Spielberg's DUEL.......

[Cyrus]

Does anybody here remember Steven Spielberg's 1971 made-for-TV film called DUEL?

No blood, no dying, no murders, and no big unmasking, but for me, this stands as one of Spielberg's best flicks, and one of the best suspense films ever made.

DUEL tells the story of traveling salesman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) who is pursued by a psychotic trucker in a big eighteen wheeler over a seemingly endless array of California desert highways. We never see the trucker, nor are we privy to his motivations. And the film only has about 20 lines of dialogue (Spielberg wanted no dialogue at all, but ABC insisted on it), but it remains a very suspenseful, gripping film. And it is a decidedly unusual subject for a television flick (it was released theatrically in Europe in 1972).

If you've never seen it, by all means check it out. An early effort by the master, but a great foreshadowing of the suspense he would create just four years later with JAWS....

[Femme_Fatale]

i think u will find that there is some dying in that movie...

but yeah it is brilliant- claustrophobic and suspenseful. i love it!

[Cyrus]

Femme, help me out. Of course the truck driver dies at the end (or does he?), but I can't remember anybody else....

[Prairiedogking]

Great movie!

Yeah, I think it's just the truck driver that dies...if he really did.

[AntonioDelLago]

Steven Spielberg was a promising young horror-thriller-suspense director, as evident in both JAWS and DUEL. But he sold out, Hollywood-style, and now thinks that his films are the most important things since the fucking invention of motion pictures!!!

[This message has been edited by AntonioDelLago (edited 02-28-2001).]

[Skaboy18]

Yeah, his films aren't anything special anymore. They are as The Arrow would say "Point and Shoot" films. Not cool

[Femme_Fatale]

yeah- i ment the truck driver, lol sorry i was just being annoying :P

[unicorn207]

Duel is a very good film, even if you think Spielberg sold out. I heard that he was bragging to people that "Saving Private Ryan" was going to win it all 2 years ago and then lost and went out crying like a little girl. His Dreamworks is basically a politics movie studio with bias written all over it.
Sorry, but everyone knows it.

Anyway, whenever I see "Duel" on TV I have to watch it because it's a very good movie. But I think the point of it is man being taken over by technology. Was there even a truck driver?

[Femme_Fatale]

Of course there was a truck driver! thats what makes it so frightening- this isnt a moronic self driving truck- its a man in a truck trying to run a guy off the road and kill him!!!! i havent seen it in a few years....anyone know if its available 2 buy in the UK?

[Sean]

I remember that movie scaring me as a kid. I've seen it more recently and it is one hell of a suspense story. I doubt it's on DVD but if it is, I woudn't mind owning it.

[Hypnotic Eye]

I remember seing this when I was very young, but can't quite remember it now. But thanks to what you guys wrote, I'd like to go rent it again if its out.

[Slash]

Yeah, I agree with you all about Spielberg. Who was once a genius filmmaker is now a pretentious snob, and his films today don't hold a candle to his masterpieces from 20 or 30 years ago (exception: Jurassic Park was good). And another thing, George Lucas is an arrogant snobby ass hack as well, who once made great films (Star Wars, Empire Strikes back, Jedi, Indiana Jones) and now makes overhyped, overmarketed, overrated shit movies like "Phantom Mess".. uh.. I mean "Menace". That man thinks he is God but his films today are mediocre at best. He hasn't made anything decent since Indy 3, and that was like 12 years ago!!

[AntonioDelLago]

Hey SLASH...great comparison of Spielberg to Lucas. These two geeks once ruled in Hollywood, but some things DON'T get better with age. Spielberg's Oscar for SAVING RYAN'S PRIVATES was a marketing ploy concocted by DREAMWORKS...who dukes it out every year with MIRASUCKS...I mean MIRAMAX to PURCHASE a Best Picture Oscar. I wish THE BIG ONE would finally wipe out Tinseltown.

[AntonioDelLago]

Wonder why this one didn't make the AFI list of Thrillers?

[CAPTAIN BLAKE]

This is a great movie, but I think it wasn't considered by the AFI because it was made for TV. It's good to see that other folks see through the Spielberg B.S. I find it ironic that he left behind fantasy films (for the most part), saying that he wanted to make deeper, more important films...when anyone in their right mind can see that, as fantastical as they were, JAWS, RAIDERS, and DUEL are much more recognisably HUMAN than self important works like THE COLOR PURPLE or SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. Just goes to show that fantasy films can sometimes tell us more about ourselves than unimaginative, cloying "historical" pieces can.

