Review of The Duellists (1977) by Ola G — 01 Jun 2008

This was Ridley Scotts debut as a film director back in 1977. From the story of Joseph Conrad we see Keith Carradine as DHubert and the always intense Harvey Keitel as the unbalanced Feraud, both officers in Napoleons army in the early 1800. Due to a simple breach of honour between these two, which needs an apology according to Feraud, several duels takes place over many years. This culminates in one final duel with pistols.

I remember this movie as quite good and intriguing, but seeing it again I can not claim I feel the same anymore. It is a stabile debut from Scott, and the setting during the Napoleon era in France is intriguing. The story is as well interesting. Nevertheless, the dialogue is very "unnatural" and a bit pretentious, the timeline is a bit too fast and I just feel there is something missing. And Carradine is not as good as Keitel, which creates a bit of an unbalance as well since they are the main characters. Still, we see what Mr. Scott has achieved since this feature. A hell of a lot! A strong three from me.