Duel Reviews

While on the way to an appointment a businessman (Dennis Weaver) is stalked and tormented by the driver a dirty brown, scary looking truck which appears around every unsuspecting corner.

also stars Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Tim Herbert, Lou Frizzell, Gene Dynaski, Lucile Benson, Amy Douglas, Alexander Lockwood and Cary Loftin.

directed by Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg plays perfectly with all the elements that has, even although the original premise (two vehicles in an empty road) does not seem to leave much opportunities to imagination. Not my style of movie, but it is well done.

the first movie that properly scared me as a child is still as suspenseful and powerful today

Nach Alfred Hitchcock ist Steven Spielberg wohl der zweite große Meister der bewussten Manipulation. Zwar verbindet man ihn eher mit tränenrührenden Szenen in Epen wie E.T.", Schindler's List" oder Saving Private Ryan", aber in Duel" beweist er, dass er auch das Metier Hitchcocks beherrscht.
Dies ist ein klassischer Hitchcock-Plot: Ein unbescholtener Mann und Familienvater wird von einem mysteriösen Truck gejagt.

Dunkle Mächte die dem unschuldigen Jedermann an den Kragen wollen, das war Hitchcocks Markenzeichen und ist als Motiv auf in Duel" auszumachen (einzig die Blondine fehlt).

Auch technisch ist Spielberg hier auf absolutem Topniveau, und das obwohl er diesen Film mit extrem niedrigem Budget und limitiertem Aufwand fürs Fernsehen gedreht hat (der theatrical cut entstand erst als die Fernsehbosse von der Arbeit Spielbergs so begeistert waren, dass sie zusätzliche Szenen drehen ließen). Vor allem der hervorragende Schnitt hebt Duel" von anderen Filmen ab.

Was für ein Debütfilm muss das für den jungen Spielberg gewesen sein! Meisterhaft setzt er den Kampf Gut gegen Böse, Groß gegen Klein, Mensch gegen Maschine in Szene.
Die weiten Ebenen des amerikanischen Westens nützt er für seine eigenen klaustrophobischen Fantasien und Paranoia.

Der Film ist spannend und psychologisch bedrückender als manch Horrorfilm, und das obwohl eigentlich die ganze Zeit über nichts passiert. Wir sehen Dennis Weaver beim Autofahren zu, im Rückspiegel ein verrosteter Truck und der Tachometer am Anschlag. Wieder und wieder, flüchtet er auf Rastplätze oder scheint seinen Verfolger abgehängt oder überlistet zu haben nur um wieder und wieder den Truck im Rückspiegel auftauchen zu sehen.

So muss Kino sein! (ein Fernsehfilm zeigt es vor)

Jaws is my favorite movie, and I have been trying to find this movie forever. When I finally watched it I coukd see alot of resemblace to Jaws. Steven Speilberg himself admits the end of Jaws was a copy of the end of Duel. After the first 20 minutes I loved this movie.
Overall, this is a good film and any Steven Speilberg/Jaws fan should watch this. It's i believe Steven's third or fourth movie, but he was as good then as he is now.

Flawed, but probably the best made for TV movie ever.

One of the best thrillers I have ever seen. Dennis Weaver was superb, and this was one of Speilburg's best movies imo. I love the subtle nuances that are seen throughout the film.

What the hell is this? its a bloke getting chased by a lorry for an hour or so! dont scare me now!

Steven Spielberg directed this Richard Matheson (author of the book I Am Legend) screenplay in a made for TV movie, whose scope is more for the big screen. Dennis Weaver stars as David Mann, a salesman who is driving down a deserted Southern California highway when he decides to pass a large, beat up gas truck. This incident seems to spark the mysterious truck driver to seek a vendetta against Mann and for the next 90 minutes of the film, he hunts him down. The beauty of the film is that we never see the truck driver and we get no motive. This allows the truck itself to become a mysterious monster with no emotions or feelings. This faceless truck is haunting Mann and it will not stop until he is dead. It will even toy with him just to make it more fun for when the truck fulfills its goal (or so it hopes). The film is a premise perfectly made for a TV movie, but even in this early film it is clear to sense that Spielberg was meant for bigger things. It is shot supremely well and is able to keep the audience interested and on the edge of their seat. Spielberg knows how to reel in an audience and he does it perfectly here.

