Duel

USA 1971

Director: Steven Spielberg

Topic

The businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) is on a long drive across California, or more precisely on a lonely country road, far away from any larger towns. During the boring tour, he didn't meet a single person when suddenly a tanker truck appeared in front of him. The truck slows down its journey more and more and prevents David Mann from overtaking. When he finally succeeds in the overtaking manoeuvre, the trip seems to be as boring as before this little' incident'. But the truck driver decided without any apparent reason to hunt David Mann. He overtakes him, brakes him off, lets himself be overtaken again and even tries to force David off the road. What at first looks like a harmless game turns into a life-threatening hunt, in which David Mann seems to have no chance: Firstly, he can't get any help because he is off the beaten track, secondly, he can't just hang out with his weak car on a tanker truck himself....

Review

Duel' is the film debut of a director named Steven Spielberg, who was unknown at the time. But already in this first work it was clear that this man would one day make a' career'. But what distinguishes this film? Certainly not the story that can be told in a single sentence:"Truck driver pursues car on a lonely country road. Even successful dialogues don't make this movie so appealing, since hardly any other film is more word-defying than' duel'. In addition to the reproduction of the thoughts from the off, only a few sentences are changed in the entire film. What makes the film so good is the' thrill', which can hardly be compared. Almost no film deserves the term' thriller' more than' duel'. Spielberg manages to captivate the audience with his skill. The tension increases almost linearly from minute to minute:"What is the driver doing now? Can David escape now?". The viewer feels as if he is literally put into the main character of the film, who is still standing in fear of death. Duel' is just a masterpiece. With a small budget, no story and no big' action', no interesting dialogues to make such a captivating film, only Steven Spielberg succeeds. Today's so-called thrillers should really take a look at one or two of the duels. In short, Steven Spielberg's debut work is also one of his best films. I suppose that says it all about the quality of this strip.