Steven Spielberg is a reputed, well known name for every lover of cinema all over the world and many of his fabulous films are capable of teaching you the artistic medium and the power of cinema undoubtedly. But still, somehow I had not seen this 1971 movie by the maestro (actually made for the Television), until I heard our own Amitabh Bachchan discussing about it with the man himself in the recent interview organized by the Reliance team in March 2013. And getting highly excited by the way he talked about the movie, I saw DUEL that very night and was really stunned to see such a visionary kind of work done by the veteran at just the beginning of his shining career with an amazing conviction.
Yet for friends looking for a great storyline disclosed by many well written characters as expected from a Spielberg film, I am sorry to say that there is nothing of that sort in this experimental project at all. On the contrary, DUEL is a horrifying account of only few hours in a day, wherein a businessman (David) travelling through the highway meets a psycho truck driver driving a huge vehicle dangerously. Now as David surpasses his truck more than once leaving him behind, the driver gets offended and then gives a real tough time to both David and the viewers with his maddening killer instincts.
The film has many long silent sequences, less dialogues, no detailed information about its background and only one main character on the screen fighting with that gigantic truck posing as a demon on the road. The most fascination feature of the film is that though it successfully makes you feel the anger against that sick truck driver going for a kill without any fear, yet the man is never revealed in the film right till the end and his identity is completely left open for the viewer’s own imagination quite interestingly.
Its reportedly Steven Spielberg's first long feature film made for the TV which was later also expanded for its theatrical release. Superbly written and magnificently shot entirely on actual locations (in just 13 days), it may not appeal to all movie lovers unanimously. But no doubt its indeed a great timeless classic which makes you feel the tension and brings you on to the edge of your seat repeatedly. Relating it to Spielberg’s more famous masterpiece JAWS, probably the maestro had the same thought process in mind while making DUEL, depicting the terror though a truck instead of a shark. So if you really loved watching his JAWS then you are sure going to enjoy DUEL too in all possibilities as it seems.
And in case you have already seen it or going for it next then just try to guess that why that gigantic ugly truck had so many damaged license plates displayed on his bumper and what did they really mean? Probably you will easily get that secret after watching it.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone
Tags :
Duel (1971), Movies To See Before You Die Thriller, Steven Spielberg classic movies, Must watch movie list by Bobby Sing at bobbytalkscinema.com, Duel & Jaws, Not To Be Missed Films List by Bobby Sing, Worth Watching Experimental Films
