Customer Reviews

Duel [VHS]

5 star:		(185)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

DUEL is the film that made Steven Spielberg a household word in Hollywood--and for good reason. Though made in only three weeks on a budget of less than $500,000, this superlative made-for-TV movie helped to launch his career beyond the stars.

This is an extremely lean but effective psychological thriller with Dennis Weaver (of "Gunsmoke" fame) effectively portraying the first of Spielberg's favorite characters, the Everyman--in this case, an average auto motorist driving to a business appointment on a lonely California highway. He tries to pass a road-hogging diesel truck; but when he does, the truck goes after him for the rest of the way. Neither Weaver nor the viewer ever sees the truck driver, with the exception of a beefy hand and a pair of cowboy boots; but it's perfectly obvious that this man is a total psychopath.

Though suffering from some slight technical flaws, DUEL is brilliantly directed by Spielberg. The film's screenplay is by the always-excellent sci-fi/horror writer Richard Matheson, who based it on a short story he had published in the April '71 edition of Playboy magazine. Matheson, known for such novels as "I Am Legend" and scripts for "The Twilight Zone", is a master at this kind of mind-bending terror, and the combination of his and Spielberg's talents results in one of the most gut-wrenching and emotionally draining suspense films of all times. One can see its influence on later films like the underrated 1997 thriller BREAKDOWN, and as a chilling precursor to today's violent, real-life incidents of road rage. A must-see!

Just as many people find themselves viewing the shower with trepidation after viewing Psycho, I've found myself wary to get on interstate highways after viewing Duel. A 1971 tv-movie (that was, yes, the first film to be directed by Steven Spielberg), Duel is an effectively, simple little film that sticks with you long after the end credits have run. Dennis Weaver plays a businessman travelling alone across a desolate strip of America. For reasons that neither he nor the viewer can quite understand (and, for once, this makes the film's terror all the more effective), a truck driver targets Weaver and for the next hour and a half, we watch as Weaver struggles to survive against a faceless, seemingly more powerful opponent. It's a simple premise but it is also a premise that taps into our deepest fears of the unknown. Weaver's struggle is made all the more terrifying because it seems to just happen at random. Weaver is targeted for no specific reason and, as unfair as that might seem to both him and the viewer, he now has no choice but to try to survive.

Duel works because of the talents of a young Steven Spielberg and the likeable everyman performance of Dennis Weaver. Indeed, Weaver's contribution has often been overshadowed by the hype surrounding Spielberg's involvement and that's a shame because he gives a truly perfect performance, a worthy model for actors (especially those currently sleepwalking through today's crop of horror films) everywhere. Weaver is one of those talented actors who, because he was never a showy performer and for the most part limited himself to television work, has never really gotten his due. In Duel, he is totally believable as an ordinay man caught up in an extradorinary situation. From the minute he first appears on screen, viewers can easily accept him as their surrogate and it is this indentifiability that makes what happens to him so enthralling and disturbing. As for Spielberg, this film proves that, had he not gotten into his head to be a great filmmaker, Speilberg could have had a very lucrative and rewarding career as a modern day Roger Corman. Using the techniques he would later hone to perfection in Jaws, Spielberg crafts an unpretentious, massively entertaining horror film that never loses sight of reality. Working with essentially one actor and one set, Spielberg manages to capture the viewer from the first minute and keeps the narrative flying for the next 90 minutes, never allowing things to slack off and never giving viewers a reason to look away from the screen. Especially compared with some of Spielberg's later, more "respectable" entertainments, Duel represents the ideal Spielberg -- all of his skill without the later need to prove he was capable of more than just being a "mere" entertainer. Duel, despite being this young director's first film, is a perfect example of everything that Steven Spielberg does right and when compared with his later films, it becomes just as perfect an example of everything Spielberg's done wrong since then.

But don't watch the film because it was directed by Steven Spielberg or because Dennis Weaver was always underrated as an actor. Watch it because it does everything you could possibly want a thriller to do.

