Rating: 
Summary: Te Duellists
Review: Everything about this film is excellent, story, acting, locations. I have watched it too many times to remember and would recommend it to anybody. My own VHS copy is getting past its best and its a real same that it isn't available in UK anymore, and only on NTSC/VHS in USA. Watch it and be truely entertained!
Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Review: I noticed a bad review by a gentleman named Mostafa Hefny. I had to voice an alternate opinion, if for no other reason than to help bolster the "Average Customer Review" for this, one of my favorite films. I belive Mr. Hefny is completely wrong about this being a "stupid" movie. Perhaps he should consider watching it again to see can catch the deeper levels of meaning which are explored in the film. A note of interest is the developing acting skills of a young Harvey Keitel, contrasted against the more seasoned Keith Carradine. Another fun bit is to see how the makeup of the aged character played by Keitel compares to how he actually looks now later in life. Most of the rest of the films finer points have been more than adequately engaged by previous reviewers.
Rating:
Summary: Keitel and Carradine collide in Scott's most poetic film
Review: "The Duellists" is, in my opinion, Ridley Scott's best film. I liked "Blade Runner" a lot when I was younger, but now it seems the only thing that really knocks me out about it is Rutger Hauer's towering performance. The fabulously romantic love scene between Sean Young and Harrison Ford excluded, the level of 'purity' or cinematic poetry in "Blade Runner" doesn't really take off until Hauer makes his dynamic appearance. I loved "1492: Conquest of Paradise" when I caught it in its full glory in the theatres, and thought Depardieu's 'miscasting' was paradoxically GENIUS CASTING because it provided a certain humorous element to the film, thus adding a highly enjoyable level of camp to an already fantastic film. But NO FILM I've ever seen loses as much from not being shown on the big-screen; the ONLY PLACE to see 1492 is on a HUGE screen, not on your TV. "The Duellists" is much less handicapped in this respect, it doesn't really deal with huge panoramic vistas like sailing ships on a sea, just a couple of guys in beautifully authentic and pristine French locations clanging their swords viciously."The Duellists" follows the lives of two officers in Napoleon's army, played by Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine, through a period of some 20 years. Early on, Keitel is insulted by the way Carradine addresses him in a famous Lady's drawing room and demands satisfaction in a duel. Carradine agrees and proceeds to whip him. Not only does Keitel not give up and let it end there, but he continues to hold a grudge for years, forcing Carradine into more duels every time they meet, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, until things come to a final head in a climactic duel on Carradine's estate, after he's retired as a General! That's basically it, as far as a conventional "plot" is concerned. But the WAY IT IS HANDLED is PURE POETRY and speaks volumes that no conventional plot could ever speak. Scott allows room for the viewer's imagination to actively participate in his 'period' film and that's what those who don't like the film REFUSE TO DO (because they've been conditioned to judge a film by its more superficial 'plot' elements and dismiss it). The acting is first rate, the attention to period detail ABSOLUTELY AWE-INSPIRING (on a Barry Lyndon level), the locations gorgeously photographed--you literally feel like you've entered the early 19th century and can smell its odors. As for the DUELS themselves, they're some of the greatest sequences I've ever seen in any film, and certainly the best and most authentic 'swordfighting' ever put on film (Keitel and Carradine must've spent months with fencing instructors). Last but not passed, the highly poignant themes Ridley weaves into this gothic-sword masterpiece (without any trace of heavy-handedness) about 'the absurdity of conceit' and the lengths men will go to to protect their 'honor,' are anything but trivial, they're timeless and universal (and always ripe for some reversal).
