[HorrorScience] Duel – The Devil on Wheels (1971)

Reading time: 5 minutes

Qualification

Duel

Year

1971

Duration

74/90 minutes

Director

Steven Spielberg

Distribution

Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Cary Loftin, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Eugene Dynarski, Lucille Benson, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Shirley O'Hara, Alexander Lockwood, Amy Douglass, Sweet Dick Whittington, Dale Van Sickel

Script

Richard Matheson

Everyone knows Steven Spielberg thanks to films like Shark, jurassic park either E.T. the extraterrestrial, since all of them were a great commercial success and had a lot of impact.

On this occasion I am going to talk about Duel, the first film Spielberg directed, whose premiere was going to be exclusively for television but ended up being released in theaters years later. The simple name of the film refers to when two drivers fight to see who is ahead on the road and had several translations ranging from the simple Duel to things like The devil on wheels either death challenge.

Duel It is a relatively unknown film compared to other Spielberg films, but little by little it has increased in popularity until it has a fairly solid fan base around the world. As a film, it is something quite different from what we can expect, since we practically only see the protagonist during 90% of the film, leaving the other characters as mere secondary characters with a couple of sentences, except for the protagonist's nemesis, which turns out to be a huge truck.

The film begins by showing us the protagonist, a middle-aged man named David Mann, who is driving down the highway on a business matter. At one point David will see himself slowing down his car as he goes behind him. a huge rusty truck whom you will pass to continue your journey. The truck driver will pass David again and David will try to pass him again, only to see that It won't be as easy as it seems.

[HorrorScience] Duel – The Devil on Wheels (1971) — The protagonists

From that moment on, the duel between both vehicles begins, where David will have to forget about wanting to pass in front of the truck out of pure pride to simply try to survive on the road against the demonic and hostile truck that will not stop harassing him in every possible way.

It is quite curious that a film with such a simple concept can give so much play enough to keep us hooked on the screen waiting to see the resolution of the duel.

The tension and uncertainty of the film has high moments (the roadside bar scene is brutal) and others that are somewhat lighter, but the truth is that it is very difficult to stop paying attention to what is happening, because at any moment something can happen that tips the balance to one side or the other of the duel. The director was very smart to change and add quite imaginative plans to try to provide variety to something that at first should be repetitive.

The protagonist, represented as a somewhat fearful and cautious common man, is another of the keys to the film, since we can see how his attitude changes until it borders on paranoia. Any small triumph becomes a huge moment of satisfaction that is cut short seconds later, plunging him back into terror, and any attempt to become an alpha male and command respect ends in humiliation.

You can't say much about this movie, it is what it is, but I assure you that if it hooks you right away, you will really enjoy this duel.

Curiosities about the film:

Duel is based on a story by Richard Matheson (writer of I am Legend and The Incredible Shrinking Man). The writer himself adapted his story to make the script for the film.
Some scenes from this film were reused for an episode of the series The Incredible Hulk
The film was created for television with a duration of 74 minutes. After its success, it was released in theaters, adding more footage until it reached 90 minutes.
Spielberg said in an interview that he used to watch the film a couple of times a year.
There is a fan-made documentary about this film called The Devil on Wheels
This film has been honored in many other series such as Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Ninja Turtles (Nickelodeon), Transformers: Prime, Tiny Toons and Lupin III.
Spielberg dijo que Duel and Jaws (Shark) tienen cierta relación debido a la persecución entre los protagonistas y el enemigo imbatible. De hecho, el sonido del camión de Duel puede escucharse en Jaws.
IDW publicó cómics basados en la historia de esta película.