"Duel" was the freshman work of director Steven Spielberg, and while the film is not generally considered among his cinematic successes (after all, later films like "Jaws", "E.T.", "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind", et al. still rank among the highest-grossing films of all time!) it is more than deserving of a closer look! The thing that makes the film so good is it's simplicity...the story of a travelling salesman (played convincingly by Dennis Weaver (remember TV's "McCloud" or "Gentle Ben"?) on his way to a business meeting some distance away...while driving down a sparsely travelled desert highway, he finds himself behind a slow-moving tanker which he innocently passes...let's just say the never-seen truck driver doesn't like to be left behind!! The suspense builds as Weaver begins to realize that this guy's not just playing around...he's trying to kill him! No matter where he goes on this lonely stretch of highway, this truck is there...chasing him at ungodly speed...playing cat to Weaver's mouse. Now, I will admit that the first few times I saw this movie, I was a little peeved that we never saw the truck driver...and then I realized--that's why I continue to watch and enjoy this film so much...trying to spot him. Is he in the diner where Weaver stops for lunch? If he is, which one of the dozen or so guys is he? I'll never know for sure and that's why this film is so much fun to watch. There are those who would consider this an inferior Spielberg work...I consider it one of his best! Incidentally, here's a bit of trivia for those who have seen the movie: Take a close look as Dennis Weaver steps into the phone booth at the snake lady's place...you will briefly see the reflection of then-21-year-old Steven Spielberg in the glass. I'm pretty sure this was not intentional, but who knows...maybe he took a nod from the master of suspense! However you rank "Duel," you owe it to yourself to check it out...it truly is a nail-biter to the end.

Long before Close Encounters, Steven Spielberg helmed this dynamite suspense film in 1971, a powerful tale which seamlessly combines paranoia and road rage, based on an equally strong short story by Richard Matheson (same title).

Dennis Weaver plays the nameless suburbanite, a salesman road warrior who gets caught up in a horrific battle with another nameless guy, a trucker who drives a huge semi that repeatedly cuts Weaver off on the road and frustrates him just as repeatedly by moving so slowly the frantically impatient Weaver's edginess boils over into outright dementia.

The trucker is not only nameless, but invisible; Weaver never really sees him. In a great and very disturbing scene in a typical truck stop diner, Weaver sees a lineup of similarly attired guys at the counter and tries to figure out which one is the demented trucker.

The pacing in this film is flawless, and Weaver's acting has never been better. The ending is a perfect culmination of the momentum that is so effectively built during the course of the film.

For a terrific movie going experience, rent or buy this one. It's a real gem.

I'd seen this movie from time to time on late night TV, and always enjoyed it. Very suspenseful.

The thing is, I had no idea that it was directed by Steven Spielberg, or that it has kind of a cult classic following. I thought it was my own little secret, like another TV movie, BAD RONALD, from the same era (written by one of my favorite writers, Jack Vance).

Besides Spielberg's directorial debut, the great "Joe Average" performance of Dennis Weaver (of McCloud TV-mystery fame), and the sinister old Gasoline Tanker, everyone seems to have left out the "real" hero of the picture - the 1971 Plymouth 4-door Valiant! Without that car, this movie just wouldn't have been what it was... it was the PERFECT car for the role - with the vastly underpowered 170ci slant 6. 1971 was the peak of the muscle-car era (I had a souped-up 1971 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 383ci V-8), and the 170ci Valiant (and its sister the 1971 Dodge Dart "Swinger") were true stand-out "frumpmobiles" at that time.

Duel is an especially effective film because it plays upon the fears of man, specifically the fear of losing control over a seemingly routine situation that, without warning, becomes life threatening. What this movie does is take a common, ordinary human being (he could be anyone of us) and puts him in a horrific clash against an unknown assailant: a savage truck driver whose person (as well as motive) is never revealed to him.

The film opens to nothing more than the view from the hood of a car as it progresses on a long business commute through a suburb, city, and finally a rural, desert area. There is a very special purpose for why there is no dialogue, action, or character development in the first 15 minutes...it sets the mood and condition: Dennis Weaver plays the driver, but we are never allowed to know enough about him where we can separate his identity from our own. Thus, we become the driver, alone and quietly listening to the radio, just trying to reach our destination. And then the adversary arrives, almost imperceptibly as just another vehicle on the road...a large, rusted truck. The truck's actions seem innocuous, even playful at first. But the scenes grow more unpredictable and terrifying with each encounter. Now we see ourselves as the driver, alone on an empty highway, radio turned off, and just trying to stay alive. Weaver's anger and bewilderment matches our own as he struggles to regain control of a situation that pits man against beast, David against Goliath.

Spielberg's first effort, this film shows flashes of the brilliance that would come to signify his finest works, including Jaws and Close Encounters. Also noteworthy are the convincing performances and a bone-chilling score.

This movie makes one yearn for simpler times before virtuosity was replaced with special effects. The shoestring budget in this originally made-for-TV movie is its very strength, forcing the director to use his filmmaker's skill to compensate for its lack of pyrotechnics or star power. This is one of Spielberg's very first directorial efforts, and his mastery of his craft is cast into sharp relief through the stark simplicity of this film: just a guy, a car and a truck. The resulting film is one of the tautest in the suspense repertoire.

