Il grande duello

Sheriff Lee Van Cleef aids a fugitive convicted of murder in his escape from a group of vicious bounty hunters and involves himself in a murder mystery involving the fugitive and a powerful family of three ruthless brothers.

The Grand Duel is watchable but not particularly exciting or memorable, with the plot taking way too much time to develop with Van Cleef's motivations remaining murky a bit longer than they should.

Horst Frank is good as the eldest brother with delusions of grandeur. His effeminate psycho brother is a lot of fun to watch too.

The title event where Van Cleef takes on multiple gunmen is the best thing about the movie.

THE GRAND DUEL is a typical entry in the spagwest genre. With a script by Ernesto Gastaldi, Italy's hardest-working scriptwriter of the period, and direction from Giancarlo Santi, who worked as assistant director on THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, it has brilliant credentials behind it as well as a cast of some of the genre's heaviest hitters. It could have quite easily been a classic and parts of it are – the haunting music and theme that plays repeatedly throughout the movie manages to out-do Morricone and is possibly my favourite spaghetti western score; Tarantino must have liked it too, because he used it in KILL BILL. However, THE GRAND DUEL loses something because of its focus on outrageous comedy and the kind of bumbling antics that Bud Spencer became associated with. If it had stayed deadly serious throughout, I imagine that this would be a much revered film today.

Instead it's merely a quite good western, sometimes very good, sometimes awful. The stunt team is certainly spot on, although I could have done without the see-saw bit at the beginning where a guy is propelled into the air like something out of a cartoon. The action scenes are well handled and the final duel even manages to approach the ending of THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY in terms of quality, with superb accompanying music and decent camera-work. Essentially, though, what makes this more than watchable is the leading presence of Lee Van Cleef, appearing exactly the same as he did in FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE and giving another stern performance with his acting for the most part in his eyes – hands down Van Cleef is my favourite spagwest actor and he hasn't disappointed me yet.

Van Cleef is given some good support, especially from the likes of regular German bad guy Horst Frank and newcomer Peter O'Brien, who only acted in this one film before disappearing off the face of the earth (he looks uncannily like Ray Lovelock in THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE). The big and bloated Jess Hahn is also around for comic relief, although he's so badly dubbed that I dreaded him popping up on screen, while Klaus Grunberg has a ball as a homosexual villain and Marc Mazza's bald head steals much of the film. Also present is Dominique Darel, a very attractive leading lady who died at the tender age of 28, six years after this film was released. Italian cinema lost a true beauty with her passing.

Horst Frank witnesses Horst Frank being shot while hiding in a box. A George Harrison lookalike leaps over an entire building while shooting bounty hunters. A pox ridden gay guy guns down dozens of innocent people. What's going on? Lee Van Cleef knows, but he isn't answering any questions…at all!

Horst is the crooked mayor of Saxon City since his father (also Horst Frank) was probably, but possibly not, gunned down by George Harrison. Horst's brother is the ultra-camp murderer cleaning up loose ends and making sure the family get all the silver that George Harrison's deceased father found in the hills. Lee Van Cleef is the has-been sheriff who is out to clear George Harrison's name, indulge in a bit of banter, be as vague as humanly possible about every question he's asked, and plug him a few bad guys into the bargain.

It's a run of the mill plot that still entertains due to a full on pace, loads of interesting characters, and of course a duel at the end. Good sets in this one too (especially the riverside tavern) which is something I don't say much as usually it's the same set you see over and over and over again. If you're quick you'll spot that ugly bastard that played the Beast in the reprehensible The Beast In Heat.

I guess there's a little influence of the gialli here as the you've got the mystery of who killed Horst Frank's father Horst Frank. I'm just glad they didn't try to turn the "Lee Van Cleef partnering up with a young guy" plot and turn it into a comedy.

The Grand Duel is one of the most under-rated Spaghetti Westerns ever made. Van Cleef returns as the Man in Black and he is at the top of his game. Good action scenes and a great sound track by Luis Enriquez Bacalov under the name Sergio Bardotti. Beware of the cut version under the title Storm Rider.

The best English version on DVD is the Wild East release. The Italian print has been released on Japanese DVD by Imagica. Contentwise, these versions appear identical. Both run 90 minutes, give or take a few seconds, attributable to print damage and abrupt reel changes. The 'bloody hand print' shot present in the US trailer is missing from both versions. Presumably, the director or producers felt it was too hokey. Given the bloody gunfights, it's unlikely the shot was cut for being too gory. The film was shot in English - albeit without direct sound - making this the preferred audio choice. While Lee Van Cleef and Jess Hahn dubbed themselves, the rest of the cast have the usual 'spaghetti' dubbing, with some English accents thrown in. The Wild East DVD is taken from a faded, battered print, with plenty of dirt and scratches. Curiously, the credits are in Italian, apart from the awkwardly inserted title card. The Imagica DVD has superior picture quality, despite some heavy print damage early on. The image is sharper, the colours stronger. Question: what's the shoe-banging scene all about?