It’s funny that the humble beginnings of Steven Spielberg — arguably the most iconic filmmaker working in Hollywood — can be traced back to Playboy Magazine. His directorial debut from 1971, Duel, began as a short story published in Hugh Hefner’s adult-oriented magazine. Author Richard Matheson (The Omega Man, Stir of Echoes) developed the story after having a frightening run-in with a semi-truck on the highway. That single chance encounter helped to pave the way for the masterful debut of one of cinema’s most defining voices.
Duel Plot
David Mann (Dennis Weaver, Touch of Evil) is a traveling salesman making his way across the country to meet with a potential client. After a seemingly random encounter with an old oil tanker, a bout of road rage spirals into a deadly game of cat and mouse as the driver uses his vehicle like a 20-ton missile.
The Greatest Television Movie of All Time
Reading the phrase “made-for-television” before a film’s title tends to conjure negative expectations, especially when referring to the early era of cable. More often than not TV movies are of subpar quality, relying on a lower budget and less skilled filmmakers to churn out affordable bits of easy entertainment. Duel doesn’t just ignore the low-bar expectations set by the limitations of television, it plows through them at full speed and launches itself into the realm of cult classics.
Just four years later Spielberg would give us Jaws, a film that changed audiences’ relationship with the water and proved that the young filmmaker was here to stay. But many of the tricks that Spielberg used to make Jaws the terrifying powerhouse that it was can be found right here in Duel. The truck is a monster, the inhuman antagonist of a traditional creature feature. The shape of its cab with the engine protruding far out front helps to give the mechanical monster its face, and the leaking oil and stains of rust suggest years of use without proper care or upkeep.
Much like Bruce the shark, the truck’s driver remains primarily unseen. While we know there’s a man behind the wheel, the truck itself serves as the visual display of evil. Its front bumper is decorated with dirty, dented license plates from various states, suggesting that the madman has collected them from victims across the country. It’s a terrifying thought to imagine a traveling killer who hunts his victims from the safety of his armored weapon.
Tires, Tension, and Terror
Spielberg crafts an incredible amount of tension from the simple concept of a trucker tormenting an unsuspecting driver. Much of the suspense is built through the creative use of camera placement. Spielberg’s skills are immediately present and his keen eye for pacing and framing are undeniable. But at the young age of twenty-four, his inexperience behind the camera leads to humorous slip ups that we’d never see from the director today. At one moment — as David uses an outdoor telephone booth — Spielberg’s reflection, looking down at his script and back up at the action, can clearly be seen in the reflection of the glass.
Dennis Weaver flawlessly encapsulates the everyman persona of a panicked victim out of his depth. His descent from calm to frantic does seem to unravel a bit too quickly, but given the time constraints of its cable timeslot, that’s forgivable. His thoughts — conveyed through raspy inner monologue — give viewers insight into his attempts to rationalize and understand the unexplainable hell he’s found himself in. As the violence escalates, so does the realization that David will have to face his tormentor head-on.
A Cult Classic Worth Revisiting
Duel is a perfectly assembled thriller that signaled the arrival of a masterclass filmmaker and serves as a time capsule of early 1970s cinema. David’s rail-thin build, oversized glasses, and neatly trimmed mustache scream 70s, and the lack of cellphones or other technological advances benefit the story by adding to David’s helplessness.
The story is set in the rural back roads of California. Long stretches of blacktop serve as the trucker’s hunting ground, and buildings are few and far between. It’s the type of place where the locals look out for their own and outsiders aren’t trusted. That setting may seem generic by today’s standards, but it holds up.
I was always familiar with Duel. I knew the basic story, and I knew that it was Spielberg’s feature debut, but I’d never seen it until I purchased a copy on 4K Blu-ray. I think I was deterred by it being an ABC Movie of the Week. That wretched stigma of the “made-for-television” movie. While it’s not going to be in the Spielberg Hall of Fame (the man has too many masterpieces for that), it remains an incredibly impressive thriller that presents ideas and concepts that are still being copied today.
8/10
Duel is available on physical and digital media at your retailer of choice.
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