to see.

The DVD has a remastered DD 5.1 soundtrack that actually sent some sounds around here and there in a sensible way, although little action was scene by the subwoofer. The video is wonderful. Extras include a couple of commentaries and a fascinating Boy and Bicycle B&W short story by Scott, set in a dreary town on the English coast. The DVD gets a 9/10 and its about as good as it can be.