Movie Night: Duel

      On this Movie Night segment I will be discussing my favorite movies. I will start with the 1971 made-for-TV must-see movie Duel, starring Dennis Weaver, an old cowboy actor (from McCloud, Gunsmoke, etc.) It was based on Richard Matheson's story of the same name. (Matheson also wrote quite a few episodes for the Twilight Zone series). This film was Steven Spielberg's debut, and his claim to fame!

     I first saw this movie in 1987 or '88 when I was only 11. I think I came across it because I left the TV on while doing homework or something. Next thing I know this movie has my attention. At first I thought it was one of those comedy movies. The main character, David Mann (Dennis Weaver), seemed like an engaging character so I thought it seemed like an interesting movie so I started watching it, then the truck driver shows up and wow! I was captivated. This is my kind of movie. Basically the whole movie is one big car-chase. 


 I don't usually care for "upsetting", intense movies, where there's lots of violence; they are exciting yet a little too much drama, however this movie is very well balanced and realistic. It might be kind of scary for young children, but otherwise is appropriate. 
  
The main character, David Mann is played by Dennis Weaver. The writer chose the name David for King David, referring to David and the Giant (the giant being the big tanker that attempts  to wipe him off the face of the earth.) The surname "Mann" refers to "Man vs. Machine".

   Imagine that you're traveling through the desolate California desert on a business trip and suddenly there is this truck-driver endangering your life. Then imagine trying to get help only to have NOBODY believe you. It is a dog-eat-dog world and you are left to your own methods to survive.
    I think the truck is symbolic to the progressive nature of anger and how it turns to rage if you continue to harbor it. Sooner or later it will destroy you.

Trivia: 
~ In the phone-booth scene at Sally's Snakerama where David Mann is trying to call for help, you can see 21-year-old Steven Spielberg in the reflection on the glass, standing there with a clipboard.
~ They used two Peterbilt 281 trucks and three Plymouth Valiants to complete the film. The first Peterbilt and Valiant were destroyed in the first version of the movie on U.S. TV and they decided to expend it for the international market, so they purchased another truck and car. If you look closely at some scenes, such as the part with the train, you will notice some subtle differences in the car and truck. The first truck did not have mud flaps whereas the second one did.
~ Spielberg says that all the license plates on the truck's bumper are to represent a serial killer who had killed in all those different states.
~ Spielberg wanted David's car to be red, so that it would stand out against the desert background.
~ In the service station scene, at the part where the attendant is spraying down David's windshield, look closely and you will see in the reflection of the windshield a hand giving the cue to "go".
~ In the cafe scene, where David is walking out of the bathroom through the lounge towards the eating area, you can see the shadow of the cameraman following him.
~ The psycho truck-driver was played by Cary Loftin, a stunt man. He looks like somebody's grandpa, which is scary. I think that goes to show that you can't always trust the obvious (even though he was just acting out the character). This is true in real life, though.
~ During the chase, David spots a black-and-white car resembling a squad car pulled off to the side of the road. David skids off the road beside it, only to realize that the car says "Grebleips Pest Control" on the side of it. ("Grebleips" is "Spielberg" spelled backwards).
~ In the final scene, where the truck goes through a gate, it accidentally hits and destroys one of the cameras.

~ A man bought the surviving Peterbilt truck from the movie off of eBay. He even purchased a Plymouth Valiant to put on display side by side at car shows.
~ The elderly couple David encounters, played by Amy Douglass and Alexander Lockwood, also appear together in another Steven Spielberg film, Close Encounters of a Third Kind (1977). A similar couple acts out the same ordeal in Back to the Future (1985).

SPOILER ALERT: DON'T LOOK AT THE FOLLOWING UNLESS YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE YET; I DON'T WANT TO RUIN IT FOR YOU!

Mann vs. Machine: My favorite part. The truck plows into the car, the car busts into flames. There is so much smoke and flames, the driver cannot see, loses control and plunges over a cliff! The truck had what was called a "dead man's clutch", a piece of machinery designed to keep the truck traveling in a straight line. Stunt man Loftin bails out at the last minute. Notice the open driver's door; a mechanism designed to close the door after he jumped out failed.

Total destruction.