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(More customer reviews)DUEL is the film that made Steven Spielberg a household word in Hollywood--and for good reason. Though made in only three weeks on a budget of less than $500,000, this superlative made-for-TV movie helped to launch his career beyond the stars.
This is an extremely lean but effective psychological thriller with Dennis Weaver (of "Gunsmoke" fame) effectively portraying the first of Spielberg's favorite characters, the Everyman--in this case, an average auto motorist driving to a business appointment on a lonely California highway. He tries to pass a road-hogging diesel truck; but when he does, the truck goes after him for the rest of the way. Neither Weaver nor the viewer ever sees the truck driver, with the exception of a beefy hand and a pair of cowboy boots; but it's perfectly obvious that this man is a total psychopath.
Though suffering from some slight technical flaws, DUEL is brilliantly directed by Spielberg. The film's screenplay is by the always-excellent sci-fi/horror writer Richard Matheson, who based it on a short story he had published in the April '71 edition of Playboy magazine. Matheson, known for such novels as "I Am Legend" and scripts for "The Twilight Zone", is a master at this kind of mind-bending terror, and the combination of his and Spielberg's talents results in one of the most gut-wrenching and emotionally draining suspense films of all times. One can see its influence on later films like the underrated 1997 thriller BREAKDOWN, and as a chilling precursor to today's violent, real-life incidents of road rage. A must-see!
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