Intriguing but never very engaging. Spielberg does his best to make things interesting, but it's a tough premise to sell for an hour and a half.

Spielberg's first film is a masterpiece. Making an automobile scary is a challenging thing to do. Dennis Weaver is Superb four stars.

If a movie can manage to keep you so engrossed with hardly any dialogue, you know it is good.

On a deserted stretch of desert highway, "David Mann" (Dennis Weaver) is on his way to an important meeting. He eventually catches up with a slow-moving diesel truck, which he decides to pass by. This causes the truck driver to chase "Mann" down and try to kill him.

This is a very poor attempt at directing a movie that first appeared on television, then, with added footage, in theaters, by Steven Speilberg.

There is very little suspense, not to mention dialog in this movie. We do see some interaction with characters who are briefly on screen, but none advance the storyline at all.

We mostly get to watch Weaver's character as he drives down the highway watching out for the truck that is chasing him down. Even the shots of the car and truck from the outside of the vehicles are nothing to write home about. The scenery is desert, so there are no pedestrians on sidewalks or the sounds of any civilization.

Weaver is stuck with a poor script with a poor plot, and his performance shows. Even his performance in Gunsmoke is better.

Speilberg tried some somewhat interesting camera shots in one location, but he was limited with the road scenes. Thankfully he improves after this movie, and we now get some much better entertainment from him than we did when he filmed this movie.

There is little to no suspense in this movie. Weaver appears as if he is trying to make the stress of being rundown by a man with some serious road rage in a much larger vehicle believable, but it doesn't work.

I don't know what this movie was up against when it debuted on television, but I have a feeling that a lot of viewers changed the channel within the first five minutes -- if not sooner.

Duel is one of the best films ever made!

Duel is the first full length movie Steven Spielberg did a very long time ago, and it proved his genius by making something out of nothing, mainly a car, a truck, and the open road.

It's a low budget flick, with little happening, yet the suspense is complete. The first time you'll watch it, if you don't mind the early 70s, you'll be surprised.

The main character's reactions and inner monologs have a few flaws, but the rest is excellent. The soundtrack, which consist of little music is very low key and it fits the movie just right who is the same overall. The local is a little used road in a semi-arid back country and perfect for the mood.

It's a movie to discover, but don't expect any bells or whistles.

i can imagine this being thrilling 40 years ago, but the film has aged poorly due in large part to the protagonist.

Steven Spielberg's film debut was this TV movie adaptation of the Richard Matheson short story about a driver, Dennis Weaver, terrorized on a lonely desert road by a faceless truck driver. Smart and suspenseful, it's a treat to watch a very young Spielberg knock this one right out of the park.

Before he hit the big time, Steven Spielberg worked for Universal making TV films for them, he was one of the youngest directors they had, he worked on TV series like Columbo and Night Gallery. But, little did Spielberg know that when he adapted Richard Matheson's short story as an ABC Movie of the Week, that it would catapult him into cinema. It's success on TV caused Universal to show it in cinemas. David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is a mild-mannered salesman who is driving to a business trip throughout the Californian desert, he comes across a massive 18 wheeled truck which is hogging the road, Mann overtakes the truck, then the truck overtakes him again. It becomes a deadly game when the truck tries to force Mann off the road, tailgating him down a mountain road at nearly 100mph, then trying to ram him into a moving train at a railroad crossing. Mann is driven, literally, to breaking point by the truck and it's unseen driver. It's a deadly game, but Mann is not going to give in without a fight, and try and defeat this monster like machine. On paper, it sounds like a silly idea, on film, it's absolutely frightening, with some brilliant editing and some suspenseful moments, but it all adds up to an exciting and gripping climax. Spielberg should get back to doing something small and sparse like this, he did brilliant with it.