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Plot: A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by a malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
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Recent Reviews
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MCT:August 5, 2008When you think about it,a bloke being followed and terrorized by a mental truck driver as he tries to drive home from work doesn't sound like the most exciting hour and 20 minutes you could spend watching a film,i mean,how far could they take that?But fuck a duck,twice,this film is great!It's all about the tension of this seemingly normal man just wanting to get home but he can't because of the truck drivers ruthless persuing. And then we see the man becoming more paranoid throughout.There's a break in all the driving though;the brilliant scene in the cafe where we begin to see the man beginning to lose it and starts questioning all those around him,in his mind anyway.
This is a lesson in how to build great tension in a film with what must have been a very low budget.Its no wonder Speilberg went on to become a daddy of directing after this! -
MCT:July 28, 2008On 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. -
MCT:July 28, 2008
Great little movie from early 70s Spielburg. Sure, I've seen the premise about 5 times (the one with Emilio Estevez, the one with Leelee Sobieski, the one with Meatloaf, etc....) But this one never goes over the top and was relatable enough to really scare me.
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MCT:July 6, 2008the one that spielberg set the standard with for all the truck chasing car flicks that came afterwards... e.g. joy ride, half of jeepers creepers and that one with kurt russell in it where his wife gets kidnapped. it isn't the best of the lot but it is the original idea. i think its main problem was you knew it was some crazy guy. there wasn't much mystery about it except... who it actually could be and also it was all shot during the day. the nearest you get to a night-time shot is in a tunnel for about 10 seconds. whoop-de-fucking dooo! great early idea by spielberg that's been copied time and time again. unfortunately it's been bettered
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MCT:June 23, 2008Stephen Spilbergs 1st movie.
Its about a truck driver trying to kill a inocent man. It all starts when a truck driver started blocking him off. He gets infront and goes to a cafe. He waits there but the truck driver was in the cafe to but he didnt no which one he was. He waited there for ages and then suddenly he looked the other way and the truck driver was leaving. So the man got in his car and started chasing him. This happened for another 30 min. Then he hid from the driver. But the truck driver stopped to. In the end he was going to drive in to the truck. He went full out at him and then jumped out and the truck and his car went down the hill and the truck driver died. -
MCT:June 17, 2008
An early movie directed by Steven Spielberg. The relentless truck that is pursuing Dennis Weaver can be seen as a pre-cursor to the monstruous shark in Jaws.
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MCT:June 16, 2008DUEL (1971)
directed by Steven Spielberg
starring Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone, Carey Loftin
Steven Spielbergs debut and its a good one.
So far ive only seen 35 min worth and ive enjoyed:)
Got another 55 min. -
MCT:June 14, 2008
one of spielbergs first movies before he became mega famous is also one of my favs a tense thriller starring dennis weaver as a business man being chased by a faceless trucker this movie was made for tv but plays like any movie seen in theaters in the 70's worth a watch
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MCT:June 3, 2008DUEL (1971)
directed by Steven Spielberg
starring Dennis Weaver, Eddie Firestone, Carey Loftin«I'd like to report a truck driver who's been endangering my life.»
Before Steven Spielberg became one of the most influencial man in the history of cinema; before he pretty much created the summer blockbuster; before he was hated for that reason; before he was considered as the greatest movie director by fans all around the world; before he won Oscars and before he made E.T.; even before he directed one single movie for the silver screen; Steven Spielberg made Duel, originally a simple «movie of the week», but with his passion and hunger for creating and telling good stories, Spielberg made it a small screen masterpiece, a cinema lesson.It couldnt be simplier. A man leaves his house in the morning, he has an appoitment somewhere, drives across the city and crosses the path of an old rusty truck. The very truck, we never see the driver, will do everything to make him sweat. At first it seems like an unfunny sick game, but it soon becomes a murderous drive around hell and ultimately a duel between the red sedan and the old truck.
There are no motivations, no informations, except maybe just enough to understand that our hero isnt the fighting type, in a conversation on the phone with his wife, making it obvious, he wont be easy for him to fight back with the truck rather than letting it eat him.
Its basically a one and a half hour car chase but its never boring. Its based on a Richard Matheson short story, which he adapted hmself, and he keeps finding ways top add episodes which Spielberg uses to build the tension and makes it more and more palpable. Its actually very clever in its own way. The shots, the score, the editing, plus Dennis Wever doing most of his own stunts, all shot on location, which was unusual for that kind of TV movies.
