Duel is Steven Spielberg’s first feature-length film and his directorial debut. It earned number six on The Drive’s list of the top ten car movies of all time. Critics agreed that Spielberg made one of the best trucker movies from a simple story. Duel was brilliantly uncomplicated, which allowed the visuals to take center stage. The original short story was written by Richard Matheson and inspired by a 1963 incident in which a trucker terrorized him on a Los Angeles freeway.
Businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) drives along a winding California highway at a safe speed on his way to meet a client. He passes a tanker truck whose driver taunts him and then runs him off the road. The truck driver stays anonymous throughout the film, making the truck a terrifying character. Mann’s panic steadily grows as the maniacal truck driver gets more menacing. A battle of skill and wit ensues as Mann fights to save his life.
How One of the Best Trucker Movies Got Made
In the early 70s, Steven Spielberg was one of the youngest to ever get a directing contract with a prominent studio. At 22, he was directing high-profile tv episodes of series like Columbo. Still, he was itching to start on feature films and kept a sharp eye out for the right projects. In the meantime, he directed a made-for-tv movie, Duel, in 1971. His secretary showed him Matheson’s story, and he pitched it to the brass as a feature. But, it was assigned to George Eckstein to produce for television, with a tight 16-day shooting schedule and a $425,000 budget. Despite the restrictions, the economical thriller cast a significant spotlight on the young director and set the tone for his astounding career.
Musical Score & Cinematography
The suspense was magnified by the intense musical score by Billy Goldenberg and the artful cinematography of Jack Marta. The film was released to European theatres, where they praised the fever pitch and nightmarish plot and called it an absolute edge-of-your-seat cracker. Spielberg credits this trucker movie as his big break and continues to use the lessons he learned throughout his high-profile career. Raiders of the Lost Ark reused some of the same camera angles during the truck chase, and minor characters from Duel had cameo parts in other films.
Best Trucker Movies Premiers and Awards
Duel has been rejuvenated on the big screen and the small many times since it first appeared on November 13, 1971, and placed high on the list of best made-for-TV films. After Spielberg’s massive success with E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, Universal followed it up with a theatrical run of Duel in the U.S.
The film had a warm reception in Europe and won the Grand Prix Award at the Festival de Cinema Fantastique. Additionally, Spielberg was named top director at the Taormina Film Festival in Rome. Critics and the press fell over each other trying to praise the film and compare his work to Alfred Hitchcock.
Movie Trivia and Goofs
Fun Fact #1:
When the main character, Mann, walks up to a phone booth at the Snakerama, he states, “Odd place for a telephone booth,” as he steps inside. When the door closes behind him, you can see the reflection of Spielberg wearing a Hawaiian shirt and perusing the script in his hands. You can also see the movie’s main character, the truck, behind him.
Fun Fact #2:
On-screen truck driver Care Loftin to Spielberg: “What is my motivation for tormenting the car’s driver.”
Spielberg’s Response: “You’re a dirty, rotten, no-good son of a bitch.”
Loftin’s Response: “Kid, you hired the right man.”
About the Truck
The uncredited main character of the film was the 1955 Peterbilt 281. One truck was used in filming and destroyed at the end when it plunged off a cliff. Later, they had to add an additional 74 minutes to the film for release in theatres. Two more trucks were built to look like the original but only one survived and landed in the hands of Brad Wike, a trucker and collector in North Carolina. He could not resist the infamous Duel truck and continues to share it with others at car shows, along with a matching orange Plymouth Valiant.