Grand Duel (1972)
Studio: Blue Underground
Theatrical Release: December 29, 1972 (Italy)
DVD Release: May 21, 2013
Director: Giancarlo Santi
R
Review by James Klein
Blue Underground does it again. They have now released a pristine, uncut DVD of Grand Duel which was released previously on blu ray by Mill Creek but had been horribly reviewed as being almost unwatchable due to its transfer. I have not seen the picture of that blu ray so I cannot comment but I can say that Blue Underground's DVD is well worth the purchase and probably worth upgrading. Oh, and how is the movie? It's a spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef, how can it be bad?
Van Cleef plays Sheriff Clayton, a cool as ice gunslinger who may or may not be retired and is now a bounty hunter. While on a stage coach traveling with others, they run into a potential gun fight in a small town. Several men seem to be waiting to kill a young man named Philipp (Alberto Dentice, his only film ever made) who may have murdered a family patriarch. For reasons unknown until the end of the film, Cleef takes it upon himself to help the young man escape but holds him hostage in the meantime. Is the sheriff going to hand Philipp over for a $3,000 ransom or is he protecting the young guy from harm's way? When the Saxon family shows up to get revenge over their father's death, the eldest son David (Horst Frank) wants to hang Philipp while trying to keep the younger siblings at bay from finding out what really happened to their father.
Like most spaghetti westerns, the film is just beautiful to look at. In stunning 2:35:1, the landscapes and mountains just make me wish I were living in the Old West (or at least wishing I was on set while they filmed the movie). Director Santi was a protégé to the great Sergio Leone, having worked with the director on The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West as assistant director. Santi has only directed two other films since, neither a western which is almost a shame given his great talent. Grand Duel just feels like a Leone film right down to using some of the same actors. Speaking of actors, Lee Van Cleef is once again a real badass. Much like Eastwood, his soft spoken and quiet remarks while looking pissed off or shockingly calm during hairy situations and violent gunfights just reeks of "cool". (Love the line "I don't talk unless I feel like it, that's one of my rules." ) How Van Cleef didn't become a bigger movie star is jaw dropping to me. This guy could hold his own against Eastwood, Norris, and Bronson any day of the week.
One thing I noticed right away was the music by Sergio Bardotti. The soundtrack sounds almost as if Ennio Morricone had been the composer. Bardotti's main theme is both catchy and beautiful. Film fans may recognize the main theme as it was played during one sequence in Kill Bill Vol. 1. The music alone plays like another character in the film; it adds so much more depth to this western/mystery.
As I said before, the picture looks astonishing and the 2.0 sound is both clear and doesn't suffer from any pops or crackles. There is an audio commentary by two journalists that provides a good backstory and history of Grand Duel as well as other spaghetti westerns. There is also a pretty beat up trailer (called The Big Showdown) as well which just goes to show you how bad this film looked before Blue Underground took a stab at releasing it.
While Grand Duel isn't the best spaghetti western ever made (there were too many comedic moments that made me think this was drifting into Terrence Hill territory), its certainly entertaining and fast paced. For fans of westerns and just good cinema all around, you won't want to miss this one.
[Rating: 3.5]
Theatrical Release: December 29, 1972 (Italy)
DVD Release: May 21, 2013
Director: Giancarlo Santi
R
Review by James Klein
Blue Underground does it again. They have now released a pristine, uncut DVD of Grand Duel which was released previously on blu ray by Mill Creek but had been horribly reviewed as being almost unwatchable due to its transfer. I have not seen the picture of that blu ray so I cannot comment but I can say that Blue Underground's DVD is well worth the purchase and probably worth upgrading. Oh, and how is the movie? It's a spaghetti western with Lee Van Cleef, how can it be bad?
Van Cleef plays Sheriff Clayton, a cool as ice gunslinger who may or may not be retired and is now a bounty hunter. While on a stage coach traveling with others, they run into a potential gun fight in a small town. Several men seem to be waiting to kill a young man named Philipp (Alberto Dentice, his only film ever made) who may have murdered a family patriarch. For reasons unknown until the end of the film, Cleef takes it upon himself to help the young man escape but holds him hostage in the meantime. Is the sheriff going to hand Philipp over for a $3,000 ransom or is he protecting the young guy from harm's way? When the Saxon family shows up to get revenge over their father's death, the eldest son David (Horst Frank) wants to hang Philipp while trying to keep the younger siblings at bay from finding out what really happened to their father.
Like most spaghetti westerns, the film is just beautiful to look at. In stunning 2:35:1, the landscapes and mountains just make me wish I were living in the Old West (or at least wishing I was on set while they filmed the movie). Director Santi was a protégé to the great Sergio Leone, having worked with the director on The Good, the Bad & the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West as assistant director. Santi has only directed two other films since, neither a western which is almost a shame given his great talent. Grand Duel just feels like a Leone film right down to using some of the same actors. Speaking of actors, Lee Van Cleef is once again a real badass. Much like Eastwood, his soft spoken and quiet remarks while looking pissed off or shockingly calm during hairy situations and violent gunfights just reeks of "cool". (Love the line "I don't talk unless I feel like it, that's one of my rules." ) How Van Cleef didn't become a bigger movie star is jaw dropping to me. This guy could hold his own against Eastwood, Norris, and Bronson any day of the week.
One thing I noticed right away was the music by Sergio Bardotti. The soundtrack sounds almost as if Ennio Morricone had been the composer. Bardotti's main theme is both catchy and beautiful. Film fans may recognize the main theme as it was played during one sequence in Kill Bill Vol. 1. The music alone plays like another character in the film; it adds so much more depth to this western/mystery.
As I said before, the picture looks astonishing and the 2.0 sound is both clear and doesn't suffer from any pops or crackles. There is an audio commentary by two journalists that provides a good backstory and history of Grand Duel as well as other spaghetti westerns. There is also a pretty beat up trailer (called The Big Showdown) as well which just goes to show you how bad this film looked before Blue Underground took a stab at releasing it.
While Grand Duel isn't the best spaghetti western ever made (there were too many comedic moments that made me think this was drifting into Terrence Hill territory), its certainly entertaining and fast paced. For fans of westerns and just good cinema all around, you won't want to miss this one.
[Rating: 3.5]
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