Rating: 
Summary: Beautiful, but superficial
Review: Ridley Scott's first jab at directing a feature film produced an uneven result. The film is fascinating visually with intersting use of composition and color. Unfortunately, the plot is simplistic and soon grows tedious. Neither of the two main characters are particularly interesting beyond the surface. As much as I wanted to like this movie going in, I found it fairly boring and had little interest in ever watching it again. Watching was frustating becasue if this movie had even a servicable plot, it could be an exciting story. I assume that Scott learned his lesson because much of his work soon afterword were great films with interesting plots (Alien, Blade Runner). I would definitely recommend a rental before purchase.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fine Film
Review: This is one of my all time favorite films. When it was release back in the 70's, I saw it six times during the first week, and I kept dragging other people to see it. I was amazed at the beautiful photography as well as the story of one man's obsession. Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel are terrific in there roles. It's a masterpiece and the first major film director as Ridley Scott. I highly recommend this film.
Rating:
Summary: Ridley Scott's Finest Film
Review: As stunning and as entertaining as Blade Runner would be in 1982, this film, from 1977, is gaining popularity as Ridley Scott's finest directorial work.The film is visually stunning, featuring beautiful set decoration, costumes, and most important, photography. The screenplay is eloquent and sharp, similar to the work of Robert Bolt (best know for his screenplay for Lawrence of Arabia). The film is split into six parts that reflect major turning points in Napoleon's conquest of Europe [...]. The music score is first-rate, the editing is smooth as silk, and the acting -even with Harvey Kietel's slight Brooklyn accent- is top-notch. Kietel's intensity and on-screen presence is so good I hardly noticed the accent problem. The film is a "period" piece that avoids clichés and pretentiousness. In fact, this film and Barry Lyndon (1975) will probably go down as the best European period films of the 1970's. It could also be argued that this film could not be made if it wasn't for the critical success of Kubrick's film. Box office success was another matter for both movies, as "The Duelists" was barely released in the US after a smashing reception at the Cannes Film Festival. I myself did not see this movie until the LaserDisc version was released by Paramount in the early 1990's. In short, this film is a study in codes, manners, conflicts, and what we might consider madness. The film does not make the mistake of trying to explain the cause of the duels between the 2 protagonists. Instead, the film focuses on their manners, their feelings of obligation to settling the conflict, and the coincidences and chances that bring them together and drift them apart over a span of 20 years. Finally, this movie has another relationship with a great film of the 1970's, Apocalypse Now, as this is also a successful screen adaptation of a Josef Conrad story. Not an easy feat.
Rating:
Summary: What Film Making is All About
Review: I came across this little known film purely by chance when I stopped over at a local Blockbuster. I watched the VHS version and was immediately taken by the film's stunning visual effects, or lack thereof. More precisely, with only 900,000 pounds, a paltry budget even by 1970's standards, Ridley Scott delivered sumptuous colors and visual frames that captured beautiful landscapes of French (and Scottish) countryside in winter months. Now, I have a DVD edition and am even more impressed. Usually, when old films are transferred to digital format, films studios often do a poor job. However, the widescreen, special collector's edition, is masterfully transferred; no hairlines that you find in the VHS version. Colors are even more rich and precise; the DVD edition delivers deep and soothing amber tones that is missing in the VHS version. Furthermore, the DVD include commentaries by both Ridely Scoot, Kevin Reynolds, and Howard Baker (soundtrack/scores). In particular, Scott's commentary is like a case study of film-making that even film students would find very useful. Kevin Reynolds describes the making of the Duellist as "seredipitous," and he is right. Despite the financial limitation that plague the production, the film, by chance of nature and Scott's brilliance, is a masterpiece. This is a lesson that Hollywood should take to heart: that pouring money into a film doesn't guarantee great film-making. As a fan of Napoleonic War history, I hope that another masterpiece, Waterloo, is released in DVD with the same kind of attention and care as the Duellist. A big applause to Paramount for doing just to a masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic
Review: This was Ridly Scott's first movie and you can see the camera work that later became famous in Blade Runner and Alien. This is based on a true story. In fact the 2 volume history of dueling by Steinmetz devotes and entire chapter to these two men. I think the costuming in this movie is very faithful to the time period. Even their hair styles change with the times. I also love the cinematography...there are so many scenes that could be the cover of a magazine...it is gorgeous...it is easy to get lost in... A must have movie
Rating:
Summary: Uncompromisingly a five-star flick...
