"Duel" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Lord Dalek]

The Most Bizarre Murder Weapon Ever Created!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/lorddalek/duel.jpg

The First Film Directed by Steven Spielberg


Release Date: November 17, 1971 (original 75 minute ABC Movie of the Week version), 1972 (90-minute European theatrical cut)
Studio: Universal
Director: Steven Spielberg
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 (Europe: 1.66:1)
Starring: Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone, Jacqueline Scott, Gene Dynarski, Cary Loftin

Synopsis: David Mann is just a regular family man on a business trip. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse when a huge gasoline truck in front of him forces him to drive slower than he wants. As the drive continues, Mann realizes that he's not dealing with just another road hog. Though he can never see the trucker's face, the driver proves to be psychopathic, starting to run Mann off the road and trick or force him into a number of deadly situations. As the horrific trip continues, Mann tries to lose the truck, but each time he thinks he's finally in the clear, the truck returns to terrify him more. Finally, the horrific conflict builds to a point where he realizes that running won't save him, and that he must take a stand and fight back against the insane trucker.

COMMENTS?

As part of a master plan to do a talkback for every Spielberg film where one does not exist (IE: Jaws), I will be doing ones sporadically throughout the upcoming months. The first is Steven's feature length debut "Duel", originally made in 1971 for TV.

[Michael24]

I love this movie. Definitely one of my favorite Spielberg films. The suspense just grows and grows and seems like it's never going to let up. Dennis Weaver is good, though I believe he wasn't the first choice. (I once read that Universal was willing to make it a theatrical film if Spielberg cast a bigger-name star--forget who the studio wanted--but he was dead set on casting Weaver even if it meant doing it for television.) And to think one of the best sequences, the truck trying to push Mann's car into a speeding train, was not in the original TV version, but added later to stretch the movie out to feature-length for overseas theatrical release!

If only TV movies nowadays could be like this. :(

[Daikun]

I love this movie. I first watched it a decade ago and fell in love with it. I have it on VHS and I'm still addicted.

[Michael24]

It's on DVD, incase you didn't know. Comes with two new Spielberg interviews. One where he talks about the film and another where he talks about his television career. Both are pretty good.

[Classic Speedy]

I remember when I first watched this, I was about 11 or 12. My dad said that I had to see this movie, I said in a very blase tone: "Whatever..." But he sat me down in front of it and after the truck driver first lied to David by waving that he could pass but a car was actually coming in the other lane, I was sucked in. Who was this guy? What did he have against David? Was there any way to escape his clutches?

Even though there were a lot of tension-filled scenes such as the aforementioned railroad scene, my personal favorite was when David stopped at the gas station/cafe and was trying to find the driver based on his boots. Good stuff.

[Silly McGooses]

This was good, but waaaaay too long; just the same idea repeated over and over and over again. Would have worked better as a half hour Twilight Zone episode, IMO, where lots of Matheson's other stories were adapted. Worth watching once, but painfully slow, IMO.

[Sharklady]

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I want to. Everybody seems to agree it was the first Spielberg work to effectively showcase the man's talent.

[Gatomon41]

IT'S TIME TO-

Wait, wrong series....

Anyways, I would have nevered bother with the movie. Then I learned Matheson wrote it. Now I'm going to check it out.

[Silly McGooses]

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I want to. Everybody seems to agree it was the first Spielberg work to effectively showcase the man's talent.
I love Eyes from Night Gallery, which was his, starring Joan Crawford.

[Michael24]

I wish somebody could release a Steven Spielberg TV Collection that contains all of the episodic TV work he's done. I've seen just about every film he's directed, but except for Duel, have seen none of his TV work, such as his Night Gallery and Columbo episodes.

[Bones Justice]

Great movie. I recall reading somewhere that the network was frightened by the lack of dialogue. I also recall reading somewhere that this movie was one of the inspirations for classic pocket-game Car Wars.