The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		1.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie Review

Hit-and-miss video, miss-and-miss audio.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 29, 2012

Mill Creek Home Entertainment again delivers a two-course Spaghetti Western Blu-ray sampler, before serving up The Last Gun and Four Dollars of Revenge and now offering The Grand Duel and Keoma, the latter a pair of can't-miss genre pictures starring Lee Van Cleef and Franco Nero. The films are strong and highly entertaining, the audio is weak, the supplements are next-to-nonexistent, and the video quality ranges from good to medicore-approaching-poor. Do the movies deserve more? Absolutely. Could Mill Creek have charged more money for this set? Yes. Does the the rock-bottom selling price ease the pain of what is the generally lower quality of the release? Absolutely. A the end of the day, audiences are getting two high-quality movies for the price of about a third to a quarter the cost of a "normal" Blu-ray release. Certainly many would gladly pay more for two separate, well-rounded releases, but this two-pack of Spaghetti Westerns fits Mill Creek's aggressive home video model to a "T," and the set alone is worth the price of admission for the films and the quality transfer found on The Grand Duel alone.

Keoma requests...no, demands...you buy his Blu-ray.

The Grand Duel
Score: 3.5/5

There's been a killing. Maybe that's not particularly noteworthy in the old West, but when the victim is Old Man Saxon, patriarch of a powerful clan, eyes open, blame is laid, and justice is sought. But the surviving Saxons -- and there are plenty of them -- have identified a supposedly innocent man, Philipp Wermeer (Peter O'Brien), as the killer. Sufficiently convinced of his guilt -- or angry enough to want someone, anyone, strung up for the murder -- the clan goes on the hunt for its suspect, but little do the Saxon's know that they'll have to deal with a sharpshooting lawman by the name of Clayton (Lee Van Cleef) who makes it his personal mission to protect the innocent Wermeer. But how can Clayton be sure of this man's guilt or innocence? He has inside knowledge, knows the true identity of Saxon's murderer. With bullets flying, the bodies piling up, nerves shredding, and time ticking away to disaster, only Clayton's truth, fast draw, quick trigger pull, and deadly accuracy can prevent an innocent man from hanging for a crime he didn't commit.

Call it by any of its titles -- The Grand Duel, The Big Showdown, Storm Rider -- but also call it "entertaining." Director Giancarlo Santi's Whatchamacallit satisfies from start to finish in traditionally entertaining and well-made Spaghetti Western style. The movie's got plenty of shootouts, all well-staged, exciting, and largely implausible. Yet there's also a well-rounded story that sufficiently keeps Old Man Saxon's killer's identity under wraps until the final minutes. Certainly the list of suspects is small and narrows considerably as the film moves along, but the revelation still doesn't come absolutely expectedly, the film leaving at least one primary suspect up for the choosing until seconds prior to the reveal. The characters are constructed a bit beyond flat stereotypes, and the supporting performances further shape them beyond the clothes they wear and the words they speak. The Grand Duel, or whatever one may wish to call it, satisfies on all levels. It's a quality, action-packed, sometimes even dramatically intoxicating picture that's as nicely photographed and pieced together as most any other upper-second-tier genre picture out there. This may not be the first name (or second or third, as the case may be) in the Spaghetti Western world, but The Grand Duel is a film that Western fans definitely need to know.

Keoma
Score: 4/5

Keoma (Franco Nero) is a half-Indian Civil War veteran returning to his home, Skidoo City. He finds it overrun by a deadly plague. Survivors and the dead alike are taken to a nearby mine, quarantined from the rest of the world. He rescues one woman, Lisa (Olga Karlatos), from a fate at the mine, hoping to find her proper medical treatment rather than allow her to suffer through an agonizingly slow death. Meanwhile, he also learns that the town has been taken over by a band of outlaws led by a dangerous man named Caldwell (Donald O'Brian). Under Caldwell are three men, Butch (Orso Maria Guerrini), Sam (Joshua Sinclair), and Lenny (Antonio Marsina), who are Keoma's half-brohters. They never much liked Keoma; he was an object of ridicule and disgust in their youths, the brothers angry that their father William (William Berger) took Keoma in as a boy and raised him as if he were his own flesh-and-blood. Now, reunited with his old mentor George (Woody Strode) -- a man reduced to a shell of his former self and now merely a functioning alcoholic rather than the honed, expert fighter of his earlier days -- Keoma must confront his brothers and the entire Caldwell gang if his home is to ever be again as it once was.

Keoma embraces something of an oddball style, runs with it, and succeeds in allowing music to define the film and slow-motion photography to shape the action. Director Enzo G. Castellari's picture features some out-there musical cues -- there are a few times audiences might rightly think the movie was made on another planet, or at least its sounds were selected by a Science Fiction filmmaker -- that actually enhance the oddity yet bring together a tale of hate, misunderstanding, and superficial judgment. Indeed, Keoma is a classic film of family torn apart by hate, a family that refuses to accept that brotherhood may extend beyond bloodlines, heritage, even outward appearance. The film's themes are basic and universal, and by working them into a film that's anything but yields a rather unique and even intoxicating flavor that would be absent in a more conventional picture where it might seem the themes are merely recycled in a frame of general Western workings. Keoma also succeeds on the surface. The gun battles are intense and accentuated by some startling slow-motion photography; watch for a scene where the hero is dragged by horse through the mud and the muck in slow motion. It accentuates the drama and yields some impressive visuals, two key elements in the success of any Western, Spaghetti or otherwise.

