the time it opened 
in the early 1970s, The Grand Duel was something of an anachronism. The demand for traditional spaghetti westerns was waning fast thanks to genre-twisting offerings from Hollywood like Little Big Man, the sudden renewed demand for thrillers and horror films from Italy, and the slapstick antics of Terence Hill and company. Even Sergio Leone was throwing in the towel, and star Lee Van Cleef was only destined to make another trio of oaters himself before switching back over to more modern action roles. However, the quality of the film itself has made it a perpetual favorite among fans with multiple video editions winning over subsequent generations.
ense of visual flair, The Grand Duel was directed by Leone disciple Giancarlo Santi (who did second unit work on several classic films for the director) and has a very similar feel, ranging from Van Cleef's avenging black angel (straight out of For a Few Dollars More) to the pivotal monochrome flashbacks setting up the final multi-gunman climax. The evocative score by Luis Bacalov is also 
very memorable and effective (with the best cue later used for the anime sequence in Kill Bill, Vol. 1), though the film also has its share of absurdist humor including one startling stunt that wouldn't be out of place in a Warner Bros. cartoon. O'Brien is actually pretty good here, and it's a shame he didn't go on to do more work; however, it's really Van Cleef's show all the way, and his fans should find this one worth more than a couple of viewings.
standard def only here is anyone's guess, but the 
master here looks virtually identical to the Blu-ray in terms of color grading and framing but is obviously limited to the visual constraints of NTSC. This one features the on-screen title of Grand Duel and actually runs five seconds longer for some reason, but nothing significantly different seemed to jump out. The big extra on the DVD is a new audio commentary with western writer C. Courtney Joyner (who also penned Prison and Class of 1999) and Westernpunk's Henry Parke, which is pretty much worth the double dip. Both are very well versed in westerns of both the American and Italian variety, covering the various character actors and narrative influences as well as the distinctive role of such elements as torture in European westerns and the brief but surprising female nudity that had a few critics raising their eyebrows. Also included are the English international trailer and a bonus spaghetti western trailer reel including titles like A Bullet for the General, Django, Four of the Apocalypse, Keoma, Mannaja - A Man Called Blade, Run Man Run, and Texas, Adios. 
for several ideas 
that turned up in the script. The enigmatic O'Brien/Dentice finally has his say in "Cowboy by Chance" (35m32s), explaining how acting came through his theater and music-oriented pursuits to this film including a variety of shooting locations, his odd character name ("I always played Dutchmen"), and one scene in particular that he found "humiliating" but went along with anyway. In "The Day of the Big Showdown" (21m7s), assistant director Harald Buggenig goes into the "delicate matter" of dealing with Van Cleef at the time and his other various adventures in the Italian film industry, while "Out of the Box" (29m2s) with producer Ettore Rosboch recalling his time in the glory days of European cinema rubbing shoulders with the greats in the late '60s and early '70s including Gian Maria Volonte as distributors came up with new ways to fund projects around Europe. Academic Simon Fisher offers his own take on the film in "Saxon City Showdown" (15m32s) as an evolution in Van Cleef's screen persona, while "Two Different Duels" (15m38s) offers a comparison of the film's standard release cut and the alternate version prepared for Germany. The odd sci-fi short film "Game Over" (9m12s) from 1984, directed by Bernard Villiot, is included due to the presence of actor Marc Mazza and comes from a pretty lo-res SD master. Finally, "Marc Mazza: Who Was the Rider on the Rain?" (12m32s) is a video essay by Mike Malloy about the bit part actor who had a small but pivotal role in a certain Charles Bronson film and turned up all over Europe for decades far more than you'd probably realize. The disc rounds out with the Italian and English international trailers and a trio of galleries: stills, posters and press; lobby cards; and Super 7, home video and soundtrack sleeves. The release also comes with reversible art including a new design by Matt Griffin. Arrow Video (Blu-ray)
Mill Creek (Blu-ray)
Blue Underground (DVD)
Updated review on May 8, 2019.