Rating: 
Summary: Juvenile Delinquency
Review: The more Ridley Scott films I seek out, the more the masterfully ambiguous Blade Runner seems like an aberration. His 1977 debut The Duellists is perhaps the best looking bad movie ever made. It is probably also the first screen epic ever to be wholly constructed around the "scaredy cat" concept usually associated with the world's primary school playgrounds. Joseph Conrad, whose Heart of Darkness(along with drugs and madness) was the source material for the monumental Apocalypse Now, wrote The Duel, the novella from which The Duellists was adapted. His novella, like the film, chronicles the fifteen year rivalry between two officers in Napolean's army where the origins of their conflict are lost in legend. Conrad may have been contrasting this meaningless fued to the seemingly meaningful wars their army was engaged in. Was their inexplicable private fued really less meaningful then Napolean's wars, which like their fued had origins that were also lost in legend? Perhaps. But whatever psychological subtext Conrad's story may have had is absent from Scott's finished film. As D'Hubert, the officer who is ordered to arrest Feraud for engaging in an illegal duel and thus starting their own fifteen year series of duels, Keith Carradine is more apologetic then upstanding. He is a weak man fighting to LOOK honorable then to actually BE honorable. His nemesis Feraud (the great Harvey Kietel looking constipated) is a bigot who inexplicably wants to kill or be killed. What we're left with is a retard virtually embarrassing a spineless social climber into fighting him. Who will win? I couldn't possibly care less. Had Scott not made such an arresting visual experience out of the film, it would have been easier to dismiss. The Duellists is as staggeringly beautiful as it is staggeringly stupid. A scene in the frozen winter of Russia is a particular standout. Scott also introduces two women. One is D'Hubert's guilt ridden mistress early on, the other his young intelligent wife in his later years. Both interesting characters. Both almost completely ignored after their introduction. Not content with that dis-appointment Scott teases us with a fascinating sub-plot involving the still loyal Imeperialist generals after Napolean's demise versus the new Royalists of Louis XVIII. Then he tops the whole thing off with an ending of astounding power. Alas, these flashes of greatness only hint at what the film might have been. There is no question the Ridley Scott is a gifted director, but he is also one that seems to actively seek shallow material. Even his most risible films Someone To Watch Over Me and Black Rain have moments of visual splendor. After The Duellists he went on to direct the gripping Alien and followed that with his masterpiece Blade Runner. After a string of forgettable films, many pegged Thelma and Louise as his comeback, an opinion I do not share. I would have to say that the solid White Squall was a step in the right direction, and Gladiator was a film so grand it obscured its simplicity. The Duellists is what critics howl about when they cry "style over substance". A carefully posed tableaux of beautiful images that never illuminates the humanity of its central characters. It took me two tries to finally sit through The Duellists. The first time I tried, the rich, comforting and ethereal images were so effective, they put me to sleep. I dreamt of a Unicorn.
Rating:
Summary: Criminally overlooked film
Review: The look, feel, framing and pacing of this film are sumptuous. The winter scene of French soldiers shivering in Russia is spookier than anything you will ever see in Alien. The supporting cast is fabulous. It will make you wonder if there is anyone in England who is not classically trained. Unfortunately, the flawless British delivery of the rest of the cast makes me wonder why the two leading roles were given to very American actors.
Rating:
Summary: Savagely beautiful!
Review: This movie is so extensively & extremely faithfully reviewed below there seems little more to be said. However, whilst I have nothing to add to the storyline opinions, I do want to add my own endorsement of perhaps the most striking & stunningly beautiful cinema I have ever seen. From the awe-filled, haunting images of frozen dead soldiers during Napolean's retreat from Moscow to a delightful early, misty morning in the countryside of France; every scene is an absolute perfection. How does Scott do it? I have no idea, just don't miss seeing this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Should be given more attention
Review: Ridley Scott's masterpiece. A moving Rembrandt painting. Gorgeous cinematography, awesome lighting, beautiful sets and a solid script. Puts Barry Lynden to shame. See this. Wish it was on DVD
Rating:
Summary: Conrad + Scott = Great Film
Review: With Conrad's superb story-telling and Scott's great eye, how can you miss? Well, you cannot! This is my favorite Scott film and in my list of the top five films ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Historically Accurate
Review: This movie has great cinematography and wonderfully accurate costumes. It is set during the Napoleonic wars. It follows the careers of two officers in Napoleon's army. They become involved in a duel over a ridiculous point of honor and proceed to fight numerous duels over the next couple of decades. The duels are portrayed in wonderfully accurate detail, no Errol Flynn mincing around with a foil here. The duels are bloody and brutal, but neither duellist ever achieves a clear cut victory. Harvey Keitel and David Carradine are great. Based on a Joseph Conrad short story (I think).
Rating:
Summary: The best movie by the Director of Alien and Blade Runner
Review: The Duellists is a brilliant adaptation of the Joseph Conrad story of Napoleonic officers fighting a series of bloody duels over a period of 20 years. The cinematography is outstanding, and like no other film gives you a feeling of what life was like during that period. Each frame of this film could stand alone for its beauty. The acting is superb with Harvey Keitel as the obsessed Faraud, intent on destroying the protagonist D'Hubert, played by Carradine in his best performance. Tom Conti as the friend and physician to D'Hubert tells Carradine, "The enemies of reason have a certain blind look, I think Faraud has that look." This film is a must see for anyone that loves good cinema.
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