Duel shows all the talent Spielberg has and that he doesnt need visual effects to make anything great, only he uses them a lot nowadays because he can afford it. Just like I previously mentionned, its like a cinema lesson. A small-budgeted TV movie as suspensful as a Hitchcock film, that is something. Duel keeps me on the edge of my seat everytime I see it. One scene I particularly like is the coffee shop. Every single character is a suspect and like Hitchcock, Spielberg play with our mind, trying to make us believe that each character is the truck driver, until the next one seems to be more plausible.
Definately one of my favorite Spielberg, even if there are some funny mistakes like the director's reflection in the phone booth or the camera operator's shadow on the back of the actor. Great.
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MCT:May 16, 2008
Spielberg's debut, and it's great. The plot is very simple, which really reveals it to be a 'debut'- but its straightforwardness gives it tremendous focus that allows for a very intense and thrilling film.
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MCT:May 9, 2008
The directorial debut of Steven Spielberg sees a businessman being stalked by the driver of an 18 wheeler truck!
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MCT:April 22, 2008Wow, this looks amazing, yet for some odd reason or another the idea of this film reminded me of the 2001 film "Joyride". Was that in anyway an updated version?
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MCT:April 7, 2008
Senor Speilberg's first feature film starring Dennis Weaver,his Plymouth Valiant, and an unseen trucker with more road rage than you can shake a stick at!
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MCT:April 4, 2008
Premier film de Speilberg. Bon suspense. Bien des liens à faire avec ses films subséquents dont Jaws. Les entrevues du DVD valent la peine.
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MCT:April 1, 2008
Actually a pretty tense and riveting movie considering it was a TV movie. Points for it being Spielberg's first movie.
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MCT:March 17, 2008
really good....from day 1 it is obvious spielberg is a veri gifted filmmaker...the tension this film builds up wit virtually nofin more than a car and a killer truck!!! brilliant stuff!!!!
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MCT:March 4, 2008
A very good and at times suspenseful movie. The diesal is the real star of the movie and brings some real terrifing images too the movie.
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MCT:February 19, 2008
Very good. Very simple film, but Spielberg is able to get it just right (as usual) and makes it great!
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MCT:February 18, 2008
Spielberg's first movie, yet it is absolutely flawless and should be up there among his higher budget movies.
The uniqueness of this movie, with its minimal dialogue, the unseen villian, and the solitary point of view of the ordinary businessman is spectacular. This is original filmmaking.
The film's technicalities paved the way for Spielberg's future movies, contrasting wide angles and closeups of men and machines, views in the rear view mirrors, unique camera angles, overly bright scenes - absolute genius and it will leave you on the edge of your seat.
Fantastic performance by Dennis Weaver too - RIP! -
MCT:February 18, 2008
very tense and brilliantly acted and written. The camera angles used by spieilberg really creates the tension well.
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MCT:February 9, 2008
I really don't see the attraction of this movie. There is a little suspense and the main character does a good job of playing a man going crazy but I have seen this done better in other movies.
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MCT:February 9, 2008
Steven Spielberg's most exciting, accessible film. It's simplicity - man pursued by truck - played into all sorts of American neuroses about the wild, with an excellent everyman hero in the form of Dennis Weaver (his best role). Some of the tricks used here we repeated in Jaws and Jurassic Park, with less effect.
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MCT:January 6, 2008
MASTER OF SUSPENSE. sign of the genius that is Spielberg. really great and tense, intense, a real nail-biter. MUST SEE!
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MCT:November 13, 2007
Spielberg's first feature length piece of work and this movie is certainly not a disappointment. It's interesting to look back at Spielberg's early movies and compare them to the way he's making them now. Basically a salesman named David Mann (Weaver) is on a business trip, and on the highway he comes across a large truck that seems to be too big and bulky for the road. Mann tries to avoid it, but the truck keeps coming after him and won't stop. It starts as fun and games; harmless fighting that annoys Mann, but as time keeps going on the harmless fight turns into something much more deadly and fatal and Mann finds himself fighting for his life. Very suspenseful at times and the editing job is overly extremely brilliant, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and was a good way to start Spielberg's now more than stellar film career.
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kwabs2006posted 585 days ago
