The Grand Duel – Arrow Video (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Italy, 1972
Director: Giancarlo Santi
Writer: Ernesto Gastaldi
Cast: Lee Van Cleef, Alberto Dentice, Jess Hahn, Horst Frank, Klaus Grünberg, Antonio Casale, Marc Mazza, Dominique Darel, Alessandra Cardini, Gastone Pescucci, Elvira Cortese, Anna Maria Gherardi

Release Date: May 6th, 2019 (UK), May 7th, 2019 (USA)
Approximate running time: 93 Minutes 44 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC
Rating: 15 (UK), R (USA)
Sound: LPCM Mono Italian, LPCM Mono English
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region A,B
Retail Price: £24.99 (UK), $39.95 (USA)

"Genre stalwart Lee Van Cleef (The Big Combo, Day of Anger) stars as a gnarled ex-sheriff called Clayton who comes to the aid of young Philipp Wermeer (Alberto Dentice), a fugitive framed for the murder of a powerful figure called The Patriarch. Clayton helps Philipp fend off attacks from bounty hunters in a series of thrilling shootouts before the two make their way to Jefferson to confront three villains known as the Saxon brothers, and reveal who really killed The Patriarch.” – Synopsis provided by the Distributor

Video: 4.25/5

Here’s the information provided about the transfer, "The original two-perf Techniscope 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution on a pin-registered Arriscan at Augustus Color, Rome. Picture restoration work was completed at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, picture instability and other instances of film wear were repaired or removed through a combination of digital restoration tools and techniques. The film was graded on Digital Vision's Nucoda Film Master at R3Store Studios, London.

All original materials used in this restoration were made available by Surf Film and Augustus Color."

The Grand Duel comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.9 GB

Feature: 21.3 GB

This release marks the fourth release for this film that I now own. The other three releases are Wild East’s 2005 DVD release, Mill Creek Entertainment’s 2012 Blu-ray release, and Blue Underground’s 2013 DVD release. And though there was a noticeable improvement with the later release, this new transfer from Arrow Video is by far and away the best this film has ever looked on home video. Flesh tones look correct, colors are nicely saturated, image clarity and compression are solid, contrast and black levels are strong, and the image retains an organic look.

Audio: 4/5 (LPCM Mono Italian), 4.25/5 (LPCM Mono English)

This release comes with two audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Italian and a LPCM mono mix in English. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, and ambient sounds are well represented. The main difference between these two audio tracks is that the English-language track sounds more robust. Included are removable English subtitles for the Italian language track and removable English SDH for the English language track.

Extras:

Extras for this release include image galleries: stills, posters and press (18 images), lobby cards (34 images) and Super 8 mm, home video and soundtrack sleeve (16 images), English language International theatrical trailer (2 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), Italian theatrical trailer (2 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Italian with removable English subtitles), a video essay about the elusive actor Marc Mazza by tough-guy film expert Mike Malloy titled Marc Mazza: Who was the Rider on the Rain? (12 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an obscure sci-fi short film from 1984 directed by Bernard Villiot and starring Marc Mazza titled Game Over (9 minutes 12 seconds, Dolby Digital mono French with removable English subtitles), a featurette that compares the original cut and the longer German cut of The Grand Duel titled Two Different Duels (15 minutes 38 seconds, Dolby Digital mono with text information in English about the differences), a video appreciation by the academic Austin Fisher titled Saxon City Showdown (15 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with assistant director Harald Buggenig titled The Day of the Big Showdown (21 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with producer Ettore Rosboch titled Out of the Box (29 minutes 2 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with actor Alberto Dentice aka Peter O’Brien titled Cowboy by Chance (35 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with screenwriter Ernesto Gastaldi titled The Last of the Great Westerns (25 minutes 37 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an interview with director Giancarlo Santi titled An Unconventional Western (31 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Italian with removable English subtitles), an audio commentary with film critic, historian and theorist Stephen Prince, reversible cover art and a 28-page booklet (limited to first pressing) with cast & crew information, an essay titled In the Grand Tradition of Leone written by Kevin Grant, Original Reviews, Play it Again Marc Bernard Villiot on Game Over and information about the restoration.

Summary:

Philipp Wermeer is a man who has been wrongly accused of killing Old Man Saxon. Now he is on the run from the law and the Saxon family, who are hell-bent on seeing him hang. Clayton was a former sheriff who was there the evening old man Saxon died, and he knows the real identity of the killer. Reluctant at first, Philipp Wermeer joins forces with Clayton in a quest to clear his name and find the truth behind his own father's murder.

Lee Van Cleef often played heavies. This time around, he’s given the opportunity to play a more straight-forward character that is all about justice. From the opening moments of The Grand Duel, Lee Van Cleef owns this character, who calmly walks through a town filled with bounty hunters. Lee Van Cleef’s portrayal of Clayton is one of the finest performances.

For the first time, director Giancarlo Santi masterfully handles the spaghetti western genre. The action sequences are violent and bloody, something that had all but disappeared from spaghetti westerns being made around the same time as The Grand Duel. And Ernesto Gastaldi’s screenplay manages to balance all the spaghetti western genre cliches while adding a few new ones to the mix. The narrative is meticulously laid out, and the characters are well defined.

Standout moments include an action-packed opening sequence where Clayton arrives in a town surrounded by bounty hunters; a scene where an old man who dies in a duel rubs his bloody hand on the suit of the man who shot him; an atmospheric flashback sequence; and a spectacular finale that provides an extremely satisfying conclusion to the events that have unfolded.

Composer Luis Enríquez Bacalov’s score is nothing short of brilliant. And the main theme is arguably one of the most memorable pieces ever used in any spaghetti western. It is so mesmerizing and haunting that Quentin Tarantino used it in Kill Bill Volume 1. Ultimately, The Grand Duel is one of the last great spaghetti westerns to emerge before the genre finally called it a day.

The Grand Duel gets an excellent release from Arrow Video that comes with a strong audio/video presentation and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Written by Michael Den Boer