Is the Mill Creek BluRay really Region A-locked ?
Yes, if you mean the one which is double feature with Keoma.
Yeps. That one exactly. Damn those Region-lockings to hell.
Thanks for the answer though.
I just watched it again on movies4men. I gave it three stars. Itās a good one but itās not outstanding. However, Lee Van Cleef is always worth watching and the music is great.
I just watched āThe Grand Duelā on blu-ray for the first time (the double feature version with āKeomaā). I was really impressed with the transfer of both films, but I was disappointed with the audio issues on TGD.
I noticed that there are two different artworks for the release by Mill CreekāI have the first, which has the poster art for each film on the bottom and a black and white picture of Lee Van Cleef up top. Itās clearly the less inspired cover.
Does anyone know if the other release has corrected the audio issues? Or is it just a repackaging of the same?
The Grand Duel isnt as memorable as Day of Anger or Death Rides a horse. It seems to lack a good supporting actor (Film would be excellent if Gian Maria Volonte, or Peter Lee Lawrence, was in it) the first half is not nearly as cool as the second half. What we get here is a western, neo noir, mystery, thriller all in one. Director Giancarlo Santi is great. If you like Van Cleef teaching a young gunfighter a thing or two about life, then this is for you
I really enjoyed this one. I didnt expect much because most of the latter day westerns are either comedy or a load of rubbish but this one was a decent solid film.
I enjoyed The Grand Duel the first time I watched it 11 years ago. Iāve watched it countless times since and seem to like it less with each viewing. Thereās lots I like, especially Van Cleefās introduction. It might even just be his presence that I like. Unfortunately thereās some really annoying moments, which I cannot forgive because of the filmās potential. When Van Cleef catches the bullet in his teeth, for example, that was extremely irritating. If Santi was trying to make a serious spaghetti western, why couldnāt he scrap that completely? The music also goes from an imitation of Morricone (no disrespect to Bacalov here, I like his score) to some stupid hillbilly music. That ruins it for me. Fancy ending the film with that annoying music! Oh and donāt get me started on Peter OāBrien yelling ādead people donāt need a leader!ā Ugh! However, that might be the fault of the dubber. Maybe another major problem is that itās one of those spaghettis that gets shown on TV over and over again. I think it made me appreciate it less. I hope I can enjoy it again someday. I usually look forward to revisting spaghetti westerns but I feel like avoiding this one most of the time. It could have been a lot better.
My favourite Van Cleef western of the 70s is definitely El Condor.
I have the UK pre-cert and the transfer available in the Mill Creek 44 spaghetti western movie pack (possibly taken from the Wild East disc?). Can anyone inform me about cuts to the film? Is the Mill Creek version uncut? Whatās the deal with the ājerskiā bootleg and why were so many people claiming it had extended scenes?
Not a huge fan of this one but I would like to see the uncut version.
Viewed this one via the Blu Underground release. One that gets better for me after each viewing. Lee Van Cleefās best western of the 70ās for this viewer.
1 Like
Ok flick of which the best parts were stylish flashbacks. OāBrien was excellent in action and suprisingly pretty good otherwise. Van Cleef plays the same type of gentleman gunfighter we are used to but somewhat lacks the spark of the past. I blame alcohol! The action might be a bit annoying though since itās there just for the sake of action and you could easily skip thirty minutes withouth getting lost in story which upto that point goes nowhere. Locations look very cheap, it was funny when they just moved from one gravel location to another gravel location with dirty frog pond. I particulary liked the twist at the end, now I really did not see that coming. I was not excited about the final duel, there was not any tension and looked forced. Overall, decent low budget movie with LVC, some cool - in western - unseen stunts and rather boring storytelling.
Just rewatched it, will post my review this week. On that note, very overlooked, and the audio commentary on the BU disc is of course worth the purchase!
1 Like
My understanding here is that LVC did not catch the bullet in his teeth, he actually removed the bullet from the cartridge and hid the bullet in his mouth, and when Wermeer shot the gun he was just shooting a gunpowder cap that had no projectile in it. It isnāt super obvious in the way they film it, but I am quite certain that is the explanation.
2 Likes
I agree.
However, thereās a few other things that diminish the serious character of the film, to me it seems a bit off-balance in general.
Yeah thatās what happened. I didnāt notice first time round but he actually talks pretty weirdly as if he does have something hidden in his mouth up until the shot being fired (in the English dub at least). Listen closely and youāll hear it. Iām not sure if this was part of the script or if Van Cleef decided to do this during the dubbing to bring the film back to a realistic level because according to Cox he did tend to change dialogue/dubbing himself if he felt it was necessary.
Funnily enough I was thinking of re-watching this one sometime soon. Remember thinking it was okay but nothing special but opinions here seem to be pretty high so I maybe I should give it another look.
I just saw this as an above average Lee Van Cleef vehicle. A re-watch is on the horizon though, as well as Sabata.
Same, but I might change my mind after a re-watch.
Anyone got the Arrow blu ?
Mineās in the mail. For reasons unknown (perhaps as a preparation for the forthcoming Brexit. More likely an human error) I elected to get the American release so probably still a week or two away.
1 Like