La leyenda de un valiente

That's something you don't see every day . A western that doesn't take place in the United States , has no native American characters or white guys with American accents but THE LONG DUEL is undoubtedly a western that has been relocated from the American plains to British run India . Hey even most of the protagonists are called Indians and that's no coincidence .

THE LONG DUEL is by no means a terrible wretched movie but it is rather mediocre . The story as I mentioned is something that has appeared countless times where an injun war party has gone on the loose and it's up to a sympathetic calvary officer to negotiate with the dove and kill the hawk only this time the Indians are Hindus and the calvary officer is a fine upstanding spiffing chap

The production values are hardly outstanding with some very obvious studio exteriors and back screen projection and no doubt the PC fascists will have a field day when they see that most of the Asians aren't actually Asian at all but a bunch of British actors in dark make up . The film does contain some gun battles and fist fights so it's not exactly a total bore and one scene with a fugitive hiding down a well does contain some suspense . Make up your own mind as to the movies merits

"Sultan" (Yul Brynner) leads his largely peaceable tribe as the days of the Raj increasingly impose themselves on their day-to-day living. Imprisoned after a raid, they manage to break out of the fort but one of their guards is killed, This serves to galvanise the Governor (Maurice Denham) to appoint a solider tasked with apprehending this man before his disorder spreads. To that end he engages the rather unpopular but effective "Capt. Young" (Trevor Howard). What now ensues are a series of cat-and-mouse escapades as each man vies for the upper hand. The story of a principled man fighting for freedom against the oppressor is quite effective and both Brynner and Howard are on reasonable form as the two characters begin to respect each other, but the rest of the cast - especially the sterile Harry Andrews as "Stafford" and the even more curiously cast Andrew Keir as the turban-clad "Gungaram" - rather let the thing down. The (Spanish) location photography adds richness to the story and there is enough action to help us overlook a rather implausible romance between Howard and "Jane" (Charlotte Rampling) and the rather wordy dialogue that dogs this otherwise adequate costume drama. It ends in rather an underwhelming, if optimistic, fashion but I like the genre and this is perfectly watchable - just a bit long and not very memorable.

This has simply been unfairly misunderstood. It's a great romantic adventure story exposing conflicting mentalities in the last days of the Indian Raj, when some British already started to doubt their presence there. Harry Andrews is the hopeless imperialist who knows only one way to govern and that by force, while Trevor Howard tries the other way: dialogue and understanding. Yul Brynner is the freedom fighter with a just cause who knows he is right and struggles against opposition in his own camp to achieve it with tragic results, due to the hardcore inflexibility of the British military authorities (Harry Andrews). Charlotte Rampling plays an unusual part as a female diplomatic intermediary, and her character is the only one who is not quite convincing, which unfavourable impression is worsened by her horrible hair style - utterly impossible in India.

Additional merits of the film is the overwhelming sweeping landscape scenes catching the wilderness of the Himalayas, and the music, which underlines and augments the romantic character of the film. Yul Brynner is always interesting and makes memorable characters, and also Trevor Howard and Harry Andrews are well up to their ordinary excellent standard, while the story and its lesson of experience, wisdom and humanity is the main importance of this very underrated film.

I saw this as a boy on its first release. It was supported by Eric Sykes' much shorter, mainly silent comedy, THE PLANK, still recalled today while DUEL soon vanished into obscurity. I enjoyed it at the time, but then all the scenery and action in colour on the big screen seemed marvellous in those days of black and white TV.

This is similar to several films of a decade earlier, notably Terence Young's ZARAK (1956) which had stony-faced Victor Mature playing the titular rebel, though Yul Brynner and his gang of mostly 'browned-up' British character actors generally do a more efficient job than their counterparts in the former production. DUEL is also set in a later period, the 1920s, reflecting a time in which the futility of British rule was becoming more apparent, but there is little that is overtly political here. Instead we get the collision of attitudes between hard-line authoritarian Harry Andrews and the liberal Trevor Howard, a familiar theme in everything from prison dramas to westerns. Both actors give their usual authoritative performances, all the more impressive given some of the uninspired writing. I always like Charlotte Rampling, but her appearance seems too modern for the time. There are lots of fights, ambushes and shoot-ups and it works on the level of a run-of-the-mill western, but who on earth came up with the idea of the cheesy pop song for the closing credits?

THE LONG DUEL is a British adventure film about an Indian uprising in the 19th century presided over by a bandit leader played by the inimitable Yul Brynner. Watching it these days, it's clear that this is a very dated production, and perhaps the film was picked out for merciless spoofing in the excellent CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER.

However, it isn't a bad film, just not one of the best of the genre. It suffers from being overlong and too slow, with long scenes that drag out between the important bits. Still, the viewer is treated to the spectacle of Brynner doing his patented action man routine and Trevor Howard acting against him as the classic stiff-upper-lip Brit with a heart. Supporting actors include Harry Andrews as the idiot in charge, more minor roles for Hammer players including Andrew Keir, George Pastell, and the lovely Imogen Hassall, and the appearance of a surprisingly young Charlotte Rampling.

The action elements of the film are handled pretty well with the usual excitement. A set-piece attack on a train is a highlight here, as is the fiery ambush on the British barracks, but the film only really kicks into top gear at the excellent large-scale climax. Moments of occasional heart and poignancy make this worth a watch, meanwhile.