Duel

Driving through the California desert, businessman David Mann finds his way forward blocked by a slow-moving old tanker truck. After he manages to pass it, the truck chases him. David stops at a gas station to call his wife and make up after an argument with her. When he gets back on the road, he is once again attacked by the hissing monster vehicle. David takes refuge at a rest stop, where he thinks he recognises the truck driver, and the two men brawl. But David was mistaken. As he resumes his trip, the aggressive hauler is waiting for him … Steven Spielberg’s first feature to get a theatrical release is a moving picture that does full justice to the term. Both the camera and the vehicles are in motion almost incessantly. With a scant 40 lines of dialogue, the film is the work of a true visual storyteller. Duel, originally shot as a TV movie, is a perfect genre thriller, but also a very personal statement. As Spielberg said, “I was always the kid with the big bully. And Duel is my life in the schoolyard. The truck was the bully and the car was me”.