Post by erik on Nov 6, 2021 22:09:11 GMT -5
Quote by David Mann (Dennis Weaver) in DUEL:
This coming November 13th will mark the 50th anniversary of the first airing on television of a made-for-TV psychological thriller, one so sweat-inducing and scary that it established its director, who wasn't yet 25 years old, as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. That film was DUEL, and the director was Steven Spielberg. Working on an absolutely insane 12-day schedule and a budget of only $700,000 (which doesn't even cover catering costs on a lot of today's Hollywood blockbusters these days), on remote mountain and desert highways in northern Los Angeles County, Spielberg created a simple but terrifying yarn of what it's like to be stalked for no apparent reason on a public highway, having nobody but yourself to rely on for survival.
With a screenplay by the legendary sci-fi writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), based on a frightening encounter with a tailgating semi that Matheson and his fellow writer Jerry Sohl had while driving through Ventura County, California on the day of the JFK assassination, DUEL stars Dennis Weaver as the first of Spielberg's Everyman types, an average auto-driving businessman who passes a road-hogging gasoline tanker truck a couple of times on a deserted highway, only to find himself stalked the rest of the way. The truck driver is never exactly seen, though it is apparent that Weaver is dealing with a complete psychopath here; and given that it's out in the middle of nowhere, he is understandably paranoid, finally being forced to engage in a psychologically violent and prolonged highway chase that ends quite fiercely.
Shot on location in the canyonlands between the San Fernando Valley and the western Mojave Desert, on roads that parallel California Highway 14, DUEL is a masterpiece of pulse-pounding terror, a precursor to the weird phenomenon of recent decades we call Road Rage. Weaver, remembered for his TV roles on McCloud and Gunsmoke, as well as a harried motel clerk in the 1958 Orson Welles cult classic TOUCH OF EVIL, is a perfect example of someone who is not intended to be, act, or think like a stereotypical cinematic hero, which makes him completely credible in the role of a man driven almost literally over the edge. Spielberg's direction, not surprisingly, offered comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock, especially to PSYCHO and (in the above phone booth scene) THE BIRDS, a feeling enhanced by the avant-garde score of Billy Goldenberg (remembered for his work on Elvis' 1968 NBC-TV special). Spielberg is reported to have told Weaver once that he made it a point to watch this single film at least twice a year to remind himself of how he got started, and it's easy to see why. Even at this very early stage of his career, Spielberg had a way of putting audiences in the shoes of his protagonist, something that would be a hallmark of virtually every one of his films. The influence of DUEL can be felt in any number of "road" films like 1986's THE HITCHER, and 1997's BREAKDOWN.
With Spielberg about to unleash his own take on WEST SIDE STORY (the release date is December 10th), it always helps to watch the film that made him a household name. DUEL remains one of the most terrifying and believable thrillers of all times, television or otherwise.
"Well you never know. You just never know. You just go along figuring some things don't change ever, like being able to drive on a public highway without somebody trying to murder you. And then one stupid thing happens. Twenty, twenty-five minutes out of your whole life, and all the ropes that kept you hanging in there get cut loose. And it's like, there you are, right back in the jungle again."
This coming November 13th will mark the 50th anniversary of the first airing on television of a made-for-TV psychological thriller, one so sweat-inducing and scary that it established its director, who wasn't yet 25 years old, as a force to be reckoned with in Hollywood. That film was DUEL, and the director was Steven Spielberg. Working on an absolutely insane 12-day schedule and a budget of only $700,000 (which doesn't even cover catering costs on a lot of today's Hollywood blockbusters these days), on remote mountain and desert highways in northern Los Angeles County, Spielberg created a simple but terrifying yarn of what it's like to be stalked for no apparent reason on a public highway, having nobody but yourself to rely on for survival.
With a screenplay by the legendary sci-fi writer Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), based on a frightening encounter with a tailgating semi that Matheson and his fellow writer Jerry Sohl had while driving through Ventura County, California on the day of the JFK assassination, DUEL stars Dennis Weaver as the first of Spielberg's Everyman types, an average auto-driving businessman who passes a road-hogging gasoline tanker truck a couple of times on a deserted highway, only to find himself stalked the rest of the way. The truck driver is never exactly seen, though it is apparent that Weaver is dealing with a complete psychopath here; and given that it's out in the middle of nowhere, he is understandably paranoid, finally being forced to engage in a psychologically violent and prolonged highway chase that ends quite fiercely.
Shot on location in the canyonlands between the San Fernando Valley and the western Mojave Desert, on roads that parallel California Highway 14, DUEL is a masterpiece of pulse-pounding terror, a precursor to the weird phenomenon of recent decades we call Road Rage. Weaver, remembered for his TV roles on McCloud and Gunsmoke, as well as a harried motel clerk in the 1958 Orson Welles cult classic TOUCH OF EVIL, is a perfect example of someone who is not intended to be, act, or think like a stereotypical cinematic hero, which makes him completely credible in the role of a man driven almost literally over the edge. Spielberg's direction, not surprisingly, offered comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock, especially to PSYCHO and (in the above phone booth scene) THE BIRDS, a feeling enhanced by the avant-garde score of Billy Goldenberg (remembered for his work on Elvis' 1968 NBC-TV special). Spielberg is reported to have told Weaver once that he made it a point to watch this single film at least twice a year to remind himself of how he got started, and it's easy to see why. Even at this very early stage of his career, Spielberg had a way of putting audiences in the shoes of his protagonist, something that would be a hallmark of virtually every one of his films. The influence of DUEL can be felt in any number of "road" films like 1986's THE HITCHER, and 1997's BREAKDOWN.
With Spielberg about to unleash his own take on WEST SIDE STORY (the release date is December 10th), it always helps to watch the film that made him a household name. DUEL remains one of the most terrifying and believable thrillers of all times, television or otherwise.
