Duel (film)

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Duel
original poster
Genre	Thriller
Running time	74 min. (approx.) 90 min. (approx.) (DVD version)
Director(s)	Steven Spielberg
Producer(s)	George Eckstein
Writer(s)	Richard Matheson
Starring	Dennis Weaver Carey Loftin
Music by	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Original channel	ABC
Release date(s)	November 13, 1971
IMDb profile
All Movie Guide profile

Duel is a 1971 television movie directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Dennis Weaver. It was written by Richard Matheson based on his own short story.

Duel was Spielberg's feature-length directing debut, following a well-received turn directing a segment of the anthology television series Night Gallery. Initially shown on American television as an ABC Movie of the Week installment, it was eventually released to cinemas in Europe and in some limited venues in the United States.

[edit] Plot

David Mann (Dennis Weaver), a businessman, is driving in his compact Plymouth Valiant to a business appointment on the back roads of the California desert. He soon approaches a large tank truck travelling slowly on the two lane highway. In a hurry and somewhat irritated by the fumes from the truck's exhaust, Mann overtakes it and continues on his way. He drives further on quietly for a few moments when the truck suddenly roars past him, overtaking him and slowing down, forcing Mann to slow down behind it. A few minutes pass and Mann once again overtakes the truck. The truck gives a loud honk on its air horn as he does so. Mann shakes his head at this, but continues on his way.

Further down the road, Mann pulls into a gas station to refuel. Moments later, the truck pulls in next to him. As the gas station attendant refuels Mann's car, washes his windshield, and examines his car's belts and hoses, Mann keeps his eye on the truck driver. He cannot see the driver's body or face, but notices the driver's cowboy boots. The attendant tells Mann that his radiator hose needs to be replaced, but Mann, in a hurry and skeptical of the attendant, declines to have that work done now.

After leaving the gas station, Mann continues his journey. The truck shortly catches up with him and starts to tailgate him. Annoyed, Mann signals with his hand for the truck to pass him. The truck does so, only to slow down as soon as it is in front of Mann's car. Growing increasingly agitated, Mann attempts to pass the truck. The truck, however, swerves in front of him each time he tries to do so, not allowing him to pass. Mann honks his horn and curses at the truck under his breath ("Come on you miserable fathead, get that fat-ass truck out of my way!"), but the truck will not let him pass. This goes on for a few minutes until, unexpectedly, the truck driver puts his hand out of his window and signals for Mann to pass him. As Mann attempts to do so, he suddenly notices an oncoming car and is forced back into his lane, behind the truck (the truck driver had wanted him to hit the oncoming car head-on). After a few more minutes of trying to outmaneuver the truck, Mann notices a dirt side road and uses it to accelerate and pass the truck. He speeds up to put some distance between himself and the truck and then slows down to normal speed to continue on his journey.

Several minutes later, Mann looks into his rear-view mirror and sees that the truck is steadily gaining on him. He accelerates somewhat to try to outrun the truck, but soon the truck catches up to him. Driving only inches behind Mann, the truck gives several ominous honks of its air horn. As Mann continues to accelerate, the truck goes only faster. Soon, the truck is chasing Mann at speeds of over 90 miles per hour (144 km/h). It bumps Mann's car from behind several times, giving a honk of its air horn each time. Mann panics and tries evasive action, pulling his car off the road. He ends up swerving and then crashing into a fence. The truck continues down the road.

The tanker truck.

Mann, terrified and suffering from whiplash due to the impact of his car against the fence at that speed, stumbles out of his car and walks across the road to a roadside restaurant, Chuck's Cafe. He throws some water on his face in the bathroom, steps out, and decides to stop and order some food. As he goes to sit down, he takes a casual look out the window and sees the truck parked right outside. Shaken, he sits down and tries to contemplate what could possibly be motivating the truck driver to follow him and try to kill him. As he nervously orders his food and eats, he looks around the restaurant at the other patrons, many of whom are men with cowboy boots on. As he tries to figure out which one could be the truck driver, several of them leave. Mann approaches the patron that he presumes is the truck driver and confronts him. This leads to an altercation between the two and the patron furiously leaves. As he does so, Mann sees that he does not leave in the truck. As Mann sits down again, he hears the sound of the truck's engine starting up and he runs outside to see the truck pulling away.

Mann gets back into his car and drives on. He is flagged down by a school bus driver whose bus has broken down and who asks Mann if he could push the bus with his car to help the engine get started. Mann asks the bus driver why he did not flag down the truck and the driver says he did not notice it. Mann reluctantly agrees to help. As he tries to push the bus with his car, though, his front bumper becomes jammed beneath the bus' rear bumper. Mann gets out of his car to try to pull the car loose, he looks up at an overpass further down the road. The tanker truck has turned around and is slowly moving under the underpass towards him. Mann also notices that the schoolchildren have gotten off of the bus and are standing near the roadside. Fearing for them, he tries to get them back on the bus as the truck slowly approaches. Mann manages to pull his car free and speedily escapes the scene. He stops a short distance down the road and looks back. He sees the truck turning back around and positioning itself directly behind the school bus, giving it the push it needs to get moving.

