The Grand Duel

An outstanding Italian Western, but one that takes time to understand, and that therefore one must be patient with. Yet most Italian Westerns are like this, so there should be no surprise. Therefore, once properly viewed and comprehended, the "Grand Duel" can be seen as a classic Italian Western, and representative of the genre. It features a mysterious beginning, heroes with good and bad moral qualities, innocence, and the importance and sanctity of death. The film is right there with the other great films of its kind. Nevertheless, because "Grand Duel" has a typically difficult plot, and that one must give it time and probably multiple viewings, it is not a beginners' Italian Western.. And it is absolutely critical to watch on widescreen and unedited. A must for fans of the genre. If you are a beginner, there is no better start than Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dollars"... For a two pack here, with "Grand Duel", I might recommend Lee Van Cleef in "Death Rides a Horse", or try the film he did with Sergio Sollima: "The Big Gundown". Van Cleef was at his finest in the mid 60's to early 1970's, and indeed plays an iconic western character even more so than Clint Eastwood himself.

I've been waiting for this to come back out on Blu-ray! Arrow Video did a great job and it has a good video transfer. Plus a little collectors book comes with it!

Right off the bat, I'm going to say this is the best version of this film available. If you want to see The Grand Duel, get this version. Blue Underground did a beautiful job restoring the print to fully uncut status. That being said, they could have done a better job with the extras. All that's offered is a bunch of trailers for other BU releases and a couple commentaries. This release is about on par with some of their early releases, like Violent City. Maybe I'm just spoiled with their special editions of Django, Zombie, and Suspiria. Either way, even with the dissapointing special features, this still gets 4 stars for being a beautiful restoration!

Clint Eastwood’s squint in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy established him as superstar. But Lee Van Cleef, a prolific character actor who spent most of the ‘50s and ‘60s appearing on one TV show after another (seriously, his IMDB resume looks like a substitute teacher’s schedule), enjoyed a career resurgence just by association. After playing opposite the Man With No Name in For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Van Cleef became a hot commodity among European producers who wanted a bit of that Leone mojo…but on a budget they could afford. The Grand Duel (1972) doesn’t offer the actor much of a stretch performance-wise – his character’s clothes, dialogue and demeanor are much the same as Angel Eyes from Good, Bad & Ugly – but a nifty role reversal casts him as sage gunslinger helping an outlaw framed for murder to clear his family name. The script (by mystery specialist Ernesto Gastaldi) lifts more than a few elements from Once Upon a Time in the West including a showy dialogue-free opening sequence and a recurring flashback. But despite its Frankenstein-esque construction, the film manages to get a leg up on most other Spaghetti westerns of the era. And a lot of that is due to Van Cleef, whose hawk-like features and funereal garb give him the appearance of a particularly wise old vulture just waiting to peck your eyes out. The film allows him straddle the line between black and white in a way that’s even more convincing than Clint. And director Giancarlo Santi makes sure there and plenty of dramatic close-ups and familiar showdowns (along with some less familiar aerial acrobatics!). So why has The Grand Duel languished in relative obscurity? Well, besides an alternate title mucking things up (aka The Big Showdown) the film’s tone is inconsistent: light and jokey one minute, dead serious the next. Gastaldi’s script also tosses us right into the middle of a long-standing family feud and takes its sweet time explaining who’s who. Withholding that sort of information in a mystery is essential. In a Western it’s just plain frustrating. But The Grand Duel deserves much more appreciation. And thanks Arrow Video's new 2K restoration, it’ll finally get it. The Blu-ray easily bests any previous edition as far as looks go and heaps on a ton of extras along with an illustrated collector's booklet.

!!!!!!!!!EXCELLENT!!!!!!!!!

A gift for my husband. He is very happy!

good

I'm a spaghetti western and Lee van Cleef fan but honestly the only good thing about this movie is the song by Luis Bacalov. The quality of the DVD transfer though is excellent.

Superb spaghetti western with a great transfer by Arrow. Lee van Clef heads a great cast.

Trinità ha già fatto la sua comparsa e il genere sta ormai deviando verso il comico, ma Giancarlo Santi, già aiuto di Sergio Leone, debutta alla regia in questo suo primo e unico Western realizzando una pellicola sullo stile del maestro talmente riuscita da essere poi definita l'ultimo grande spaghetti-Western (cosa che però verrà detta anche qualche anno più tardi per KEOMA)! Infatti gli ingredienti migliori ci sono tutti dall'ottima regia, alla sempre impeccabile interpretazione di Lee Van Cleef, passando per le bellissime musiche di Bacalov (utilizzate da Tarantino in Kill Bill) senza dimenticare la sceneggiatura di Ernesto Gastaldi (che introduce anche un pizzico di giallo)...è senz'altro un titolo da possedere in collezione se si è appassionati del genere!! Edizione inglese della "Arrow" magnifica tra cui spiccano soprattutto il riversamento video eccellente con immagini ben definite e con ottima colorimetria e il comparto extra molto ricco di cui vorrei sottolineare in particolare le interviste completamente in italiano a Santi e Gastaldi che svelano numerosi retroscena sulla realizzazione del film! Abbiamo inoltre l'audio non compresso monofonico anche in lingua italiana con sottotitoli opzionali, titoli di testa e di coda originali italiani, copertina reversibile con la locandina originale dell'epoca, libricino interno con foto e descrizione del film (solamente in inglese)! Edizione da acquistare ad occhi chiusi!!

This movie deserves to be considered much more than it is and for various reasons, first of all Lee Van Cleef is at his best and perhaps this is his last great character and performance in westerns, there is a trio of villains absolutely charming and disturbing, there is an almost newcomer actor in a lead role who was living in India at that time and was given this chance as he describes in an interview included in this release, there is a director who made his debut directing a western clearly similar to those of his master Sergio Leone and there is a soundtrack that reminds me of Ennio Morricone's great western music, plus there are plenty of extras and they are all very interesting. Another great release from Arrow Video

Ottimo spaghetti western con un sempre grande Lee Van Cleef!Spedizione Amazon perfetta

Rien ne dit que ce DVD est en VO sans sous titre ni choix des langues C'est pas sérieux ce manque d'information!!!!!!!