Review: Based on Joseph Conrad's book "The Duel", the true story of a 30-year feud between two Napoleonic cavalry officers, "The Duellists" was Ridley Scott's first major film. Starring Keith Carradine as the pompous D'Hubert and a particularly menacing Harvey Keitel as Feraud, the film climbs inside the minds of two men for whom honor is more important than life itself. The two antagonists begin their series of bloody encounters when D'Hubert is ordered by his commanding general to arrest Feraud for wounding the local mayor's nephew in a duel. Feraud, in a hopelessly irrational state, challenges D'Hubert to a duel, which is carried out more or less on the spot. D'Hubert comes off slightly better in the initial encounter, which only serves to fuel Feraud's rage, and the course of the film is set. The cinematography of this film, shot by Frank Tidy, is almost beyond comparison. The previous versions on VHS simply looked muddy and rather washed out. The colors lacked any real saturation, rendering Feraud's bottle-green dolman black and it almost looked like a poor quality black and white in some scenes, especially those set in Napoleon's abortive Russian campaign. The DVD transfer, by contrast, is staggeringly beautiful and releases colors, which I did not realize existed in the original. I am, by coincidence, a professional cameraman and I rate this as the best shot film I have ever seen. The only criticism I have is a somewhat inconsistent use of graduated filters, which, whilst they were probably quite innovative for their day, don't always work well. Grads are always a problem and any film made since will tend to suffer the same way. A very minor point. The costumes and settings; mostly in The Dordogne, make the film not only totally authentic but defy the viewer to believe that it was made on a shoestring budget. The visual splendour challenges any modern filmaker to create the same effect without spending a vault full of money to achieve it. That is only part of the appeal of the film. The acting performances, particularly by Keitel, want for nothing. The scene with Feraud standing on a cliff overlooking the river valley, taken in context, makes you realise that his life and pretensions to honor have been for nothing. His mania for revenge has cost him everything. Melded to the other performances with superlative skill by Ridley Scott, this film is a masterpiece and has now gone from a film I liked a lot to one which is now firmly wedged in my top ten. Like as not, it will stay there for a long time.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but much tedium...
Review: There were many reasons I should have loved this move: Ridley Scott is a fantastic director. Period pieces are some of my favorite movies (Amadeus, Dangerous Liasons, Barry Lyndon, etc.) Duels, two guys ready to cut each other to pieces, what's wrong with that. Excellent actors... ... yet, I must say that the plot, direction and construction of this movie seemed to lack something. Rather than pensive like some other similar films, I found this movie just to be long-winded. Perhaps I missed a point about the animosity that slowly built between these two gentlemen, but honestly the fact that it is based on such a silly event (not even a misunderstanding, which would have added a sense of irony), I found myself not caring what happened and just wanting someone to finally die so I could turn it off. Why so many are raving about this film is beyond me. I would suggest they look at the far-superior Barry Lyndon, which has plenty of dueling and far more interesting characters than these two wooden dolls that fight for the sake of honor which remains mostly unexplored throughout the movie, save the mention of it.... Very high "meh" factor.
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Rating:
Summary: OH, YES!!!!
Review: This is my second review here, the first was for the VHS tape. I'm pleased to say the great news is, FINALLY, THE DVD HAS DONE THIS MOVIE JUSTICE!!! This DVD fixes ALL my complaints about the video quality of the VHS tape, and then some! I was very surprised to find that the audio was greatly enhanced as well. You will only notice this if you have a stereo system capable of delivering the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. I heard sounds I never heard before. This DVD is an absolute MUST for fans of this movie. A real pleasure!
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: At this time, I am the 32nd reviewer, and I cannot add much that has not already been so eloquently said about this superb film. However, I cannot resist going on record to say, without hesitation, that the Duellists is the most beautiful film I have ever seen. This film might as well have been "painted" by Corot, J-L David, Watteau or de la Tour, and the protagonists and other characters resurrected from the Invalides museum, in Paris. Regarding several criticisms of the accents of d'Hubert and Ferraud, I would remind these critics that this film takes place in France, and that the characters are French. Therefore, American accents are as valid as any English accents. In that idiom, the two different accents reflecting two different social backgrounds, that of d'Hubert and Ferraud, are certainly what one would have expected if the film would have been rendered in French.
Rating:
Summary: An overlooked masterpiece
Review: Ridley Scott's film The Duellists is due out on Region 1 DVD soon. I have been waiting for a DVD release for this film since I first got my player. It's due out on December 3rd from Paramount.
It has a widescreen anamorphic transfer and looks set to have loads of extras. This was the first film from director Ridley Scott.
The story is about two Napoleonic officers played by Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel. One offends the other and so they duel. But there is never a conclusion to the duellists bouts and one of the soldiers demands satisfaction and will not let the matter drop. He dogs the other over the course of twenty years. The final sequence in the woods is played out to perfection and I think Harvey Keitel captures the soldiers feelings brilliantly.
The cinematography and score are amazing, performances are strong despite the two leads strained accents. This film is one of the most breathtaking to look at, it's shot on a beautiful landscape and I really liked the story. To offend someone then and for them not to take up the duel was the markings of a coward and not one of honour. I think The Duellists is an overlooked masterpiece.
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