Duel

DUEL (PG)

D: Steven Spielberg

Universal (George Eckstein)

USA 🇺🇸 1971

90 mins

Thriller

W: Richard Matheson [based on his story]

DP: Jack A. Marta

Ed: Frank Morriss

Mus: Billy Goldenberg

Dennis Weaver (David Mann), Jacqueline Scott (Mrs. Mann)

Steven Spielberg's directorial debut originally aired as a TV movie of the week before a limited theatrical release followed because of popularity and good reviews

Technically, the film is as impressive as any studio-funded film released around the same time and despite being shackled by a low budget, the film doesn't suffer with a lack of thrills and tension.

Dennis Weaver plays a businessman on the road in Middle America, hunted by a faceless menace for reasons of ambiguous mystery when a truck driver stops at nothing to drive the meek-mannered man off the road and to certain death.

Weaver is excellent as the one-man cast for the majority of the movie, as his paranoia escalates and his plight continues.

It may be a TV movie, but it's still one of the great directorial debuts of all time.

8/10