Duelo De Amigos

Two great men of action in one great new motion picture. Dealing with a has-been outlaw who warms up his pistol again in this old style Western. Simple and light western with a plain, regular and modest plot, resulting in the inevitable final showdown at the downtown, starred by two great titans, Douglas and Coburn. It is set in the end days of the old western with appearance of the first automobiles . A previous desperate outlaw, Kirk Douglas, faces down enemies and, nowadays, a drunk ex-sheriff called Sam Starrett , James Coburn, who was his long time nemesis . As an ex convict called Harry Holland : Kirk Douglas, who spent several years in prison, and being recently released, attempts to carry out a peaceful life. Holland heads for Bell city where only finds unknown townspeople and some children amazed and really interested in his gun-handling skills. As he goes to the saloon for a drink, there four men are playing poker game, and he joins the group to play cards. Meantime, Reggie : Derek McGrath is cheating the game, as usual . But Harry wins all the Reggie's money. Shortly after, Holland attempts to cash at the bank, but the bank teller does not accept, then Harry takes the money and run. Later on, he is wounded at a stand-off , after Holland is stuck in Bell hotel and while being surrounded by deputies : Graham Jarvis, who are unabled to catch him, but he refuses to surrender himself . In the hotel , Harry takes a traveling theatre actress, Alexandra Bastedo, as a hostage who heals his injures.

Decent but low budgeted Western with star power, emotion, thrills and some smart moments make it worthwhile watching. However, being excessively talking and some claustrophobic, mostly set in hotel room, saloon and main street where takes place the ordinary ending duel. Concerning an interesting battle of wits between the two greatest tough, two-fisted actors on the screen, Douglas and Coburn. Giving a particular character studio about two individualist roles, an old retired gunslinger and a drunken ex-sheriff. The lion's share of the acting meat deservedly goes to Kirk Douglas, being magnificently supported by James Coburn. They are well accompanied by a good support cast, such as Alexandra Bastedo, Derek McGrath, Graham Jarvis, Linda Sorensen and actor/filmaker Stuart Gillard. Medium, low budget yarn , financed by Kirk Douglas and his company Bryna and by today very prestigious HBO in one of his first productions.

The motion picture was professionally directed by Steven Hillard Stern. He was an artisan working mainly for TV and cinema too , giving several films of all kinds of genres. He directed Westerns as Black Fox saga : Blood horse, Good men and bad men , The price of peace. He made all kinds of genres including the following titles : Kill my wife please, Morning glory, Breaking the surface, Love and murder, Personals, Final notice, Weekend war, Not quite human, Rolling vengeance, Murder in space, The park is mine, Undergrads, Getting physical, Obsessive love, The ambush murders, Forbidden love, Mazes and monsters, Portrait of a showgirl, The devil and Max Devlin, Running, Miracle on ice, Money, Man against the Mob, Young love first love, Anatomy of a seduction, Harrard summer, I wonder who's killing now?, among others. Rating 5.5/10. Acceptable and passable Western.

I think perhaps both Kirk Douglas and James Coburn might have wished they had left their guns in their holsters if they ever got round to watching this really mediocre and tired drama that rather sells the genre short. The former is ageing outlaw "Holland" who has just been released from a long term in prison. He heads to a local town where he alights on a crooked poker game. He proceeds to fleece "Bell" (Derek McGrath) but in a contretemps afterwards, kills the sheriff and himself is shot before fleeing into a local hotel. It's the traditional Mexican stand off - and to Mexico, they got to find the solution. An equally aged and past his use-by-date "Starret" (Coburn) who is coaxed from his bottle to come and face down "Holland" on behalf of the petrified townsfolk. It tries it's hand at humour, and there is no getting away from the fact that both actors do exude lots of charisma, but the whole thing just looks cheap and cheerful. The dialogue is pedestrian, and the gunfights look more like circus performances than than anything we would have seen at the "OK Corral". Unlike John Wayne's last effort "The Shootist" (1976) which respected the genre and his part in it's development, this really just provides two screen legends with a poorly thought out, semi-comic, series of escapades that make for a really disappointing made-for-television swan song for both.

Funny, romantic, suspenseful. Wonderful light western with some great comic lines and sight gags. Normal I criticize westerns for being so unrealistic, but this movie doesn't make any pretense to be anything but fun. And it works.

I can't believe someone paid Douglas and Coburn to do this...ugh. Awful and I'm a good judge. The "straw" in the wagon is green... need I say more?

I fist saw this movie sometime in the mid-eighties back in Saudi, channel 3, although, any nudity was edited out. It left a solid impression on me, particularly some of the quotes by Kirk D. and James C., and the way that rich punk Reggie talked pouring alcohol on the floor "go ahead lick it up, ain't nobody but us watch'in and we don't give a sh*t", to a drunk James C., who replies with a cool deep voice "you piss'in me off Reggie". Also James C.'s shoot out scene with some spanish bandit...spanish dude "senor we are six people with two horsees, and you are 2 peoples with 3 horsees , we would only like to borrow one of your horsees" ...Sherif replies "Go to hell." The Movie is well worth a view, I'd give it a *** out of ****.