| | | The film that started it all.|Fear is the Driving Force.
Features: DVD, Collector's Edition, Dolby Digital (5.1) Surround Sound, Dolby, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound
Steven Spielberg directs this high-velocity thriller about a motorist terrorized by an evil truck. Spielberg's first full-length movie, Duel, helped jumpstart the director's big-screen career, with a gripping, action-packed story hailed by critics as a film that "belongs on the classics shelf reserved for top suspensers" (Daily Variety). Dennis Weaver stars as the traveling salesman waging a desperate battle for survival after he is mysteriously singled out. Praised for its deft use of relentlessly mounting psychological tension, Duel features one of the most uniquely terrifying "characters" in movie history: a massive, 40-ton truck with sheer menace. A few years later, the action of Spielberg's blockbuster hit Jaws would echo Duel's tale of a lone hero in a heart-stopping fight to the finish against a monstrous, inhuman foe.
"This TV movie put Spielberg on the map, and rightly so; superb suspense film, from Richard Matheson's script." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Even without benefit of hindsight, Duel looks like the work of an unusually talented young director." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"Not even Hitchcock could have shot or paced Duel any better. Spielberg...knows how to pour it on for the exciting chase scenes." Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
"A lean, efficient thrill ride that taps into "road rage" long before the term existed." Rob Thomas, Capital Times
"A thrillingly paranoid tale of a businessman (Dennis Weaver) and his apocalyptic duel with the driver of a monster truck." Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
"Simply a rivetingly murderous game of cat and mouse that keeps you on the edge of your seat." Tom Milne, Time Out
"An exquisite piece of streamlined suspense and action that clearly demonstrates that [Spielberg] was already in full control of his vision." TV Guide
Editor's Note
DUEL, one of Steven Spielberg's first vehicles, foreshadowed the blockbuster film JAWS. Using minimal dialogue and effects, Spielberg defines the characteristics of his prolific oeuvre in this early work. Through tight cinematic narration, he effectively conveys the sudden and shocking horror that develops over the course of the film. On a deserted stretch of California highway, businessman David Mann (Dennis|Weaver) settles into his red Valiant for the long drive to an urgent meeting. Ahead of him on the road is a slow-moving diesel truck, which David innocently decides to pass. So begins the long duel between David and the Goliath-like rig in this nerve-wracking TV movie. Menacing David at every twist and turn of the highway, the truck tries to push the Valiant onto a train track, run David down in a phone booth, engage him in a high-speed chase, and tailgate him into oblivion. Hoping to lose the rig, David stops at a roadside café only to realize that the driver of the truck is also in the restaurant. The driver is never seen, except one shot of his beefy|arm waving the Valiant ahead into oncoming traffic. Instead, Spielberg uses|the monstrous truck itself, much like the way he used the shark in JAWS, to|harass and taunt. After its broadcast on television, DUEL was released|theatrically with extra footage added.
Plot Summary
Very early in his career Steven Spielberg directed this suspenseful TV movie about a businessman who finds himself in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with a diabolical diesel truck. David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is in a race to get to an important appointment when a mysterious rig traveling on the same deserted highway decides to run him off the road. The truck's driver is never seen as Weaver's ever-increasing panic and rage build in this tale of road rage gone too far.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround, Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, DTS | | Cast and Filmmakers | | Production Notes | | Full Screen Presentation | | DVD-ROM Access | | Steven Spielberg and the Small Screen | | Trailer | | Featurette: "The Making Of Duel" | | Interview With Steven Spielberg | | Photo Gallery And Storyboards |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Universal |
| Release Date: 2/8/2005 |
| Running Time: 90 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1971 | | Catalog ID: 21976 | | UPC: 00025192197628 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Golden Globe (1972) | | | Duel, Nominee, Best Movie Made for TV | |
Emmy (1972) | | | Jack A. Marta, Nominee, Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography for Entertainment Programming - For a Special or Feature Length Program Made for Television |  | Jerry Christian, et. al., Winner, Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...DUEL looks like the work of an unusually talented young director..." 04/15/1983 p.C10Premiere
"[A] sleek, ever-in-motion experiment in terror." 11/01/2004 p.108-9 DVD Times 7 of 10
Duel is a film that transcended the boundaries of both the genre and the medium it was designed for and became a huge influence on a generation, with modern productions such as Jeepers Creepers and Roadkill still borrowing heavily from a film made before most of its leads had been born. It still works today as a tense thriller, even if the originality of the film has long been diluted, not to mention it being such an important film in the career of a man that has become synonymous with movie-making...I feel the disc is technically as good as you're ever likely to see, in fact far better than I ever expected it to be, and the extras have been complete since 2001, making it unlikely that Universal suddenly decided they needed to add more. I fear the most likely reason for the films withdrawal is the running time, another edition containing the 74 minute cut seems likely, but the big question is, will it also contain this 90 minute version? If it does, then this disc will become virtually worthless, if not then this may become a highly prized collector's item. Sadly Universal are keeping tight lipped on the subject, currently giving no reasons for pulling it, no date for a planned release, and no details of any changes that may occur. If you can still find this in a store, on or offline, buy it now and treasure it. - Matt Day
The Onion A.V. Club 8 of 10
At 21, college dropout Steven Spielberg talked his way into a seven-year contract with Universal Studios, which gave him free choice of a limited pool of projects slated for television. On the DVD for the 1971 TV movie Duel, Spielberg says he wasn't too happy with his lot at first, but he "didn't want to be a maverick independent director screaming, 'I'm going back to New York to make underground films!'" That's Spielberg in a nutshell, certain from the beginning that he belonged not just at the heart of the Hollywood mainstream, but in charge of the prestige projects...Duel's selling point remains the way Spielberg gives heavy machinery a personality of its own, and that's also the main hook for The Sugarland Express, a modest entry in the post-Bonnie And Clyde "hicks on the lam" movie boom. Goldie Hawn and William Atherton play married ex-convicts who kidnap Texas patrolman Michael Sacks while on the way to retrieve their baby from foster care. As with two of Spielberg's other '70s films, Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, Sugarland nicely utilizes flavorful overlapping dialogue, pop-culture references, and soft light...It's a potent visual representation of how problems pile up, as well as a hint of the devastating force Spielberg himself was prepared to unleash. - Noel Murray
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