IMDb > The Duellists (1977)
The Duellists
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The Duellists (1977) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.4/10   5,554 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 43% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Contact:
View company contact information for The Duellists on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 August 1977 (France) more
Genre:
Tagline:
Fencing is a science. Loving is a passion. Duelling is an obsession.
Plot:
Set during the grand, sweeping Napoleonic age, an officer in the French army insults another officer and sets off a life-long emnity... more | full synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Movie Alert! Four Back-to-back Winners On TCM Tonight
 (From CinemaRetro. 7 November 2009, 2:09 AM, PST)

Horror Plus Sci-Fi: Alien
 (From Screen Rant. 10 October 2009, 8:06 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Brilliant, understated, and thoroughly human. more (71 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Keith Carradine ... D'Hubert

Harvey Keitel ... Feraud

Albert Finney ... Fouche
Edward Fox ... Colonel
Cristina Raines ... Adele
Robert Stephens ... Gen. Treillard
Tom Conti ... Dr. Jacquin
John McEnery ... Chevalier
Diana Quick ... Laura
Alun Armstrong ... Lacourbe
Maurice Colbourne ... Second
Gay Hamilton ... Maid
Meg Wynn Owen ... Leonie
Jenny Runacre ... Mme. de Lionne
Alan Webb ... Chevalier
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Duel (UK) (working title)
more
Runtime:
100 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
The swords were hooked up to batteries to produce the sparks, and Harvey Keitel said he was heavily shocked more than once. more
Goofs:
Continuity: In the opening scene, Harvey Keitel's character's sword strikes home in the upper chest (near the heart) of his opponent, then the film cuts to a side view of the opponent depicting the sword as having entered his stomach area. more
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator: The duellist demands satisfaction. Honour, for him, is an appetite. This story is about an eccentric kind of hunger. It is a true story and begins in the year that Napoleon Bonaparte became ruler of France.
more
Movie Connections:
Soundtrack:
Bist du bei mir more

FAQ

What is the location of the castle ruin at which David Carradine and Harvey Keitel fight their final pistol duel?
more
44 out of 46 people found the following comment useful.
Brilliant, understated, and thoroughly human., 6 April 2002
10/10
Author: Lucretius

This /is/ one of the best sword-fighting movies ever made, in that the choreography doesn't look like choreography. In the fight sequences, there's that rare sense of reticence, chance, uncertainty: of men thinking while they fight and trying to stay alive (The battle scenes in Kurosawa seem to me to share the same quality).

What sets this film apart (beyond its sheer visual gorgeousness) is its unremitting humanity and realism. Carradine as the protagonist is a decent enough, reasonable enough chap trying to live by an unreasonable and inflexible code. Keitel as Feraud is a cipher: charged with a wholly unreasonable hate the sources of which we never see. The movie steps through the ups and downs of war, fashion, politics. Though the film's structured around a series of violent combats, the struggle is finally a moral one. One man finally transcends the ideal of honor that's kept him a prisoner for fifteen years. The other is unable to.

This is a movie to watch, and to recommend to one's friends. It's lamentably not available yet in DVD, but can be found occasionally as a rental. Watch it for the costumes, the lighting, and the gorgeous camerawork. Watch it again for a movie that takes on The Big Issues. Brilliant.

Was the above comment useful to you?
more (71 total)

Message Boards

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Based On True Story! ergomane
The Ending (Spoilers) Nemesisnow
The only historical inacurracy? yohojohn
Why take rivals' name off death llist? rsr26
Mysticism in 'The Duellists' yohojohn
Keith Carradine's moustache... deejaydubl_a
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