Nice film overall. The best part was of course the end duel scene and the amazing music score one of the best in a SW. The music makes it worth watching and of course the great Lee Van Cleef.
To this day I still donât understand why Alberto Dentice shoots LVCâs hat off during the final duel.
Also, Dentice point blank tries to kill LVC, only to find out that the bullets where taken out of the gun, and then the girl still says âHe doesnât look like a murdererâ.
Than at the end Dentice and the girl are kissing each other even though they barely spoke the whole time.
[quote=âCol. Douglas Mortimer, post:222, topic:199â]To this day I still donât understand why Alberto Dentice shoots LVCâs hat off during the final duel.
Also, Dentice point blank tries to kill LVC, only to find out that the bullets where taken out of the gun, and then the girl still says âHe doesnât look like a murdererâ.
Than at the end Dentice and the girl are kissing each other even though they barely spoke the whole time.[/quote]
maybe in the uncut version the dialoge between dentice and the girl was much longer
Watched this for the first time tonight and it was a belter - 4/5 for me - great music, great directing and Lee Van Cleef being as cool and awesome as only he can be.
Didnât actually notice any cuts to the film and the picture quality was pretty good. Canât believe I didnât see the twist coming *slaps head - Guess thatâs why I love spaghettis!
Very watchable spaghetti - Iâll be humming that theme tune for weeks!
Coolest bit - Claytonâs stroll into town pointing out all the gunmen
(I think LVCâs hat was shot off to force him to draw first - otherwise there was a chance one of the 3 Saxons would get him - and in fact for a moment I thought they had :o)
Watched this last night. Iâve heard from many places that the uncut version isnât at all better.
The storyboard and scenes are sometimes very schizophrenic at times. I even caught myself rewinding because I felt I totally missed somethingâŚand I didnât. It all comes together better at the end, for sure.
The plot is almost the same exact thing as The Big Gundown.
The soundtrack is a top 5 for s.w. for me, easily. Itâs above beautiful. This soundtrack is a fine example of a the standard for spaghetti, and itâs easy to see how most fail reaching what this one has. This movie was easily inspired by Once Upon a Time int he West, my favorite s.w.
The duel is one of the best scenes in this sub-genre.
The action is very good. There is an âepicâ nature to this film.
Best of all, there is a âdreamy,â surrealistic nature to this film.
This is in my top 10, easily. What it needs, is a really good restoration on an HD print so that I can better see and hear whatâs going on. I also watched this from some âcollectionâ set, and it wasnât anamorphic so I had to stretch the imageâŚVHS quality here. Does anyone have the WIld-East DVD? I NEED IT!!
This is also one of those s.w. that takes repeated viewings, I feel.
The action is very good. There is an "epic" nature to this film.The action scenes are sometimes ridiculous in this one IMO. Dentice kills the man on the roof and next he jumps over the building, kills one of the bounty killers (I don't remember it very good) and falls on the ground without a scratch... Damn, it isn't Sabata! It kills the atmophere a bit for me. Not to mention that terrible cuts, they always are making me nervous! I have to watch an uncut version. Anyway the action wasn't that good I'd say... It was on my Top 20 for a while but it fell down... It's a pity it was only Santi's spaghetti - this guy has a great potential. If he had made some other films, he could have become my favorite director... The grand duel is very good, but not as grand as I expected...
Iâd be curious to see which 20 s.w.s you think beat The Grand Duel. I think youâre going to get lots of disagreements. Granted, Iâve only seen about 20 s.w., and this one is clearly towards front of the pack.
And ditto on the poster that said that all s.w.s have flaws. The Grand Duel is no different, and neither is any other non-Leone s.w. The only s.w. that I would call flawless would only be a handful of Leoneâs westerns. All else, flawed. Surprise!
Some of your negatives toward the film I see as positive. Itâs action scenes like that that make it stand out, and isnât âordinary.â Hell, even one of the No Name Trilogy movies had thatâŚEastwood hanging on a sign post while rolling into town. Thatâs not a negative. Thatâs simply spaghetti flavor.
The only thing thatâs really wrong with this film, aside from itâs ânormalâ and âexpectedâ flaws as mentioned, is the fact that it deserves a far better transfer. This is a gold nugget.
[quote=âFendersrule, post:227, topic:199â]Iâd be curious to see which 20 s.w.s you think beat The Grand Duel. I think youâre going to get lots of disagreements. Granted, Iâve only seen about 20 s.w., and this one is clearly towards front of the pack.
