Duel Review

Release Date: 1971

Age Certificate: PG

Running Time: 90 mins

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Writers: Richard Matheson

Stars: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott and Eddie Fireston

Duel is Steven Spielberg’s first feature film, it’s a about a business commuter making his way to his next appointment. On what should have been easy journey, he passes a forty ton truck. The driver for some reason takes an instant dislike to him. This is when things start to get a bit rough, David Mann (Dennis Weaver) has to push his foot to the ground to try and get the truck off his trail and this is where you have your film.

 It’s amazing how Spielberg has created an hour and a half film out of a short film idea, and yet he keeps it tense and exciting throughout the film. He has something about non-human villains in his films i.e Jaws. But yet they are even more menacing than humans.

We never actually find out why the driver wants to kill David, it just adds to the tension and randomness of what he has planned. All we actually see of the truck driver is his arm. This is when he tells David to pass by. We also see his pristine cowboy boots when he walks along side his truck. This also adds to his menace.

Duel is a good film, the chase scenes are perfectly filmed, the screams of the engines and the different camera angles all add to the excitement. All of this equals one of Spielberg’s best films.

7.8/10

Check out the trailer here: