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The Duellists

1977

Ridley Scott

Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, Edward Fox, Albert Finney ...

7.2

9,725

Drama During the era of the Napoleonic wars, a conflict arises between two of the emperor's cavalry officers when one of them, the aristocratic Lt. D'Hubert (Keith Carradine), is sent by his superior to deliver the message to commoner Lt. Ferraud (Harvey Keitel) that he's to be placed under house arrest for having wounded a man in another duel. Since Ferraud is with a woman at the time, he takes offense at the intrusion and challenges ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Mark Chalon Smith Los Angeles Times	"One of those ambitious but flawed adventures (...) But Scott is still able to capture something extraordinary"	NEU
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"Precise, intelligent, civilized (...) it never for a moment mistakes its narrative purpose"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"The film comes closer to working than it has any right to, given the curious casting and director Ridley Scott's inability to sustain dramatic tension or build a coherent scene"	NEU
United States	David Ansen Newsweek	"The period details are dryly elegant and painstakingly authentic. Yet the film feels underfed - there's not enough meat on the bones of the plot to warrant such opulence"	NEU
United States	Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"Consistently entertaining and eerily beautiful."	POS
United States	TV Guide	"An account of the Napoleonic wars that lacks passion and depth, despite the expert visuals (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Gary Arnold The Washington Post	"Ridley Scott has made a triumphant directing debut by creating a film that looks beautiful but never loses sight of the capacity for animosity and conflict lurking in the human psyche."	POS
United Kingdom	Alex von Tunzelmann The Guardian	"A splendid recreation of Napoleonic France"	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"It does not quite achieve a more lusty visual feel for the times and the strange relations of these two men to themselves and to the women in and out of their lives"	NEU

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