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Dennis Weaver battles a maniac truck driver in Duel.
Even the big name directors of today got there start somehow. Steven Spielberg’s road rage revenge flick, Duel, was his feature-length debut. It is the movie that probably about 90 percent of the general public has seen at least a few minutes of, as it seems to be on television at least once a year. In fact, television is where this bad boy flick got its start. That’s right, Spielberg’s first major film was a made-for-TV ABC Movie of the Week with a dog-chewed shoestring budget!
But this is most definitely NOT one of your mother’s Lifetime Network flicks!
The story has to be one of the most barebones in cinematic history. An angry, mostly unseen trucker begins to stalk and terrorize a mouse of a man after being passed on a desolate California highway. Yeah, that’s all there is to it. It certainly does not sound like your normal everyday great flick… but prepare to be astonished as Duel turns out to be the Jaws of the highway!
Dennis Weaver stars as your normal, everyday, American man -– Dave Mann (with two N’s). A man stuck in a dead-end sales job with the inability to ever adequately stick up for himself… both at home, and in public. Attempting to navigate the highways of California on his way to close an important sales account, he runs into an immense, old, wicked, pollution-spewing Peterbilt rig. Apparently not a fan of some scrumptious carbon monoxide, Mann decides to pass the rig on the open road. He puts on his blinker… cautiously pulls off to the left… and successfully manages to pull ahead of the smoke-bellowing truck.
Unfortunately for Mann, this one move will soon become his biggest mistake ever. Even worse than marrying the witch of a woman you meet soon thereafter!
The trucker (Cary Loftin, though we never actually see the guy) first toys with Mann by speeding up, passing him, then slowing back down repeatedly. Anyone remember the opening scene from National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? However as the film progresses, the trucker becomes increasingly violent toward Mann and his red 1970 Plymouth Valiant -– putting Mann’s life in jeopardy on many occasions.
Aside from the mostly redundant and cheesy monologues from Mann, there really is not much exposition to speak of here. It really is just one 90-minute extended chase scene: nothing more, nothing less. There is no character development, no identifiable characters, and no intentional humor. The “hero” is actually quite unlikable and I really wasn’t rooting for him to survive the entire ordeal. In all actuality, the massive big rig has more likable qualities than Mann.
But, Speilberg successfully managed to make Duel feel totally Hitchcockian in the uneasy and gripping events which unfold before us. Duel offers up some great cinematographical direction with numerous point-of-view camera angles with the sole intention of creating an air of uneasiness. Spielberg also gives us a sense of claustrophobia in a few scenes — most notably in a roadside diner.
After being driven off the road and crashing into a picket fence, Mann decides to head into the diner to have a sit down. After Mr. Mouse orders his water and cheese sandwich on rye (R-Y-E), he looks out the window and sees the very same truck that has been stalking him parked right outside… without the driver! We are then treated to a 10-plus minute scene where Mann scopes out the diner patrons (all truckers who look alike) as he contemplates which one has been harassing him all this time. All the while, the camera continually cuts back and forth between Mann’s nerve-wracked and dilated pupils, and the suspicious truckers. Cinematic gold.
Like many great horror/thrillers have proved, the fear of the unknown is the scariest of all. And, by showing just a pair of cowboy boots and an arm out of the window, Duel managed to capture the essence of the statement completely. And, for the most part, all of this can be attributed to the young, but brilliant even then, Spielberg. Duel was the launching point for a career that has become historic in Hollywood, and still manages to do so to this very day… over 30 years later.
Flick Figures: 1 (presumed) dead body; 1 witchy wife; 1 brouhaha; Plymouth Valiant off-roading; fence demolition; neck meat contusions; gratuitous cellulite; CO-fu; snake terrarium-fu; a 90-minute car chase with crash and burn, and one extremely gratuitous caterpillar moustache!
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