Duel: Review By Daveactor7

This film had me thinking of even getting a driver's license.

A television movie directed by a young Steven Spielberg, this film seems to be an overly long twilight zone episode. Facing deadlines, Spielberg shot this film over the course of fourteen days, can you believe that? He shot it with the usage of five or six camera, capturing different shots and angles in one take. After the shoot he only had three weeks to edit the film before the day the film was supposed to air on television. I give him props here for accomplishing this feat of not only shooting and completing a film over such a short amount of time, but also making a spectacular film while doing so.

Warning Spoilers ahead***

Dennis Weaver gives a great performance as David Mann, a businessman on his way to the east for a meeting. He encounters a oil tanker truck, and it is one ugly looking piece of metal that looks as if it had been covered entirely in crap. That's not what is bothering David, the truck is going really slow, blocking his path. He passes the truck, only to have it cut past him and when he tries again to get ahead of it, he succeeds. This is the beginning of the nightmare soon to come. From this point onwards, the truck follows David wherever he goes. What is the trucker's intention?

Speaking of the trucker, his face cannot be seen and is never seen throughout the entire film. The only glimpses we get of him is his boots and his upper torso. That is what adds to the suspense and creepiness about the film. Who is this driver? That was one question I was trying to find out during the film and I was praying for a glimpse of his face, but it never came. I disliked that only to realize later on that it added much more potential to the film, by adding to the suspense. With the usage of clever shots and angles, the filmmakers made sure to keep his identity hidden, so they showed the exterior and condition of the truck instead and that is brilliant, as if to say that the truck were some sort of monster.

My favorite scene is in the diner when David stops for a break when he notices the truck parked outside. Now then, who is the driver? He looks around the diner and there are a handful of people in there and his accusing look makes people uncomfortable and they leave and as they do, he checks to see if they get into the truck. This is what I loved most in this scene how it cuts back and forth, a consistent point of view shots from David's perspective and it captures how he is feeling right now. He wants answers. He wants to know who this trucker is and what he is trying to do. In the end we see the truck leave on its own accord. Was the trucker in the diner? I always come back to this scene and look for clues that might lead to the identity of this mysterious man.

The editing has its moment of stardom as well. There is a scene when the truck speeds towards the phone booth and the scene cuts back and forth, building up the suspense as David tries to call for help. He doesn't even get through to someone and he leaps out of the booth just in time. This scene reminded me strongly of that sequence in "The matrix" when Trinity got to the booth just in time before the truck destroyed it. Perhaps this is where it got that idea from.

The duel continues and this is where things get more intense. David actually comes to his wits and fights back. The coward he once was is now gone and anger just replaces it. He stops his car in the middle of the road, beside a steep cliff. The truck blazes forward and David jumps out just in time for the truck to hit the car and the trucker realizes not until the last second that there is a cliff off the road. Unable to do anything else, the truck falls, taking David's car along with it and the two vehicles crash at the bottom of the cliff.The end of the mysterious trucker. This is perhaps one of the best ending sequences I had ever seen. The buildup of the suspense doesn't let up not even till the very end.

Overall, this is one hell of a thrill ride and do not even blink because you might just miss something.

This has been a review by daveactor7