Sheriff Lee Van Cleef aids a fugitive convicted of murder in his escape from a group of vicious bounty hunters and involves himself in a murder mystery involving the fugitive and a powerful family of three ruthless brothers.The Grand Duel is watchable but not particularly exciting or memorable, with the plot taking way too much time to develop with Van Cleef's motivations remaining murky a bit longer than they should.Horst Frank is good as the eldest brother with delusions of grandeur. His effeminate psycho brother is a lot of fun to watch too.The title event where Van Cleef takes on multiple gunmen is the best thing about the movie.

Awesome spaghetti western, with a Lee Van Cleef who never ever looked coolers in his life and arguably the greatest theme song ever composed for a film (and that's something Quentin Tarantino probably agrees with as he also selected the song for the soundtrack of "Kill Bill"). Van Cleef plays former Sheriff Clayton, and obviously he's the type of gunslinger whose eyes are never really closed when he lies asleep with his hat over his face and who spots the hideout of every potential enemy without even lifting his head. Riding along with a traveling stagecoach, Clayton is on the trail of a young fugitive outlaw named Philippe Vermeer. Not for the $1.000 reward on his head, like all the other bounty hunters they encounter along the way, but to keep an eye on him as he's heading towards Saxon City to settle a personal vendetta. Saxon City is kept under the thumbs of the three rich and utterly corrupted Saxon brothers David, Eli and Adam (too bad none of them is named John…) and they falsely accused Philippe of killing their father at Jefferson train station. Although Philippe is innocent of that crime and wisely better stays away from Saxon City, he nevertheless insists on returning to find and get even with the murderer of his own father. Sheriff Clayton just happens to be the only person who can help him with that. "The Grand Duel" has everything you could possible seek in a western: outrageous shootouts, invincible heroes and psychopathic villains (especially Adam, the youngest Saxon, is oddly menacing), compelling sub plots, jaw-dropping moments of intensity, magnificent decors and breath-taking exterior locations and – as said already – an impeccable soundtrack. Director Giancarlo Santi might not be the most prominent name in the field of classic Italian westerns, but he obviously paid close attention to the films of the masters (like Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci and Sergio Sollima). Admittedly I'm being a bit too generous and biased here, but it's a brilliantly entertaining example of a sadly extinct cinematic genre.

This is a brilliant Italian/German/Monocco western that is vastly underrated with touches of Italian Giallo, a little Neo Realism and Nourish properties as well.....also being trendy via having one of the characters, the youngest of the brothers to be homosexual and deadly with a gun...also and interesting mix of flashback desaturated blue filtered monochrome/black and white photography....the film is finally on DVD thru Treeline films, part of a vast 50 films DVD collection.....the only drawback is the film is only formatted via Pan and Scan, which is very apparent, almost like watching a tennis match....well anyway a widescreen print is available this will have to do, but even in Pan and Scan , this is a Grand film and highly recommended for Van Cleef and non Van Cleef fans..also a brilliant score by future Academy Award winner Luis Enrique Bacalov which is making a comeback via the soundtrack to Kill Bill Vol 1.....please get this film along with the collection I mentioned earlier....not bad for $25.00....thanks

The Grand Duel is one of the most under-rated Spaghetti Westerns ever made. Van Cleef returns as the Man in Black and he is at the top of his game. Good action scenes and a great sound track by Luis Enriquez Bacalov under the name Sergio Bardotti. Beware of the cut version under the title Storm Rider.