[jgjavi]

where did all this hatred for speilberg come from - this director has created some of the greatest movies that we have had the privledge to sit through-jaws, indiana jones trilogy, close encounters of the 3rd kind, jurrassic park,schindlers list-hell if he wants to be pretentious he should be, he has earned it, as for this anti-saving private ryan, where did that come from?saving private ryan maybe the single greatest war movie ever made-and looking back i should have won the oscar, shakespeare in love is crrrrrap...every director is going to have misses; but even his misses are really entertaining(lost world), maybe it's just cool not to like him right now - but give him a little more credit than a point and shoot director

[CAPTAIN BLAKE]

JGJAVI, It's Spielberg's tangible self importance that shines through in his films that deflates them for me. When you can SMELL the director's ego while viewing his films, the film itself has to suffer; PRIVATE RYAN has some very impressive sequences, but that smell is overpowering...

[jgjavi]

Stanley Kubrick, John Woo, Orson Welles, George Romero,George Lucas, Robert Zemekis,Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Kevin Smith, Farrelly Brothers, Coen Brothers, Hughes Brothers, John Singleton, Robert Rodruguez, Quentin Tarantino all are great filmakers and they all make films where you can see/smell their ego a mile away - you can tell when each of them feel that they are filming something that is more hilarious, dramatic, suspenseful, actionpacked, thrilling, feel-good than anything else put on the screen, the funny thing is, that most of them are usually right. Every director does it, sometimes they come off self-ritous, sometimes they come off as geniuses. you dont think that when filming that final haunting scene when the camera slowly closes in on anthony perkins in psycho, that Alfred Hitchcock thought to himself, "this is a great shot!" "People are gonna love this!", he did and he was right. all directors do, some do it well, some don't.speilberg does.

[andy13]

U CAN BY THIS FROM ANYWHERE IN THE UK...

[teenkiller]

Spielbergs directorial debut and a damn good one at that! Lots of suspense. If you liked Joyride (which you should) then this will be right up your alley. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[countchocula]

On the first viewing, I thought Duel was a little tedious. However, I didn't have much of an attention span built up yet. I can now see it as a gripping classic. The basic simplicity of the storyline could have weighed the film down, but there are plenty of unexpected twists to make it all go down easier. Meet Joy Ride's father.

[This message has been edited by countchocula (edited 04-09-2002).]

[Zing!]

I agree that Spielberg has earned the right to be pretentious if he wants to be - at least he can still deliver thought-provoking material every once awhile, unlike his buddy Lucas. Believe it or not, Spielberg has always been a rather hit-and-miss director. For every Jaws, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park, there have been films like: Amistad (1997) The Lost World (1997) Hook (1991) Always (1989) Empire of the Sun (1987) 1941 (1979) and The Sugarland Express (1974). Some would even consider "A.I." a miss, simply because it didn't rake in the bucks at the box office. However, when Spielberg hits - he hits BIG (think Close Encounters, ET, Raiders, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Jaws, and Jurassic).

[Dr Martin Luther Loomis]

I absolutely love this flick. I have the poster on my friggin' wall, don't cha know! I'm so happy it's coming out on DVD in a few months. Life is kinda good.

[bowieee]

Just because the man is making movies that try to tackle big issues doesnt mean he is pretentious. And if he is...He has earned the right. Look at his body of work and then look at most other directers. Alot of people idolize John Carpenter here on the boards and he hits and misses all the time. I heard he is pretentious but he has the right to be whatever he wants as long as he's churning out the good films. Speilberg hasn't lost his charm. Saving Private Ryan was a great movie. maybe not the best war movie but it was still great. War Movies are usually all pretentious. Because the filmmakers are trying to convey deeper meanings in humanities black ugliness. Look at apacolpyse now. That movie is pretentious as hell but to me its the greatest war movie ever made. Platoon... pretentious. Sometimes directers have to create movies like that to get their point across. A.I. to me was speilbergs best movie. It does so many things but touches right on the human soul. To me speilberg is still one of the best. Now Lucas........... he better redeem himself with his next movie or I'm boycotting him for life.

[This message has been edited by bowieee (edited 04-10-2002).]