Mann continues his journey, the truck being nowhere in sight. He is forced to stop at a railroad crossing. As he waits for the freight train to pass, he suddenly feels a bump. He looks behind him to see the tanker truck trying to push his car into the train. Mann brakes hard and tries to reverse, but the truck's push is much too powerful. Fortunately for Mann, the train passes and he quickly drives through the crossing onto an embankment on the side of the road. The truck drives past him, giving a loud honk on its air horn.

Mann pulls his car off of the embankment and continues down the road, soon catching up to the truck. This time, he does not attempt to pass it. He pulls into another gas station on the side of the road, this one having several snakes on display in some cages next to it. As the gas station owner fills his car's tank and checks his car's belts and hoses, Mann uses the station's telephone booth to call the police. As he is on the phone, he does not notice behind him that the truck turns around and starts to drive back in his direction.

Mann is still on the phone with his back to the truck, when the truck suddenly drives straight towards the telephone booth. Just as the truck is about to hit the booth, it gives a loud honk on its air horn that alerts Mann, who quickly runs out of the telephone booth as the truck drives straight over it, destroying it along with several snake cages. Mann runs from the truck as it turns around and drives back towards him. The truck destroys a few more cages, putting snakes and tarantulas in Mann's path as he runs. Mann manages to run back to his car and races away from the gas station. He drives far ahead of the truck and then parks his car behind a tall hill so that it cannot be seen from the highway. The truck drives past him, apparently not noticing him.

Mann decides to wait for at least an hour before continuing, giving the truck lots of time to be far down the road. He falls asleep in his car. Sometime later, he is awakened to the sound of a loud blaring noise, sounding exactly like the truck's air horn. Mann is startled awake and fearfully looks around to find the source of the noise. He laughs with relief as he realizes that it is only the whistle of a freight train passing by on some nearby railroad tracks.

Feeling safer and more confident, Mann drives out of his hiding spot to continue his journey. He only goes a short distance before coming to a screeching halt. The truck is parked on the side of the road up ahead, waiting for him. Mann glares at the truck and its driver for a long time, pondering his next move.

Mann flags down the next car that he sees, one driven by an elderly couple, and asks them to call the police. They resist and Mann grows frustrated with them. Suddenly, the elderly woman in the car points forward and Mann looks up to see the truck reversing quickly in their direction, on a direct collision course with the car. Mann runs onto the side of the road and the other car drives away. The truck slowly drives forward and once again parks on the side of the road.

Mann gets back into his car and slowly drives up next to the truck. The truck driver has his hand out the window and is signalling Mann to pass. Mann speeds past the truck and the truck begins chasing him again.

Further down the road, Mann sees what appears to be a police car parked on the side of the road and he drives towards it. He quckly turns back onto the road, though, when he sees that the car actually belongs to an exterminator, not a police officer. The truck driver sees this and nearly side-swipes the pest control car, blaring its air horn.

As the chase continues up a long hill, Mann suddenly notices steam escaping from his car. His temperature gauge indicates that his car is overheating. Mann realizes that the radiator hose that he had not had replaced earlier has burst. Frightened as he sees his car slowing down and the truck gaining on him, he pleads with his car to gain some speed. "Come on car, come on! Please!!!" Moments later, the car loses oil pressure with the oil light on the dashboard flashing. The car struggles and shakes, slowing down to less than 20 miles per hour, but manages to reach the top of the hill. Mann shifts into neutral gear and the chase continues downhill.

Upon reaching the bottom of the hill, Mann crashes his car into a cliff wall and is unable to restart it. The engine struggles as the truck comes closer and closer. The engine manages to start with the truck only a few feet away and Mann's car quickly races up a dusty canyon road as the truck makes a swift turn, blaring its air horn.

Finally, Mann reaches a tall ridge overlooking a canyon. He turns his car around, facing it in the direction the truck will be coming from, with the car's rear to the edge of the cliff. The truck drives up the ridge and heads directly towards Mann's car, on a head-on collision course. Mann jams his briefcase onto the accelerator and jumps out of the car. His car keeps moving and collides head-on with the truck, causing the car's engine to explode. The truck continues to drive forward, pushing the burning car. Due to the flames, the truck driver is unable to see the road ahead. Moments later, the truck reaches the edge of the cliff. The truck driver quickly attempts to brake, but he is unable to stop. With a long and final honk of its air horn, the truck goes off the edge of the cliff, pushing Mann's car with it. (As it does so, the sound effect of a dinosaur roar is heard.) The truck tumbles down the side of the cliff, kicking up a large dust cloud. The falling truck emerges briefly from the dust cloud and then (with the dinosaur roar sound effect being heard once more) rolls over and comes to a stop.

