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Customer Reviews of Duel

The Ultimate Example of Road Rage
This terror filled masterpiece directed by Steven Spielberg and written by the great Richard Matheson has to be one of the most nerve jarring films ever made. Dennis Weaver plays the hapless victim of a psycho truck driver who is seemingly intent on killing him. Dennis Weaver's performance is classic, adding to the fear of being chased by a mack truck on deserted stretches of highway. Apparently this is the movie that proved that Spielberg could really and truly direct and what a way to prove one's worth! The truck itself is the epitome of every traveller's worst fears, an unstoppable behemoth capable of crushing the biggest of automobiles, nevertheless Weaver's puny car. This is not a movie to watch before going on a long car trip, every eighteen wheeler will have you in nervous twitches if you do. An essential film to own for any Horror fan, and probably one of the top ten Horror films of all time. I know it's one of my favorites.

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High-octane suspense
Traveling businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) encounters an enormous, rusty, slow-moving tanker truck on a lonely stretch of desert highway, and passes it. The never-seen truck driver, who is obviously "a few gallons short of a full tank," responds by turning his truck into a terrifying murder weapon, trying to run Mann's tiny Plymouth Valiant off the road. That's the entire plot of "Duel." In the hands of a young director named Steven Spielberg, it's all the plot that's needed.

Spielberg got the green light to direct this made-for-TV movie because producer George Eckstein had seen and been impressed by Spielberg's directorial debut, the pilot episode of "Columbo." Working on a shoestring budget, Spielberg delivered a tale of suspense that puts many a big-budget Hollywood action thriller to shame. Equal credit has to go to Weaver, who superbly conveys David Mann's emotions to the viewer: His initial frustration when the truck passes him and slows to a crawl, his satisfaction when he thinks he's gotten the upper hand, his terror when he realizes the truck driver's intentions have turned deadly, his isolated helplessness as every person he encounters thinks he's crazy and/or refuses to get involved and, ultimately, his determination to survive his ordeal.

There is a great moment in this movie which no one else has mentioned: Mann, thinking his ordeal is over, is flagged down by a bus driver whose bus has broken down. While assisting the driver, Mann suddenly notices the truck, waiting in the shadows under an overpass. Then, the truck's headlights come on. At this moment, the truck resembles a yellow-eyed demonic apparition straight out of David Mann's worst nightmare.

Far less impressive is this film's monaural sound, although it does have its moments. This is a made-for-television feature film from 1971, so don't expect the aural impact of a modern-day surround-sound blockbuster. Anyway, the chances are good that you'll be so caught up in the movie itself, the (relatively) poor sound quality won't matter.

But be warned: When you're out on the road, and you look in your rear-view mirror and see a large truck closing in behind you, this movie WILL come back to you.

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"Duel" Of The Fates
"Come on you miserable fat-head! Get that fat-*ss truck outta my way!" - David Mann gets his road-rage face on & starts "Duel"

Before the term "road-rage" was coined there was Steven Spielberg's first film. "Duel" still holds its punch 33 years after its movie of the week debut.

David Mann is a simple business man, late for a convention thats taking him cross country to get there. It seems that he's making good time, that is, until, an old tanker truck gets in his path, and won't let Mann pass at any cost, except, with the cost of his own life. But, when Mann sees an opening and slips past the truck, an annoying situation escalates into a dangerous game of cat & mouse as the truck and its unknown driver hunts down, teases, & taunts Mann, & his crappy Dodge Dart, all over the Arizona highway.

The film is still great. Its like a feature length episode of "The Twilight Zone". Dennis Weaver is at his best as David Mann, who seems confindent, one of the guys that seems to have an infinite amount of patience, at the films beginning, but, at films end he's a nerve-shattered shell of his formerself & you wonder if he would ever drive a vehicle again, let alone sit in one!

Spielberg shows his first flair for suspense in "Duel" with the school bus sequence and the gas station attack (if you weren't at least on the edge of your seat when Mann was trying to help the kids & the school bus out while the truck ominously watched in the wings, you better check your pulse!).

"Duel" is one of those films that makes you think twice about showing off your road-rage & flipping someone off after they cut you off on the highway. A must for the DVD collection. Not to be watched on long road trips.