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Released by: Blue Underground
Released on: May 21, 2013.
Directors: Giancarlo Santi
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Alberto Dentrice
Year: 1972
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The Movie:
Giancarlo Santi's 1972 film, also known as The Big Showdown, who gets his mitts on a wanted man named Philip Wermeer (Alberto Dentice credited as Peter O'Brien) who has been accused of calling the patriarch of the powerful Saxon family. When a gang of bounty hunters show up with the intention of taking Wermeer in, dead or alive and whether Clayton likes it or not, he helps him escape but the pair soon hook up again on the way to Saxon City where the three surviving sons of the murdered man intend to see Wermeer hang for his crimes.
As the story progresses, Clayton and Wermeer learn the truth about one another and form a begrudging alliance - as it turns out, Wemeer wants to avenge the death of his own father, while Vermeer, who we learn has been stripped of his star, wants justice.
Stylishly directed with all the close ups and wide angle shots you'd expect from a director who did his time helping out Sergio Leone (he was the second unit director on The Good, The Bad And The Ugly as well as Once Upon A Time In The West), The Grand Duel features Lee Van Cleef in one of the coolest roles of his career. Here he's almost beyond human, an unstoppable force able to catch bullets in his death and hit his targets with his six shooters without even looking at them. He's as tough as nails and as hard as they come but so too is he fair and just. Van Cleef plays the role with as much poise and 'cool' as you would want him too, never overreaching or chewing the scenery, instead using his tough guy looks and dangerous eyes to say as much with a knowing glance as he does with any spoken dialogue. Dentice is also good here, and if his character isn't quite as memorable, he makes a fun foil for Van Cleef. On top of that the movie also benefits immensely from a great soundtrack composed by Luis Bacalov (it's so good that Quentin Tarantino pilfered it and recycled it in Kill Bill!). It's one of those movies that gets everything right, the perfect mix of action and humor, tension and heart and it's got some interesting characters and a few cool plot twists as well.
If it isn't the most realistic western ever made - see the aforementioned comment about Van Cleef catching a bullet in his teeth or witness early on the scene in which Dentice is launched over a building by using a wagon as a launch pad - it's definitely tops when it comes to fun and entertainment. You get the impression that the two leads are supposed to be larger than life and as such, they behave in ways that aren't necessarily within the realm of possibility. It hardly matters by the time the end credits hit the screen, because you'll be so wrapped up in cheering on the good guys that you won't care. If may not be particularly deep or thought provoking and it may not turn the genre on its head, but it sure is entertaining.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer on the disc was sourced from the original camera negative according to the box copy and it looks pretty good. There might be some mild noise reduction in some spots but colors look nice and black levels are pretty solid. The image is clean and stable throughout, there's no serious print damage to complain about.
Audio options are handled by way of an English language Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track, there are no alternate language options or subtitles provided though English closed captioning is provided. The track is clean, clear, well balanced and free of any hiss or distortion with the score really sounding quite nice here.
The main extra on the disc is an audio commentary from journalists C. Courtney Joyner and Henry Parke. This is a decent track, offering up some good information about where Van Cleef's career was at during this point in his career and making some interesting observations about the types of characters he so often wound up playing in western films. They also discuss the director's style, the contributions of the various cast and crew members and the score in a fair bit of detail.
Additionally we get a trailer for the feature and trailers for a few other spaghetti westerns - A Bullet For The General, Companeros, Django, Django, Kill… If You Live, Shoot!, Four Of The Apocalypse, Keoma, Mannaja: A Man Called Blade, Run Man Run and Texas, Adios. Menus and chapter selection are also included.
The Final Word:
The Grand Duel works really well as a fairly standard action film with some decent comedic elements and features some great performances, particularly from Van Cleef. It's also got an excellent soundtrack and some great cinematography. Though the film is already out on Blu-ray with Keoma, Blue Underground's DVD only release features a welcome commentary and some fun bonus trailers.
