The Duellists - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Duellists or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Duellists

[jeffrey]

D'Hubert wears the uniform of the 3rd Hussars regiment, while Feraud wears that of the 7th. There were as many as twelve regiments of Hussars in the Napoleonic Army at its height. Their role as light cavalry was mainly scouting and skirmishing. They regarded themselves as the elite of the cavalry, although many saw them as reckless wild cards. Their colorful uniforms and glamorous, devil-may-care attitudes, were attractive to the ladies, and consequently they also had reputations for licentious behavior that often preceded them. They were renowned for their fighting spirit and fiercely guarded code of honor. The film captures all of these elements to various degrees.

[frederick]

The Joseph Fouché character in this film (played by Albert Finney) was the First French Duc d'Otrante; this title is often known in English translations as the Duke of Otranto. The characters of Armand D'Hubert and Gabriel Feraud in this film, and its source Joseph Conrad short story, had names which were slightly altered by Conrad from the real life duelist Hussars who inspired the characters. They were called Pierre-Antoine comte Dupont de l'Étang and François Louis Fournier-Sarlovèze respectively. As such, in short, Dupont became D'Hubert, and Fournier became Feraud.

[edgar]

The two historical men the story is based on were named Pierre Dupont de l'Étang (Armand) and François Fourier-Sarlovèze (Gabriel). They fought their first duel against each other in 1794 and would continue to fight some 30 duels over the next 19 years. They stuck to swords because Dupont wanted to avoid a pistol duel as Fourier was said to be a crack shot. Unlike their fictional counterparts, the real men were cordial with each other when not dueling and even dined together following their battles. After 19 years Dupont sought to end the duels, so he allowed pistols to be the weapons used for the first time. As in the film the two men stalked each other in the woods with two pistols allowed to fire at will. Dupont tricked Fourier into wasting his shots on two dummy targets he cobbled together. He then approached Fourier with both pistols aimed. When he had gotten to point blank range he said that if Fourier were to ever challenge him again, then the weapons would be pistols and Dupont would get the first two shots from three feet way. Faced with the possibility of certain death Fourier withdrew the challenge permanently.

[michele]

During the scene where D'Hubert (Keith Carradine) asks Adèle (Cristina Raines) to marry him, she starts to laugh. This laughter was not intentional. According to director Ridley Scott, she actually had a hard time keeping a straight face since one of the horses had a huge erection.

[jessie]

Due to the film's limited budget, and his determination to appear in the film, Albert Finney's salary for this movie was a case of champagne. He would go on to work with Ridley Scott again in A Good Year (2006).

[caroline]

Cristina Raines, who played Adèle, D'Hubert's wife, was Keith Carradine's girlfriend at the time. He suggested her for the part, partly because she would have been on the set with him anyway.

[aaron]

Because Harvey Keitel insisted on throwing aside his pistol at the end of that duel, Ridley Scott had to provide mattresses and prop men underneath and out of view of the action, in order to protect the pistols from damage, since they were antiques and the most expensive props of the entire production, costing about £17,000 apiece.

[oscar]

Because of the limited budget, the film was shot entirely on-location in France, England, and Scotland. No sets or buildings were built at all. Every building in the movie was an existing structure.

[kristina]

According to the director's commentary, this film attempted to mimic the luscious photography of Barry Lyndon (1975), which itself had attempted to emulate the paintings of that film's historical period. Intentional or not, but Gay Hamilton appeared in both films.

[scarlett]

In the notes for the liner of the soundtrack album, the writer states that Michael York and Oliver Reed were Ridley Scott's first choice for the lead actors, but "proved to be unavailable".

[oscar]

Screenwriter Gregory Widen stated in an interview that the film was his inspiration behind Highlander (1986).

[clayton]

This film was released sixty-nine years after its source short story "The Duel: A Military Story", a.k.a. "The Point of Honor", by Joseph Conrad was published in 1908. The story was serialized in 1908 in Britain's Pall Mall Magazine, and in the same year in the U.S., under the title "The Point of Honor" in the periodical "Forum". It was also, in 1908, collected as part of the "A Set of Six" anthology, and this was published in 1924.

[addison]

The cinematic directorial debut of Ridley Scott.

[claude]

The film's source short story by Joseph Conrad, was based on a true story of two real-life French Hussar officers, who regularly fought real duels together during the reign of Napoléon Bonaparte. Nick Evangelista said of this real-life story in "The Encyclopedia of the Sword": "As a young officer in Napoleon's Army, Dupont was ordered to deliver a disagreeable message to a fellow officer, Fournier, a rabid duelist. Fournier, taking out his subsequent rage on the messenger, challenged Dupont to a duel. This sparked a succession of encounters, waged with sword and pistol, that spanned decades. The contest was eventually resolved when Dupont was able to overcome Fournier in a pistol duel, forcing him to promise never to bother him again."

[leo]

Theatrical feature film debut of director Ridley Scott, who won the Best First Film Award at the 30th Cannes Film Festival in 1977. The movie was also the first film of cinematographer Frank Tidy, as well as the first cinema movie of Pete Postlethwaite, who played the small role of a man shaving General Treillard.

[duane]

The duellists, on whom the film's dueling lead characters were based, fenced their first duel in 1794. The loser gentlemanly demanded a rematch. However, there was not just one more duel, there were thirty more conducted over nearly the next twenty years after. The two officers fought in a variety of ways: horse mounted and on foot, and with sabres, rapiers, and swords.

[albert]

Iron Maiden's song "The Duellists" from the album "Powerslave" is a song inspired by this movie.