A Kubrick classic and the Ridley Scott film it inspired.
We know your watching time is limited. And the amount of things available to watch … is not. Looking for a movie? Nearly any movie ever made? It's probably streaming somewhere. That's a lot of movies. |
Below, we're suggesting two of them, the latest of our weekly double-feature recommendations. We think the movies will pair well — with each other and with you. |
Your weekly double feature: Pistols (and swords) at dawn |
 | | Ryan O'Neal and Marisa Berenson in "Barry Lyndon."Warner Bros. |
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'Barry Lyndon' and 'The Duellists' |
With "Barry Lyndon" (1975), Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of the William Makepeace Thackeray novel "The Luck of Barry Lyndon," the director made at once the most sumptuous, decorous costume drama imaginable and a sharp stick in the eye to the whole subgenre. Here was a three-hour 18th century epic devoted to the knockabout adventures of a vain, jealous scoundrel who is heroic only by comparison to the rotted aristocracy he labors so mightily to join. Like many Kubrick films, it wasn't instantly recognized as a masterpiece. |
Now streaming on HBO Max, "Barry Lyndon" is an absolute hoot, a sardonic and wickedly funny period piece that's also a feast for the eyes, with painterly compositions and an attention to detail that accounts for the four technical Oscars it won. Ryan O'Neal stars as a rural Irishman whose thwarted love for a pretty cousin — and talent for winning duels when challenged — sets him on a course through the British and Prussian armies, to the gambling tables of wealthy suckers and, finally, into the arms of a countess (Marisa Berenson), whose husband kicks the bucket. Seemingly every character in the film earns a well-deserved comeuppance. |
It may have taken time for Kubrick's film to be fully appreciated, but it was a primary influence on Ridley Scott's fine debut feature, "The Duellists" (1977), and not merely because so many of its conflicts are resolved by sword. The absurdities of social status is also a driving force here, as two low-ranking officers in Napoleon's army, played by Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel, square off in a duel over a perceived slight to an ill-tempered lieutenant. The first duel ends inconclusively, but the two fight again and again over the years, long past the point where the rationale for their dispute can be remembered. SCOTT TOBIAS |
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