Much attention has been focused on this film over the years, mainly because its director would later go on to become one of the most successful filmmakers in history. It contains many of his trademark touches: the everyman thrown into conflict against his will, the dramatic suddenly rearing out of the commonplace, ordinary people confronting extraordinary evil or terror.

It isn't slick like his later films, but is made more compelling by its austerity. Stripped of artifice, it exists as a clean bracing example of film in its essence: a great story told by a great storyteller in as simple, forthright and direct a manner as possible.

An ordinary guy is driving to an appointment down a lonely stretch of highway when he gets stuck behind a semi-trailer that is obviously baiting him. He eventually makes a fateful decision, passes the truck, and in so doing earns the enmity of its unseen psychopathic driver. This leads to a cat and mouse chase down desert roads; fear, anger and paranoia; and the development of the main character from a comfortable dweeb into an unlikely hero.

It's all done with a minimum of camera platforms, stunts and explosions. Instead, Spielberg relies on pacing, editing, mood and internal dialogue. There is a scene at a diner, and later, one with a school bus, in which the hero's fear is transformed into paranoia. For the occupants of the diner and the bus, the hero's actions look like those of a lunatic. For we, who have shared his experiences, his are the frantic actions of a man desperate to escape impending doom. This is masterful technique forcing us to adopt the protagonist's viewpoint so completely that we feel like screaming at the various characters along the way to help the poor fool.

If the protagonist is weak, timid and a little stupid, these traits work to the film's advantage. He isn't some plastic action figure, but a man with whom we can identify. We've met his type before, may even share some of his qualities, and this makes his troubles so much more our own.

Not everyone will enjoy this film. Those weaned on a contemporary diet of wall-to-wall destruction and ballets of death will lack the refinement necessary to appreciate its simplicity. Likewise, those who confuse suspense with mayhem and character development with macho swagger won't get it. But if you are the kind of person who associates suspense with circumstance and intrigue, who can see past low-cost production constraints, and who values quality over quantity, you will find this film not only a pleasure, but a master-class in Filmmaking 101.

Traveling businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) encounters an enormous, rusty, slow-moving tanker truck on a lonely stretch of desert highway, and passes it. The never-seen truck driver, who is obviously "a few gallons short of a full tank," responds by turning his truck into a terrifying murder weapon, trying to run Mann's tiny Plymouth Valiant off the road. That's the entire plot of "Duel." In the hands of a young director named Steven Spielberg, it's all the plot that's needed.

Spielberg got the green light to direct this made-for-TV movie because producer George Eckstein had seen and been impressed by Spielberg's directorial debut, the pilot episode of "Columbo." Working on a shoestring budget, Spielberg delivered a tale of suspense that puts many a big-budget Hollywood action thriller to shame. Equal credit has to go to Weaver, who superbly conveys David Mann's emotions to the viewer: His initial frustration when the truck passes him and slows to a crawl, his satisfaction when he thinks he's gotten the upper hand, his terror when he realizes the truck driver's intentions have turned deadly, his isolated helplessness as every person he encounters thinks he's crazy and/or refuses to get involved and, ultimately, his determination to survive his ordeal.

There is a great moment in this movie which no one else has mentioned: Mann, thinking his ordeal is over, is flagged down by a bus driver whose bus has broken down. While assisting the driver, Mann suddenly notices the truck, waiting in the shadows under an overpass. Then, the truck's headlights come on. At this moment, the truck resembles a yellow-eyed demonic apparition straight out of David Mann's worst nightmare.

Far less impressive is this film's monaural sound, although it does have its moments. This is a made-for-television feature film from 1971, so don't expect the aural impact of a modern-day surround-sound blockbuster. Anyway, the chances are good that you'll be so caught up in the movie itself, the (relatively) poor sound quality won't matter.

But be warned: When you're out on the road, and you look in your rear-view mirror and see a large truck closing in behind you, this movie WILL come back to you.

So here's an irony: Thirty-five years on, the movie audience which Spielberg's later work helped to capture - multiplex consumers of overblown CGI, gross-out, slapstick, and ever-greater explosions - may not "get" this one at all (e.g. see some of its other reviewers here). For anybody else - and this is most certainly not "art-house" either, don't be put off - here's an astounding, must-see thriller. OK, so it's a wannabe western, or Hitchcock (or Beowulf, or Alien, or High Noon) on wheels: None of that detracts from its great premise, which is delivered utterly without frills.

So many reasons to see this:

Spielberg is SO good at doing minimal (seriously, Steve, about time to get back to some of that?): Pared-down music, only natural-sound detail; no human baddie, just a perfectly cast truck as the anthropomorphised "killer". Even the shattering finale is captured on ordinary live film, albeit in one of the most awe-inspiring shots ever taken.

