Duel (1971)

	Director: Steven Spielberg	COUNTRY USA GENRE Road/Thriller/Horror NORWEGIAN TITLE Terror bak rattet RUNNING TIME 90 minutes
	Producer: George Eckstein
	Screenwriter: Richard Matheson

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
David Mann	Dennis Weaver	½
Mrs. Mann	Jaqueline Scott	-
Cafe Owner	Eddie Firestone	-
Bus Driver	Lou Frizzell	-

Review

Steven Spielberg's first ever film is a unique achievement, both artistically and technically. The raw, jagged, sinister nature of its tale, combined with Spielberg's artistic vision, makes Duel one of his most impressive works to date. It's a very much back-to-basic approach to suspense that feels both primitively simple and groundbreakingly accomplished. Strongly and obviously influenced by Hitchcock's art of delaying and withholding information, Spielberg succeeds at the very difficult through the very simple, using an exceptionally restricted point of view as the backbone of a full-length thriller. The result is gripping, energetic, and highly effective. The fact that the entire film was shot in just 13 days makes it all the more impressive, and underlines not only the undeniable talent of the young Spielberg, but also his commitment and industriousness.

The film was originally released as a 74-minute TV movie in the U.S., but later got a cinematic release in a 90-minute version in Europe.