Film and Television

American Experience: The Duel | The Duellists (1978 Movie) | Deadly Duels (1996 Discovery Channel Series)

American Experience: The Duel

Amazon. "The American Experience: The Duel." Explores the relationship between Hamilton-Burr, ending in the famous duel.

Official site "The American Experience: The Duel." Includes a complete transcript, a detailed timeline, unaired interviews with historians, a bibliography and more.

A duel was really a sort of game of dare or counter dare. It really was a case in which one man would step forward and say I'm willing to die to defend my name and the other man would have to step forward and say, I will meet you. And that, as a matter of fact, that was a phrase that they would use. Ritualistic phrase. I will meet you as a gentleman.

The Duellists (1978 Movie)

Amazon. The Duellists, 1978 movie starring Harvey Keitel and Keith Carradine. Directed by Ridley Scott. One reviewer writes:

The sword play is wonderfully visualized as both men fight each other in a series of duels over many years. Both Carradine and Keitel are excellent as two officers serving under Napoleon that must live by a code--no matter how that severe code of honor affects their lives in war or peace time. This excellent action film is a jewel. See it. Hopefully, it will come on DVD soon.

Deadly Duels (1996 Discovery Channel Series)

Amazon. Deadly Duels: V.1 - Duels of Chivalry

Begins with the "Trial by Combat" and the primitive duels of European barbarians. It moves forward to the late middle ages recounting the famous '"Taylor" duel and a bizarre duel between a man and a dog. Duels of Chivalry [ends] with the age of knights and chivalry, showing heavy armor duels, as well as, one of the most famous duels in history, an encounter between Guy Chabot de Jarnac and Francois de Vivonne de La Chataigneraye.

Amazon. Deadly Duels: V.2 - Duels of Honor

Recaps the roots and dueling and takes off during the Renaissance. Duels of Honor explores the code of honor, the weapons, and the famous duels of the early modern era. Duels of Honor then moves forward into the modern age with a look at the democratization of dueling, pistol duels, and bizarre duels, like the duel "au mouchoir," a duel with pistols where the combatants are only separated by the length of a handkerchief. Duels of Honor ends with an intriguing look at the last vestige of dueling today, the German mensur duel. You'll meet some students in Goettingen, Germany who are dueling today.

Amazon. Deadly Duels: V.3 - Dueling in the New World

Recaps the European roots of dueling and then focuses on the regional variations of dueling in America including the wild west duel, duels of southern gentry, and the duels of the northeast elite. Two of the most important duels recreated and discussed are the Andrew Jackson - Charles Dickinson and the Aaron Burr - Alexander Hamilton duels.