Death by Semi - Duel (1971) Review

(I watched this as a part of my intro to film class)

This is Steven Spielberg's very first feature length film, way before he won your hearts with E.T. and made Jewish people badasses in Munich . Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke) stars as an ordinary man traveling along the highway who finds himself in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the driver of a gas tanker. Did it continue in the Spielbergian tradition of rocking my world?

If you've never heard of Duel before, that's because it was a TV movie in the early 70's. The plot probably sounds familiar as the 2003 Paul Walker/Steve Zahn movie Joyride is pretty much a complete ripoff of this. Nevertheless, it's a historic film for introducing Spielberg's immense talents as a filmmaker. The screenplay is from Richard Matheson, who wrote the novel "I Am Legend", which was adapted into the 2007 Will Smith blockbuster of the same name.

Duel is essentially a really long car chase. Dennis Weaver, in all his 70's porn star glory, seriously pisses off a truck driver by passing him on the highway. He spends the rest of the movie driving away from him at high speeds. Spielberg maintains suspense for a while with his uniquely awesome camera placement, but as expected, this grows tiresome. I was on the edge of my seat until the final 15 minutes, when I started to realize that I really wanted this movie to end. There's a limit to how much 80 mph driving a man can stand until he needs to see an explosion. I feel like my mind is numbed from watching intense vehicle carnage in movies like Death Race, so I can't appreciate the simple one-on-one car action seen in Duel .


The only real dialogue in this movie comes from Weaver's internal ramblings. Like any rational person, he can't understand why this driver is so hell-bent on killing him. For a film like this, character development is unnecessary and there's hardly any. There's an interesting interval in a diner which displays Weaver's paranoia. Otherwise, it's just shot after shot of two cars engaging in a modern day Wild West gunfight, complete with tumbleweeds rolling along the ground.

Unless you are a devoted fan of Spielberg, don't bother with this. It has some pretty neat direction but it's nothing more than an above-average made for TV movie.

** out of ****

Enjoy your egg whites.