Mann runs over to the edge of the cliff, hopping joyously to see the truck lying in the canyon, broken apart from the fall. He soon stops jumping and quietly sits down. The scene fades to a silhouetted shot of Mann sitting on the ridge, quietly tossing pebbles as the sun sets.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Story origins

The script is adapted by Richard Matheson from his own short story, originally published in Playboy magazine. It came from a real-life experience, in which Matheson was tailgated by a trucker on his way home from a golfing match with writer friend Jerry Sohl, on the same day as the Kennedy assassination. The short story was given to Spielberg by his secretary who reportedly read the magazine for the stories (source: DVD bonus material).

Some have proposed that it also may have been inspired by a 1947 episode of the old-time radio series Lights Out entitled What the Devil, which had a similar plot but different resolution.

[edit] The truck

In the DVD documentary, Spielberg observes that the fear of the unknown is perhaps the greatest fear of all and that Duel plays heavily to that fear. Throughout the film, the driver of the truck remains anonymous and unseen, with the exception of two separate shots where his arm beckons Weaver to pass him, and another shot where Weaver observes the driver's snakeskin boots. His motives for targeting Weaver's character are never revealed. Spielberg says that the effect of not seeing the driver makes the real villain of the film the truck itself, rather than the driver.

The truck, a 1955 Peterbilt 281, [1] was chosen for its "face". For each shot, several people had the task to make it uglier, adding some "truck make-up". The car was also carefully chosen, a red 1971 Plymouth Valiant with an underpowered engine to signify the weakness of the David Mann character. Its red color was also intentional for Spielberg wanted the car to appear well among all the dust and rocks on the road, which are basically brown and green. The shots of the truck are done so in such a way as to present it as "alive" in terms of its attack on Mann. According to Spielberg, the multiple license plates on the front bumper of the truck are meant to subtly suggest that it is a serial killer.

[edit] Film production

DVD cover

Despite its simple plot, a low budget (only $375,000) and very short filming deadlines (originally 10 days), the movie maintains a high level of suspense due to Spielberg's taut direction and the script's refusal to resolve the central mystery of the driver. The film's success enabled Spielberg to move beyond directing for television and establish himself as a competent film director. (source: DVD bonus material).

During the original filming, the crew only had one truck and so the final shot of the truck falling off of the cliff had to be completed in one take. For the film's theatrical release, though, additional trucks were purchased in order to film the additional scenes that were not in the original made-for-TV version (i.e. the school bus scene and the railroad crossing). Only one of those trucks has survived.

Much of the movie was filmed in southern California's "Canyon Country," in and around Agua Dulce, California and Acton, California. In particular, sequences were filmed on Sierra Highway, Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Soledad Canyon Road and Angeles Forest Highway. Many of the landmarks from Duel still exist today, including the tunnel, the railroad crossing and Chuck’s Café, a place where David Mann abruptly stops for a break. The building, now a French restaurant, is currently still on Sierra Highway.

The original made-for-television version was only 74 minutes long and was completed in 13 days (3 longer than the scheduled 10 days), leaving 10 days for editing prior to broadcast as the ABC "Movie of the Week". Following Duel's successful TV airing, Universal released Duel overseas in 1973 especially in Europe. Since the movie's 74 minutes was not long enough for moviegoers, Universal had Spielberg spend 2 days filming several new scenes. These new scenes turned Duel into a 90 minute film. The new scenes were the railroad crossing, school bus, and David Mann's telephone conversation with his wife. Expletives were added to make the film sound like a major motion picture.

Director Steven Spielberg lobbied to have Dennis Weaver in the starring role because he admired Weaver's work in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil.

[edit] Duel and Jaws

The dinosaur roar sound effect that is heard as the truck goes over the cliff is also heard in Jaws as the shark's carcass sinks into the ocean. Spielberg has said that this is because he feels there is a "kinship" between Duel and Jaws, as they are both "about these leviathans targeting every man." He has also said that inserting the sound effect into Jaws was "my way of thanking Duel for giving me a career."

[edit] Trivia

• The Incredible Hulk episode "Never Give a Trucker an Even Break" used footage from Duel. Unable to sue because the studio owned both the film and Hulk series, Spielberg insisted that all his future contracts list a clause designed to protect his movies from being used as stock footage. ^[1]
• Whilst Mann is being chased, a parked sedan resembling a police car is seen, briefly raising his hopes, but it turns out to be a service car for a pest exterminator named Grebleips... "Spielberg" in reverse.
• The truck's driver-side door is open as it falls off the cliff because stuntman Cary Loftin actually drove the truck to near the edge of the cliff and then bailed out.^{[citation needed]}
• This film was #67 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

[edit] References

• Duel: Special Edition DVD commentary (2005)
• "The Complete Spielberg" by Ian Freer, Virgin Books (2001).
• "Steven Spielberg" by James Clarke, Pocket Essentials (2004).
• "Steven Spielberg The Collectors Edition" by Empire Magazine (2004).
• "The Steven Spielberg Story" by Tony Crawley, William Morrow (1983).
• "Duel" by Richard Matheson, Tor Books Terror Stories Series (2003).

[edit] See also

• Christine
• The Car
• Joy Ride
• Maximum Overdrive
• Throttle
• Trucks
• Demonic car concept

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Duel

• Duel at the Internet Movie Database
• Duel at Rotten Tomatoes