The Duellists (1977)
Directed by Ridley Scott
In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
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What critics compared The Duellists to
Scott is returning the sense of honor among warriors and designated battles to the death that made his debut film, “The Duellists” (1977) so riveting.
Ridley Scott’s debut feature was The Duellists, a remarkable film that put the ad-man into the box seat when it comes to Hollywood…
It’s not his last film, but there would be a certain enjoyable symmetry in his feature-making career beginning with 1977’s The Duellists and ending with The Last Duel.
Scott’s first feature was “The Duellists” (1977), a fine film that’s little remembered because Scott’s next feature was something called “Alien” (1979).
Revisiting the topic of honor by judicial duel offered in The Duellists (1977) - his debut feature…
Scott likes to highlight the hand-to-hand combat in which humans engage, starting back with his debut, The Duelists.
When Wick reaches the final sequence at a classical French standoff, complete with dueling pistols—a scene overly reliant on a CGI sunrise, unlike, say, Ridley Scott’s naturally staged duels in The Duellists (1977)—the film’s world tour of action movie archetypes is complete, leading to a fateful, intimate end.
But I think his key films are The Duellists (77) , which used its flabbergasting recreation of 19th-century nature paintings to frame the mystery of a never-ending grudge between two Hussars in the Napoleonic era, and Black Hawk Down (01), which subsumed his virtuosity into an immersive recreation of the Battle of Mogadishu.
Think about how quiet Alien and Blade Runner are, and think of how wonderfully paced The Duellists is, allowing us to question the actions of the combatants (unlike the noisy, stupid Gladiator ).
…remind us that for every The Duellists, Blade Runner and even Black Hawk Down on Scott’s résumé, there is a Legend, G.I. Jane and Hannibal.
He has given us some breathtaking work ("Blade Runner"), solid storytelling ("Gladiator"), eccentric excursions ("The Duellists"), novelty pieces ("Thelma and Louise") and genre fun ("Alien").
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At times you long for the man who made "The Duellists" and "Alien" a generation ago, when a director chose to establish a shot and actually hold it for a few seconds.