The Duellists
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: January 13, 1978 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
Chicago ReaderDave Kehr
The film comes closer to working than it has any right to, given the curious casting (Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel) and director Ridley Scott's inability to sustain dramatic tension or build a coherent scene. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
The film's outstanding beauty is not enough to compensate its slim story, which remains preoccupied with the duellists' insane obsession with military codes of conduct and personal honor. Read full review
60
VarietyStaff (Not Credited)
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. Read full review
60
NewsweekDavid Ansen
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. [30 Jan 1978, p.55]
50
Time OutStaff (Not Credited)
Scott, a name in TV commercials making his first feature, brings little overall thrust, working instead in short bursts. Read full review
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