And ditto on the poster that said that all s.w.s have flaws. The Grand Duel is no different, and neither is any other non-Leone s.w. The only s.w. that I would call flawless would only be a handful of Leoneâs westerns. All else, flawed. Surprise!
Some of your negatives toward the film I see as positive. Itâs action scenes like that that make it stand out, and isnât âordinary.â Hell, even one of the No Name Trilogy movies had thatâŚEastwood hanging on a sign post while rolling into town. Thatâs not a negative. Thatâs simply spaghetti flavor.
The only thing thatâs really wrong with this film, aside from itâs ânormalâ and âexpectedâ flaws as mentioned, is the fact that it deserves a far better transfer. This is a gold nugget.[/quote]
Understand your point of view, I didnât mean The grand duel is ordinary. I just wanted to say that it isnât sometimes very realistic. I still think itâs a very good movie, it is on my alternative top 10. This is truly magic film, but⌠it has Dentice. :-
He is the one who spoils this film for me. He has no potential and isnât convincing at all. Other actors are doubtless great: Horst Frank, Marc Mazza, Klaus GrĂźnberg and of course LeeâŚ
And the action isnât the thing that I appreciate the most in this one. Iâd give strong 4,25 stars out of 5. But if I saw an uncut version⌠who knows⌠I could give 5 even.
BTW I really like a machine gun massacre - very well filmed (one of my favorites moments).
Personally, I think 20 is a very reductive amountâŚ
Yeah actually most of my Top 20 I watched after my first 20 SWs. There is so many hidden gems in this genre that spaghetti westerns always keeps surprising me.
You may be disappointed but I know about 100 SWs which I prefer without any doubt to The Grand Duel.
I would agree with you about the flaw question. Even some big classics have some astonishing flaws, but also some astonishing brilliant scenes, which are imo better than anything in Grand Duel.
But if you have watched another 100 SWs you may see things also different. Maybe âŚ
In my opnion thereâs no such thing as a flawless film, even the best have shortcomings. But The Grand Duel is only a run of the mill spaghetti western, watchable, but thatâs about it. I guess it seems a bit better than it really is because it was made at a time that serious or half-serious spaghettis had become a rarity.
I think there are many flawless films. Unless you call everything a flaw which may be the reason in ones opinion that a certain film is not the âbest everâ.
Even some minor films donât have flaws imo if they ars constantly made on the same level. generally said it is easier to make a flawless film if the director prefers to do colder, more distant filme, while it is more trick to remain flawless if a director is one of the kind who are visually powering. Means that it is easier for a cold controled Melville gangster film to be flawless than for a film balancing on the razorâs edge like The Wild Bunch. and OUTW would be for that somewhere in teh middle between La Samurai and The Wild Bunch. To name 3 film of the late 60s.
Or Kubrick had less trouble to make a flawless film than Lynch. Or for Kubrick it was easier to make a flawless film with 2001 (which is flawless imo) than with A clockwork Orange
actually, some Leone´s western are flawed for me - exceptions are Outitw and GBU
Notice I said a handful. You can arguably add FAFDM to that list, too.
Once Upon a Time in the West is arguably the greatest film ever made, regardless of genre.
I still disagree. âWatchable, but thatâs about itâ is reserved for Companeros, Hellbenders, Navajo Joe, Hills Run Red, Run Man Run, Django Shoot!, Texas Adios, Trinities, etc. Plus, remember thereâs probably around 100 pieces of complete crap s.ws. that this one tears apart. This is far more than âmiddle of the road.â
The soundtrack alone smashes 95% of s.w.s:
Iâd even go to say that this is the best non-morricone ST Iâve heard in a western to date. It even tears apart half of Morriconeâs STs, and I pretty much worship Ennio. Absolutely gorgeous is the only word I can fathom for this piece of music.
You have to see The Grand Duel from the correct angle to understand why it deserves to easily be a top 10 western. Itâs operatic, dreamy, and a bit surrealistic, much like how Once Upon a Time in the West was. It has the right soundtrack to elevate itself into greatness, as well. I totally enjoy it. Itâs one of Quentinâs favorites, too. We seem to share a consensus.
actually, i can´t - FAFDM is not even in my TOP 20 - what a heresy
i believe giancarlo santi must have hidden the uncut print somewhere ???
Hope so.
any news for the uncut version of grand duel??? ???