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DUEL

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Thu 7 Aug 2008

DUEL (1971)

Posted by Jennifer Jarmusz under DUEL
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I saw this movie one time on TV when I was a little kid, probably about 8 years old, and it just always stuck with me since then. I tried desperately to find it again to no avail for a long time. I used to scour the TV guides looking for it and it finally came on one night very late, at some time past midnight on the USA channel, but I fell asleep before it came on and so missed it and I was so angry at myself about that. Then when I was in highschool I finally found it in a catalog at a video store that I used to work at and I ordered it on VHS with my own money. I was so happy when I finally got to watch it again after nearly 10 years had gone by of searching for it. Now I own the DVD and it’s one of the very few movies that I can watch over and over and OVER again and never really get tired of it. It’s my #1 favorite movie of all time. The reason why is hard to explain. There’s just something about that truck, like it has a personality of its own which is very creepy and the story is so realistic. And Dennis Weaver did such a great job as the protagonist, he was very convincing as a real person to me. I also love the scenery in the movie and the way it was shot on location.

 

Sat 8 Sep 2007

DUEL

Posted by Zach NeSmith under DUEL , Steven Spielberg
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Who knew that a made-for-T.V movie could actually be…what’s the word I’m looking for? Oh, yeah; good. Back before he was known as one of the most powerful forces in Hollywood, Steven Spielberg worked the small screen on such shows as NIGHT GALLERY, COLUMBO, and Marcus WELBY M.D. Then, in the year nineteen hundred and seventy one, came DUEL. Based on a short story (found in Playboy magazine, no less) DUEL’s premise is remarkably simple; an insurance salesman (Dennis Weaver) in a station wagon on a lonely stretch of desert road inadvertently angers the psychotic driver of a massive semi. Throughout the next ninety minutes, Weaver tries desperately to out-maneuver the driver, but, ultimately, he must face his fears in one terrifying showdown.

What sounds like a typical chase movie becomes an exercise in sheer terror in the hands of Steven Spielberg. Because you never get to see the face of the driver, the truck itself becomes a character in and of itself. Weaver is perfectly cast as the salesman, making you feel his fear and lack of control. All in all, this film gives me hope that, at some point in history, T.V (or at least the movies on T.V) could have been somewhat entertaining.