The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Grand Duel
Score: 4/5

Of all the Mill Creek Blu-ray video presentations, this one ranks at or near the top. The studio's high definition image of The Grand Duel dazzles, generally, from beginning to end. Save for a few spots where slight softness and a hint of pastiness appear, the image offers up a naturally film-like presentation that should satisfy all comers. Grain retention is evident throughout, appearing light but consistent. Details are often extraordinary. The sandy and pebbly terrain appears razor-sharp even at some distance. Rock faces near and far retain their natural intricacies. Strong, natural, film-like details are revealed on faces and clothes. The transfer captures close-ups of scratched-up firearms, well-used playing cards, worn-down wagons, and weathered building façades with great clarity and attention to detail. Colors are steady and accurate, whether the red, white, and blue of the American flag or the more general shades of earthy Western terrain. Black levels satisfy, and flesh tones appear true. The image is largely free of wear and tear, banding is minimal, and blocky backgrounds and edge halos are absent. This is a worry-free transfer from Mill Creek.

Keoma
Score: 2.5/5

Mill Creek follows up on the video success of The Grand Duel with a fairly poor transfer for Keoma. Like The Grand Duel, grain is present here, but rather than organic and free-moving, it's instead frozen in place. The result is an image saddled with a noticeable reduction in vitality and expert detailing. Worn leathery objects, dusty clothes, and the like can and often do appear unfortunately lifeless. To be sure, the image still captures some very nice and complex textures in brighter scenes. Rough and worn human faces, edgy rock textures, and similarly-complex elements often appear sharp and accurate. But there's also a flatness to much of the image, and the frozen grain truly interferes with some darker scenes. Note a hazy, smoky bar interior that, with the frozen grain, appears as simply one of the most unnatural and visually unpleasant scenes on Blu-ray. On the plus side, colors are nicely balanced, appearing with accurate flesh tones, natural greens, and stable gray and white rock formations. The print shows only sporadic speckling, but edge halos and occasional softness leave the image wanting. It's a shame Keoma fails to live up to the standard set by The Grand Duel.

The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Grand Duel
Score: 1.5/5

Unlike the high quality video transfer, Mill Creek's DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack for The Grand Duel is pretty spotty, to be kind. Listeners will immediately note that the track takes on a decidedly crunchy, unkempt sort of presentation. Though it plays with more than enough energy and volume (and too much of the latter at reference levels), nearly every musical note, sound effect, and syllable of dialogue is in some way flawed. Music plays with a kind of crunchy edge. It does offer fair energy, though, with rattly, piercing, and unkempt highs, a crunchy midrange, and a poor low end. At best, the presentation sounds extremely harsh and even difficult on the ears; even the audible playfulness of a chase scene in chapter three is lost to the shrieking piano strokes that pierce the soundstage with an unwelcoming shrill. Sound effects, generally, stink. Crunchy horse footsteps across rough terrain or rushing waters as heard in chapter twelve play with nearly no audible definition, coming across instead as merely a wall of garbled sound. Ambient effects, likewise, amount to little more than random sonic elements scattered around the stage. Gunfire, whether a barrage of pistol shots or the constant rattle of an automatic weapon, does manage to improve upon the general effects, playing with a more focused, balanced, and even natural flair. Dialogue is at best adequate, the spoken word at least understood, but the presentation is crunchy, hissy, detached, and harsh. It's not always focused up the middle, sometimes venturing far off to the sides even when the action is front-and-center. Lip sync is rather far off as well, sometimes, seemingly, nearly an entire word behind by the looks of it. Yes, this one could stand just a little adjusting here and there.

Keoma
Score: 1.5/5

Keoma's video transfer might fall far behind that of The Grand Duel, but its DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack falls right in line with that film's poor quality audio presentation. Indeed, this track reflects many of the same attributes of the one reviewed above. The film begins with a heavy blowing wind that's identifiable by sound and context, but the sensation is hollow and empty, merely a shell of a true effect. Most sound effects follow suit, whether footsteps on wooden floors or gun shots that offer up a basic thud and punch but little more. Then there are those moments when the track goes so quiet, so absent of even slight ambience, that it's almost as if it's dropped out completely (and that's not counting those times when the track really does go silent by design). Dialogue, too, sounds rather hollow, with sync often off so that words don't match lip movements, and there ae even times when a thud or a punch or a gunshot or a fall to the ground seems a split-second behind the action. But constantly in the background is an audible scratchy, buzzing hiss that comes to annoy the listening audience and detract from the feature. A few effects here and there show some stability and signs of life, but generally this is a rather poor presentation all around.

The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All that's included are the trailers for The Grand Duel (480p, 2:54) and Keoma (480p, 3:44).

The Grand Duel / Keoma Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Both Keoma and The Grand Duel are fine Spaghetti Westerns. Though grossly different styles and stories, the films showcase the genre at its best, or at least somewhere near the upper regions of the charts. Quality filmmaking, strong acting, fine action, and engaging plots make these films a must for any Western fan. Mill Creek's Blu-ray, unfortunately, features poor audio and next-to-no supplements. However, the video qualities vary greatly, with The Grand Duel impressing and Keoma depressing, a shame because the latter is a great film, very well photographed and deserving of a better release. Nevertheless, for two films of this quality and for only a few dollars for both, it's next to impossible to say "no."