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Our second Ridley Scott episode! With his newest theatrical film, The Last Duel (at least, for two more months, until House of Gucci), already coming and going from theaters despite solid reviews, it became notable that Scott’s first feature film also has “duel” in the title — The Duellists. Ted Haycraft joins this episode to talk Scott’s forgotten films, both his recent outing with a Affleck/Damon (and Nicole Holofcener!) script, and his pre-Alien debut. We discuss:

- why even the most dedicated cinephiles, from Ted to Edgar Wright, have blindspots of movies they haven’t seen;
- the tired narrative of adult movies being too smart for audiences and thusly doomed to failure;
- The Last Duel’s Rashomon-structure;
- and when Scott’s output pace went from visionary, to intermittently forgettable, and back to the occasionally brilliant, such as with The Last Duel.

Also:

- Scott’s pre-feature experience in commercials;
- why The Duellists’s reliance on Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon makes it Scott’s only derivative film;
- how many major directors’ debut films did Harvey Keitel star in;
- and why Scott’s output pace obscures how his lesser films would be other directors’ masterpieces.

Though its most recent Blu-ray is out of print, The Duellists is available on VOD and other services, like Kanopy. The Last Duel is still in theaters.