A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Carey Loftin
- The Truck Driver
- (as Cary Loftin)
Dale Van Sickel
- Car Driver
- (as Dale VanSickle)
Lance Cormier
- Slow Man in Cafe
- (uncredited)
Shawn Steinman
- Girl on school bus
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Carey Loftin, playing the truck driver, asked Steven Spielberg what his motivation was for tormenting the car's driver, Spielberg told him, "You're a dirty, rotten, no-good son of a bitch." Loftin replied, "Kid, you hired the right man."
- GoofsWhen Mann approaches the phone booth at the "Snakerama" he says "Odd place for a telephone booth," and gets inside, closing the door behind him. The camera pans to the right slightly, revealing the reflection of Steven Spielberg in the lower right-hand side of the glass panel, wearing what appears to be a blue Hawaiian shirt, glancing up and down at the script in his hands. Behind him, the truck's reflection can also be seen.
- Quotes
David Mann: You can't beat me on the grade. You can't beat me on the grade!
- Crazy creditsA scene plays out over the credits where David Mann sits on the edge of the cliff throwing stones.
- Alternate versionsFor the German DVD release, the film was entirely redubbed.
- ConnectionsEdited into The Incredible Hulk: Never Give a Trucker an Even Break (1978)
- SoundtracksBrush Those Tears from Your Eyes
(uncredited)
Written by Al Trace (as Clem Watts), Oakley Haldeman and James Lee
Published by MCA Music (ASCAP)
Featured review
Road Rage, Spielberg style.
From the opening credits, where we see a POV of David Mann's car pulling out of his driveway off to who-knows-where, the viewer knows their in for something special. Indeed, Duel is something special. It's essentially a 90 minute chase with the occasional brief intermissions for scenery change. This could get old really quick, and indeed it does get old . . . but I can't help but watch in amazement and observe how long Spielberg kept me engaged in just two vehicles on open roads.
And interestingly enough, ten minutes after the film started boring me it recaptured my interest for the breathtaking finale.
After Duel, the Creeper truck and the semi from JoyRide are pushovers. This is the Freddy Krueger of vehicles, and the truck (not its driver) is treated as the bad guy. I particularly loved when the truck was shot in silhouette through the tunnel - beautiful and haunting composition. Also the shots where the camera pulls around Mann's car and travels parallel up along the truck simply put, 'awesome cinematography.' The high number of interesting shots (on location, no less) of the truck chasing Mann is what really drives this film forward. It takes a long time for this particular flair and flavor of film to get boring.
Dennis Weaver plays his part of David extremely well; unfortunately, I didn't much care for the spineless middle-class Joe-shmo character on the page. I think part of my dislike comes from those annoying internal monologues that were totally unnecessary. It's always been a cheap gimmick in my mind, and Weaver truly communicates those emotions without the added soundtrack. Still, despite a character that I did not like, Duel managed to keep me engaged in the story . . . strangely enough.
Earlier I spoke of brief intermissions from the chase; notice I didn't say the tension is eased up here. Spielberg finds ways to lace these breathers with suspense through the presence of the truck (still, more to do with the truck itself than the driver). And really, it's through these intermissions that we meet other (very colorful) characters who make quite an impact considering their bit parts (then again, maybe it's due to the fact that juxtaposed to an empty desert any character is colorful).
I appreciate the lack of any real information, lack of a motive, lack of background story on Mann, very little info (if any) on Mann's destination. I do, however, think Spielberg went just a bit too far with the ambiguity; however, that's a very minor complaint that I don't care to dwell on. Sure a few points needed to be touched on more, but then again the Freddy Krueger of diesel trucks is chasing you, are you really going to stop and ask it a question?
I wish the character emotions had taken the same route instead of feeding the audience those redundant internal monologues. Oh well, there's a fun contrast for you.
In my review of T3, I wrote 'I wonder what director will be the first to direct the very first film composed solely of one action scene?' Spielberg comes pretty damn close, and the funny thing is his 60+ minutes of chase footage is more interesting than the new millennium's 10+ minute chases. Rock on Steven!
And interestingly enough, ten minutes after the film started boring me it recaptured my interest for the breathtaking finale.
After Duel, the Creeper truck and the semi from JoyRide are pushovers. This is the Freddy Krueger of vehicles, and the truck (not its driver) is treated as the bad guy. I particularly loved when the truck was shot in silhouette through the tunnel - beautiful and haunting composition. Also the shots where the camera pulls around Mann's car and travels parallel up along the truck simply put, 'awesome cinematography.' The high number of interesting shots (on location, no less) of the truck chasing Mann is what really drives this film forward. It takes a long time for this particular flair and flavor of film to get boring.
Dennis Weaver plays his part of David extremely well; unfortunately, I didn't much care for the spineless middle-class Joe-shmo character on the page. I think part of my dislike comes from those annoying internal monologues that were totally unnecessary. It's always been a cheap gimmick in my mind, and Weaver truly communicates those emotions without the added soundtrack. Still, despite a character that I did not like, Duel managed to keep me engaged in the story . . . strangely enough.
Earlier I spoke of brief intermissions from the chase; notice I didn't say the tension is eased up here. Spielberg finds ways to lace these breathers with suspense through the presence of the truck (still, more to do with the truck itself than the driver). And really, it's through these intermissions that we meet other (very colorful) characters who make quite an impact considering their bit parts (then again, maybe it's due to the fact that juxtaposed to an empty desert any character is colorful).
I appreciate the lack of any real information, lack of a motive, lack of background story on Mann, very little info (if any) on Mann's destination. I do, however, think Spielberg went just a bit too far with the ambiguity; however, that's a very minor complaint that I don't care to dwell on. Sure a few points needed to be touched on more, but then again the Freddy Krueger of diesel trucks is chasing you, are you really going to stop and ask it a question?
I wish the character emotions had taken the same route instead of feeding the audience those redundant internal monologues. Oh well, there's a fun contrast for you.
In my review of T3, I wrote 'I wonder what director will be the first to direct the very first film composed solely of one action scene?' Spielberg comes pretty damn close, and the funny thing is his 60+ minutes of chase footage is more interesting than the new millennium's 10+ minute chases. Rock on Steven!
helpful•5414
- jaywolfenstien
- Nov 2, 2004
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $450,000 (estimated)
- Gross worldwide
- $2,544
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
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