Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5684 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-03-28
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This is the TV movie that put Steven Spielberg on the map, shortly before he made The Sugarland Express. Working from a script by Richard Matheson, the film stars Dennis Weaver as a mild-mannered traveling salesman who unintentionally angers the driver of a semi truck. Suddenly, the truck is not only riding his tail but trying to run him off the road. No matter what he does (pulling over, stopping at a diner, calling the cops), he can't get rid of it. Spielberg makes the wise decision of never showing the driver, even as he cranks the voltage on the film's suspense elements. As a result, the truck itself takes on an air of satanic menace--even a personality of sorts--as it seems to hunt its human prey. Spielberg made a lot out of a little, suggesting just how skilled a storyteller he would become. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
It really is. The film is simply a car chase that maintains the suspense and adrenalin flow throughout the whole of its hour-and-a-half running time. How many films can boast that? And, come on, it's Spielberg...

Less is More
This is one of those films for whom the phrase "hidden gem" is very appropriate. It is very hard to find people who have heard of it, let alone seen it, which seems very strange when you consider that it was directed by Spielberg, albeit very early in his career.

It is simply a great piece of film-making. Dennis Weaver plays the role of an everyday suburban man pitch-perfectly. There isn't much in the way of other cast members, so for much of the film it is a one-man show by Weaver. The choice of car is also great - not some souped up V8, but a typical family saloon which no doubt more of the audience can identify with.

Despite being set in the wide open spaces of south-western USA, this is a very claustrophobic film. A lot of the time, Spielberg places us in the car with Weaver and we share his palpitations, his fear and his panic as the Peterbilt truck rushes towards his rear bumper.

Many aspects of the film, especially when Weaver stops at the café and subsequently helps the school bus, I feel are reminiscent of Hitchcock's films, in their psychological tricks and sleights of hand.

All in all, a riveting film that also succeeds in prompting you to ponder the age-old question "What would I do..?"

Brilliant!
I've watched this film on countless occasions and enjoy it every time I see it. Spielberg says he emulated Alfred Hitchcock's style (i.e., cinematic technique) when making it and he certainly succeeds. Duel was his first film as a movie director (though originally made for television, which was where he first made his mark), and highlights the directorial flair that later brought him international fame with Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Shindler's List and others.

I originally taped this movie in the late 1980s and, as I've said, run it time and again. I scrapped my video when I got a digital recorder last year, however, and was hoping the movie would get another airing so I could re-tape it. An independent UK broadcaster duly obliged in February this year (2008) and I sat back to watch it again. What a disappointment! Several key scenes were missing and the length of the film was reduced from 86 minutes to a little over seventy.

For this reason I bought the Special Edition from Amazon soon afterwards, which in my opinion is worth every penny of the asking price. Not only is the film the full cinema version at 86 minutes in length (though Spielberg shot additional scenes for the European release; I understand the US version ran for only one hour and sixteen minutes), but the film has been digitally remastered and is not only brilliant visually, but the sound is now in stereo!

Included is an excellent 30-minute interview with Spielberg on the making of the movie, a short piece on the work he did for US tv in the seventies, and a contribution from the writer Richard Matheson on writing the movie. This DVD is truly exceptional value (as well as being a brilliant entertainment).