Great raw material: OK, so of course the script dates just a bit, with what dialogue there is sounding TV-ish and a wee bit cheesy to the modern ear; and kids now seeing this film might snigger at the personal styling details and plot's obvious reliance on predating mobile phones; but hey... We're right there for Mann (Dennis Weaver) from the very start, as it's vital that we have to be, because his story is so discreetly and elegantly constructed.

And as a piece of performance: Not just by Weaver, who's entirely credible as the put-upon everyman reluctantly forced to find his inner warrior. The film works because it sustains a gut-wrenching kinetic energy that few others ever reach (woeful comparison with, for example, the new Pirates III, which for all its frantic rushing about, quite fails to draw its audience into the action). DUEL is all the more impressive because the whole movie is shot "for real" - perhaps partly because the frantic pace of its actual production (see below) seems to rub off onto the screen. That it works at all is largely because it's propelled by uncannily perfect pacing of the long road sequences, which (as Spielberg acknowledges) only happens when you perfectly combine the ingredients: obsessive planning of sequences; unobtrusively brilliant stunt driving; then-new moving camera techniques (including a contribution from Bullitt's road unit); and laser-sharp editing. That's not to overlook the out-of-car scenes, which have a gloriously welcome fingernails-down-the-blackboard inner screech of Hitchcockian suspense - best of all in the diner scene ("which one is him?"), complete with some hilariously dark 'red herring' moments; the snake farm; and the old couple who (with pitch-perfect Buchan / Hitchock irony) mistake Mann for an attacker.

Visuals: It's clear from the first frame that, as Fats Waller put it, "the gods are in the house". Details are pin-sharp, not just as to focal clarity, but in their layering up the metaphorical landscape of the story, with every single shot both perfectly framed and constantly informing character and/or building pace; and that's a lot of shots, often complex and kinetic ones. And all set in a serenely beautiful landscape, mocking the petty anxieties and feuds of the men and machines scuttling across it. All the more surprising therefore to find in the bonus material that DUEL was made in less than a month: just 13 days' shooting, including the 3 days of (ultimately unused) "spare plate" shots insisted on by the studio.

This DVD edition is deeply satisfying both for the transfer quality of the movie itself and for a joyous Spielberg interview. Refreshingly modest and candid, the director reveals his debt to a quick-witted PA, to his production team and actors, and how great achievement springs from being young and hungry. It's amusing by-the-by to see Spielberg look back on this period of coming to terms with the public impact of his own virtuosity, coming to realise how a seemingly minor movie shot in 13 days can outgrow its origins to signal his big breakthrough. (Among all the fascinating stuff about how to get a 50-mph lorry to go at 100 mph, he also, touchingly, points out a couple of minor rookie mistakes you might not otherwise have noticed.) Musing on the cultural impact that his astonishing debut piece had, stumbling upon a global audience, he notes that what started as simply a domestic "TV ratings Titanic" became, internationally, a bigger but quite different phenomenon: "Here I was making a roadkill tribute to High Noon and Hitchcock, then the Europeans were reading in all this esoteric abstract symbolism about class warfare in America". It also, so he says, earned him the instant and lasting respect of Fellini (cue archive photo to prove this!).

Hey look, this film is basically an hour of a geeky guy in a little red car being chased up and down the mountain by one helluva scary truck. You can find much more if you want to look for it - Dostoevsky stuff about man and machines, or the 20th century post-feminist crisis of male identity, or the jurisprudential question of whether we need to be able to attribute a motive to evildoing, etc - but, for me, what nails the simple greatness of this piece is that WE ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS in the end. On that level alone, it won't disappoint.

This movie premiered on U.S. national television the same night that Richard M. Nixon released the transcripts of the infamous Oval Office audio tapes, during the height of the Watergate crisis. My friends and I gathered to watch the speech scheduled for 9:00 PM EST. At 8:00 PM we were surfing through our 3 channels and stumbled across DUEL, a made for TV movie of the week. We started watching and were totally engrossed in one of the best thrillers ever made when at 9:00 the Presidential Seal appeared on the screen interrupting regular scheduled programming. Sitting on the edge of our seats, our reactions were a cries of "expletive deleted", imploring the network the put the movie back on. Nixon then went on to explain to the nation his own "expletives deleted" found in the transcripts (not to mention the infamous "gap" in the tapes.) After a few minutes the movie resumed in its entirety. At the conclusion, everyone in the room agreed that we had watched on of the most engrossing thrillers ever made.