"The Grand Duel" directed by Giancarlo Santi is a movie that failed to properly use it's star power and great score. Partial blame for that can be equally divided between the bad editing and annoying female lead. But the biggest and most crucial reason goes to the highly unsatisfying final showdown that fails to keep to the movie's name.
The film stars Lee Van Cleef as a lawman named Clayton who is on the trails of Philipp Wermeer played by Alberto Dentice. Framed for the murder of a high profile person, Wermeer is constantly chased by bounty hunters and only Clayton's timely intervention saves him from death and further, sets him on a course to prove his innocence. From then on the usual bloodbaths begin as both Clayton and Wermeer make their way through hordes of bounty hunters, hired guns and finally the vengeance minded sons of the man Wermeer allegedly killed. To his credit Santi shows great competence when dealing with the shootouts. The opening scenes are especially memorable as Dentice's character shows moves that would later become standard part in action movies. It's a shame only he couldn't be more creative during the final duel, which was borderline ridiculous, lacking in atmosphere and a proper location. Problems don't end with that though, as seen through several moments, the film could have used an extra month in post-production. Scene to scene transition is shabby a good example of that happens shortly after the shootout at the inn in the beginning, with the scene directly cutting into the chase between Wermeer and the bounty hunters, spontaneously changing the music. Ruining the mood. Luis Bacalov made a great score for this film and it wasn't edited well enough in, again as an example take the opening scene when Van Cleef's character is walking to the inn.
On the good side, we have Lee Van Cleef who is his usual "Man In Black" self, delivering a great performance as Sheriff Clayton. The same thing can't be said about the rest of the cast though. Alberto Dentice is average at best but still tolerable. What really got to me was the completely useless and downright annoying female lead. Not only was she testing my patience with horrid dialogue but she was also completely devoid of any sort of characterization. Spaghetti westerns often lack decent female leads and "The Grand Duel" is a typical example of that.
I felt disappointed with "The Grand Duel", because it could have been a good movie had it only been given more time for post-production and a few minor changes to the script. But most of all I was disappointed because Santi failed to make a grand duel in "The Grand Duel".
The film stars Lee Van Cleef as a lawman named Clayton who is on the trails of Philipp Wermeer played by Alberto Dentice. Framed for the murder of a high profile person, Wermeer is constantly chased by bounty hunters and only Clayton's timely intervention saves him from death and further, sets him on a course to prove his innocence. From then on the usual bloodbaths begin as both Clayton and Wermeer make their way through hordes of bounty hunters, hired guns and finally the vengeance minded sons of the man Wermeer allegedly killed. To his credit Santi shows great competence when dealing with the shootouts. The opening scenes are especially memorable as Dentice's character shows moves that would later become standard part in action movies. It's a shame only he couldn't be more creative during the final duel, which was borderline ridiculous, lacking in atmosphere and a proper location. Problems don't end with that though, as seen through several moments, the film could have used an extra month in post-production. Scene to scene transition is shabby a good example of that happens shortly after the shootout at the inn in the beginning, with the scene directly cutting into the chase between Wermeer and the bounty hunters, spontaneously changing the music. Ruining the mood. Luis Bacalov made a great score for this film and it wasn't edited well enough in, again as an example take the opening scene when Van Cleef's character is walking to the inn.
On the good side, we have Lee Van Cleef who is his usual "Man In Black" self, delivering a great performance as Sheriff Clayton. The same thing can't be said about the rest of the cast though. Alberto Dentice is average at best but still tolerable. What really got to me was the completely useless and downright annoying female lead. Not only was she testing my patience with horrid dialogue but she was also completely devoid of any sort of characterization. Spaghetti westerns often lack decent female leads and "The Grand Duel" is a typical example of that.
I felt disappointed with "The Grand Duel", because it could have been a good movie had it only been given more time for post-production and a few minor changes to the script. But most of all I was disappointed because Santi failed to make a grand duel in "The Grand Duel".