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Duel (1971)

Starring Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, and Lou Frizzell.  Cinematography by Jack A. Marta. Edited by Frank Morriss. Produced by George Eckstein. Written by Richard Matheson. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

David Mann (played by Dennis Weaver) is just your normal, everyday businessman. On his way to an important appointment he finds himself behind an exhaust belching tanker truck.  He quickly passes it and continues on his way, but the truck quickly overtakes him and slows down.  David again maneuvers around the truck, only to be passed once again.

When the truck’s driver motions for David to go ahead and take the lead, he finds himself directly in the path of an oncoming car. He barely avoids the car, and once again passes the truck, leaving him far behind him.  But the truck driver has other plans and spends the remainder of the day toying with David and his Plymouth Valiant in a game that eventually turns deadly.

On the day that John F. Kennedy was shot, suspense and science fiction writer Richard Matheson was out playing golf with a friend.  After hearing the news of the assassination they decided to call it a day.  On the trip home they were tailgated by an overly aggressive truck driver and the story for Duel was born. 

Matheson wrote his story into a screenplay and shopped it around to a few movie studios, but there was little interest. He finally gave up on the film version and adapted it into a short story, where it was published in the April 1971 edition of Playboy magazine. Around the same time Steven Spielberg was searching for a story to make into his first film. His assistant had read Duel in Playboy and suggested that Spielberg take a look at it. 

He immediately liked the story and soon discovered that there were already plans for it to become one of ABC’s “Movies of the Week”.  He contacted the film’s producer, George Eckstein, and asked if he could take the project.  Spielberg was only twenty three years old at the time, and fairly inexperienced, but based on the strength of his direction in the “Murder by Numbers” episode of the television series “Columbo”, he was given the job.

Spielberg shot Duel in twelve days completely on location.  Using the work of Alfred Hitchcock as inspiration, he used his limited resources to assemble some truly incredible suspense sequences. The result completely surpassed expectations for a simple made for TV movie. Duel’s ratings were huge and it became an incredible success for ABC.  It was such a success, in fact, that they decided to release it theatrically overseas.

But the TV version only ran seventy four minutes without commercial breaks so Spielberg came back to shoot another sixteen. It played at the Cannes Film Festival in 1972 and later on a nice run in European theaters.  In 1983, after Spielberg had found success with films like Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Duel went on a limit United States run as well.  Duel is a nice example of Spielberg’s early raw energy and enthusiasm for the art. It’s certainly worth taking a peek at.

Budget: $450,000 (approximate)

Total US Gross: N/A

Genre: Thriller

Runtime: 90 Minutes (Television Cut:  74 Minutes)

US Release Date: 11/13/74

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Awards:

Golden Globes: 
Nominated for best made for TV movie.

Tagline: Terror In Your Rear View Mirror.

Quote: “You just never know.  You just go along thinking some things don’t change, ever.  Like being on a public highway without someone trying to murder you. And then one stupid thing happens...”

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