Duel | Duel [VHS] | Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone

Bloody brilliant piece of filmmaking! | Duel [VHS] | Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone

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	• Duel [VHS] Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone Universal Studios, 1995 average customer review:based on 218 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Very good!

I can't understand how some people can review this movie as being one star! No wonder these people are minority. It's a fantastic movie that I found on DVD after so many years, and I wasn't disappointed.

Duel

Duel is a classic movie about a car driver terrorized by a semi rig in the Arizona desert. KITT vs. Goliath on Knight Rider is similar. The Car is another similar movie. A car being chased by a semi rig that looks "evil" is what this movie is about. Watching this may make you think twice before angering a semi driver! It is made by someone named Steven Spielberg, you know, E. freakin' T.!

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Bloody brilliant piece of filmmaking!

Still, to this day, DUEL (1971) is perhaps my FAVORITE Steven Spielberg "film"! Technically released as a made-for-TV movie in 1971 in U.S., it was re-marketed and theatrically released on Europe as a feature in 1972. Not surprisingly, it was a major success in both arenas, garnering major award nominations (Golden Globe for Best TV movie and Emmy noms for Sound Editing and Cinematography) and even garnering a film festival award as Best Feature Film of 1972. The then early-twentysomething Spielberg was immediately hailed as a phenom and the rest, as they say, is history. As far as I'm concerned, DUEL is a FILM. As good or better as any debut of an actual feature film of an up-and-coming director...and just as influential.

DUEL is a thrilling psychological tale of a cat-and-mouse game between a psychotic truck driver and David Mann (the perfectly cast Dennis Weaver in a magnificent performance), a weary family man and salesman on a business road trip. Mann is just casually trying to get to his destination, when the trucker goads him into road rage by constantly passing and blocking him. Just when Mann thinks he's gotten the better of the trucker, the real "game" begins and it becomes a matter of life and death as Mann must navigate the desert highway to elude this pyschopath. Weaver perfectly relays Mann's slightly frustrated, meek, everyday Joe quality. I like the fact that the story never makes Mann do anything out of character or impulsive and forces him to react, rather than act, for most of the film. Even when he does kind of take action, it does a good job of explaining his inner thoughts and what motivates him to act this way.

DUEL, minus a couple of hiccups, is one of the best edited films as each cut serves an actual purpose to simultaneously move the story along and relay the intensity of the situation. It's of great benefit that Spielberg was forced to use his imagination with intricate camera work as this was even before the era of fancy special effects in films. And Spielberg's direction is rock solid BEYOND good! Hard to believe it took less than 2 weeks to make this classic!

It always fascinates me how an older film like DUEL, which SHOULD be dated, still manages to seem more modern than many of the films that have tried to copy it over the decades. "Simplicity" is a word that often comes to mind. DUEL is minimalist filmmaking in that it's told from a singular point of view and presented in a (feasible) way that makes us totally empathize with the main character's plight to the point where we can actually see ourselves going through this. Another thing is that DUEL was literally shot on location in remote roadside desert locales, which gives the film a timeless quality. Not to mention that all minor characters (the diner crowd, the elderly couple on the highway, the bus driver and kids, and the "snake" lady) come across as being very convincing in their bit parts. The dialogue is spare, natural, and realistic. None of that "too clever for it's own good" stuff you hear in so many flicks like this nowadays.

I still think this is one of Spielberg's top films, right up there with JAWS, probably the only 2 films that he's made that I don't think slow down or lag at any moment. I own the DVD with Spielberg's commentary and added scenes that flesh out the film more than it's initial presentation, and for the most part, I think these scenes are of benefit.....TV movie?.....Film?..... A masterwork whatever the format!

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Duel

I remember watching this movie when I was a child, and tried finding its name through imdb plot search however I failed. I typed whatever incidents I remembered on google, and voila! I decided immediately to order a copy from Amazon.

Copy and paste the following link in you address bar to read about the movie [...].

Stress

This movie filled my spirit with strife. It seemed unending in its footage of driving on different roads that all looked the same. The man who drives on his way to work and than home to his same routine is caught in this mindless disconnected motoring when suddenly a semi seems to be playing a game of overtake. It starts out as a normal little car power struggle that we all experience yet wends its way to a full blown attempt at murder. The semi driver is never shown so it feels like its between the actual truck and the civilian driver. They try and overtake each other at first, with dangerous speeding and competitiveness, than the civilian takes on another role, it is not a game of who can be first, he begins to become a victim. He doesn't know what to do. He tries to confront the possible trucker at a cafe, but it is the wrong person. He is becoming more and more agitated. He can't lose the guy. It becomes deadly, knocking over a phone booth the civilian is in. Pushing him off the road, where he slams into a guard rail. The civilian isn't in touch with center and pulls off the road and than pulls back on, instead of just stopping and waiting for police, etc. He tries to call them but gives up, cus the phone is demolished. Its like the civilian can't give up his normal routine no matter if death is at stake. The emotion is very well acted by Weaver, who is the main character in this film. He starts out with the normal day to day stress and we see it build and his fear take over and again rational thought seeming to not be as present. The good thing I got from this film was the feeling of something being over. Over and done, no more, alive and safe. Free for the moment and still being alive. Thats when the routine of daily life fades and it doesn't matter anymore, you can sit and throw rocks and know that no one will be hurting you anymore.

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This is the TV movie that put Steven Spielberg on the map, shortly before he made The Sugarland Express. Working from a script by Richard Matheson, the film stars Dennis Weaver as a mild-mannered traveling salesman who unintentionally angers the driver of a semi truck. Suddenly, the truck is not only riding his tail but trying to run him off the road. No matter what he does (pulling over, stopping at a diner, calling the cops), he can't get rid of it. Spielberg makes the wise decision of never showing the driver, even as he cranks the voltage on the film's suspense elements. As a result, the truck itself takes on an air of satanic menace--even a personality of sorts--as it seems to hunt its human prey. Spielberg made a lot out of a little, suggesting just how skilled a storyteller he would become. --Marshall Fine

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