This film essentially begins with an accused killer by the name of "Philip Vermeer" (Alberto Dentice) being cornered in a small stagecoach rest station by several bounty hunters eager for the $3000 reward for bringing him in dead or alive. As it so happens, one of the passengers on a recently arrived stagecoach is a former marshal by the name of "Sheriff Clayton" (Lee Van Cleef) who becomes curious as to what all of the fuss is about. As a result, he gets out of the stagecoach and slowly walks directly into the building where Philip Vermeer has decided to make his last stand. Not long afterward, he walks out dragging the dead body of the outlaw behind him. However, when the bounty hunters approach to claim their part in the reward they find that Sheriff Clayton has no interest in handing him over to them. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this had all of the ingredients for a good Western but the director (Giancarlo Santi) wasn't quite able to connect all of the pieces together very well as the film seemed choppy and badly edited. Likewise, some of the stunts were much too implausible and unnecessary. Admittedly, Lee Van Cleef put on a fine performance but it just wasn't enough for me to rate this film higher than I have. Below average.
Review of The Grand Duel