[CrimsonGhost]

I love the movie Duel. I think it is an excellent 70's Horror/suspence classic. It's unrelenting and nerveracking. The two things I really love about this movie that makes it very frightning is the fact that you don't really know why the truck driver is persuing poor Mr. Mann. The other is that you never see who the truck driver is. Only his dirty and rusty demonic eighteen wheeler.

Just to let everyone know Duel is being released on Dvd very soon.

[Antonio]

DUEL (1971) Directed by Steven Spielberg. Steve’s first film, which stars Dennis Weaver as a traveling salesman menaced by an enormous diesel truck on a lonely stretch of desert highway. The deranged, unseen killer without a motive lends effect to the story. Originally a TV movie, this classic (one of Spielberg’s best) is unbearably suspenseful from start to finish! Weaver’s best role to date. Scripted by Richard Matheson from his short story. My grade: B+

Wow! My past Spielbergian rants seem pretty harsh! What was I on?

[Ghostface 2000]

Definatly full of Suspense.

[thisismyboomstick]

excellent flick. Coming soon to DVD from what I've heard.

[teenkiller]

I taped this off of television a few years ago and I think its pretty damn cool. Its pretty much long forgotten but I think the film still works. Initially Spielberg didn't want ANY dialogue for this film but the network execs believed that would be too boring so he decided to write about 15 lines or so. The fact that we never see the truck driver or know his motives makes the movie all the more better. Dennis Weaver's paranoia works great and overall I would say this is probably better than anything Spielberg has done in the last ten or twenty years. Well thats all for now GOoD JOURNEY my fellow schmoes.

[robk]

Originally posted by jgjavi
Stanley Kubrick, John Woo, Orson Welles, George Romero,George Lucas, Robert Zemekis,Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Kevin Smith, Farrelly Brothers, Coen Brothers, Hughes Brothers, John Singleton, Robert Rodruguez, Quentin Tarantino all are great filmakers and they all make films where you can see/smell their ego a mile away - you can tell when each of them feel that they are filming something that is more hilarious, dramatic, suspenseful, actionpacked, thrilling, feel-good than anything else put on the screen, the funny thing is, that most of them are usually right. Every director does it, sometimes they come off self-ritous, sometimes they come off as geniuses. you dont think that when filming that final haunting scene when the camera slowly closes in on anthony perkins in psycho, that Alfred Hitchcock thought to himself, "this is a great shot!" "People are gonna love this!", he did and he was right. all directors do, some do it well, some don't.speilberg does.

Hear Hear, I agree completely.
Whether you like or dislike Spielberg's films, there's no question that he at least puts effort into them, unlike Lucas who simply gets h@rd ons about CGI crap like Jar Jar.
And hell, Saving Private Ryan SHOULD have won Best Picture. Then again, there are many other films that should've as well.

Having said that, Duel got Spielberg's directing career off to a fine start, &, to think, better things were on the way.

[Gluttony]

I have not seen Duel but I have read the story it is based on and that story is rather good, very well written and good on suspense.

As for Spielberg, nobody has the right to be pretentious, there is no reasoning to do so except if cannot control your own ego. Yes, most people do it but that does not excuse it as digestible, that doesn't mean we have to eat and then put a shit grin on our face in shame.

I like a lot of Spielberg's stuff but I agree that he is becoming a shell in his former self image. Jurassic Park, Jaws, and even Saving Private Ryan were good to me, the last not becuase of him though. but many of his film now days are very lacking. His last film I enjoyed, and it has been a while since I actually liked something he did on his merits, was Minority Report which I loved.

[Fettdog]

Duel is a great movie - full of atmosphere and suspense, and a joy to watch. It's not quite a classic, but it does bear repeated viewings.

It was also a major influence on Victor Salva when he was directing Jeepers Creepers - check out the truck chase scene in JC then go and look at Duel again - even the front of the Creeper's truck was modelled on the truck in Duel (as revealed by Salva in the documentary on the excellent JC DVD).

Also, there's a nice little easter egg on the JC DVD which is a short interview with horror writing legend Richard Matheson (probably best known for penning I Am Legend) in which he discusses the film - sweet stuff!

[Wicked]

In my opinion Duel is one of Spielberg's best movies. Suspense is definitely the right word. It's wonderful to see how such a simple concept, simple story is turned to an excellent movie in the hands of a master. I guess simple IS the best...