Horatio Hornblower: The Duel

Original title: Hornblower: The Even Chance

TV Movie
1998
1h 33m

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

6.2K

YOUR RATING

Ioan Gruffudd in Horatio Hornblower: The Duel (1998)

Period Drama Adventure Drama War

Horatio Hornblower begins his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.Horatio Hornblower begins his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.Horatio Hornblower begins his naval career, but a deadly feud with a despicable mate is causing complications.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.1/10

6.2K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 2 Primetime Emmys
- 3 wins & 16 nominations total

Trivia
One of the ships used for the film was "The Grand Turk" which is a working replica of a 1790s man-o-war that makes yearly trips throughout Europe and winters in the city of Whitby, England. It was specially built for 'Hornblower', and painted black and buff on one side, and black and red on the other, so that it could double as a British or French ship, depending on the angle it was filmed from.

Goofs
Whenever a cannon is fired, there is hardly any recoil whereas a real gun would fly back at least six feet immediately. This is a result of using enough powder to have a muzzle flash, but not produce any recoil. This was corrected in later movies in the series by having the guns move back the proper distance when fired.

Quotes
Master Bowles: Exceptionally fine shot sir. If I may say so sir.
Captain Sir Edward Pellew: You may Mister Bowles. You may.

Connections
Featured in The 51st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1999)

Soundtracks
Heart of Oak
Traditional
Music by William Boyce
Lyrics by David Garrick

User reviews37

Review

Featured review

7/10

Great Production Values . Great Entertainment

I remember watching one of these HORNBLOWER productions when it was first broadcast in the late 1990s but wasn`t too taken by it , so when ITV decided to repeat the series the only reason I watched The Even Chance was because there was nothing else on . When the end credits rolled I found myself asking how on earth I dismissed it so slightly when it was first broadcast ?

The Even Chance is a superlatively made piece of television , it`s production values are outstanding . Unlike Sean Bean in SHARPE Ioan Gruffudd makes a vulnarable and realistic hero and finds himself at the mercy of the sadistic violent bully Jack Simpson played by Dorian Healy . This well written , well acted television and I look forward to seeing the rest of the HORNBLOWER series