7. Okay! You Wanna Play Games? Duel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jx-h45TTko Lets be honest and say that 70s-era TV movies are not a place where one generally finds brilliant filmmaking. This usually isnt the fault of the filmmakers; rather, its the fault of short-sighted TV executives who cut budgets to the bare minimum in order to maximize profits. Unfortunately, the quest for more money usually ended with good filmmaking as a casualty. However, in spite of the executives best efforts, some great films did manage to grace the small screen. Horror, especially, found the TV movie to be fertile ground; the TV movie provided us with such fondly-remembered horror flicks as Trilogy of Terror; The Night Stalker and its sequel The Night Strangler; and John Carpenters Someones Watching Me, among others. The one that stands head and shoulders above the rest, though, is Steven Spielbergs film Duel, based on the equally great short story by Richard Matheson. The film is essentially one long car chase. David Mann (Dennis Weaver) sets out on a trip to meet an executive so he can close a major deal. While on his way to said meeting, he passes an old tanker truck. The trucker is more than a little perturbed at being passed, so he proceeds to terrorize Mann, going so far as to try to kill him at several points. The murder attempts escalate in scale as the movie progresses, but my favorite is the first. After pulling some fancy driving and losing the driver, Manns feeling pretty good about himself (as evidenced by the big, goofy grin spread across his face). This excitement (and the grin) soon fade as he looks in his rearview mirror and sees the truck gaining on him. Attempting to lose the trucker, Mann pushes his cars engine almost to the limit, but the truck continues to gain ground on him, moving at a speed supernatural for a truck its size. The truck eventually catches up to Manns car and rear-ends Mann a few times, causing Manns car to fishtail. All of this is under-scored by a fast-paced, minimalist score that lends momentum to an already fast-paced scene. The scene ends with a nice moment. At the end of his rope, Mann seems about to give up when he sees a clearing off to the right of the road. Mann whips his steering wheel to the right, causing his tires to squeal and for his car to enter the clearing in the middle of a 180-degree skid. Mann slams on his brakes, causing his car to broadside and destroy a wooden fence that encloses the clearing. The truck roars by. A brilliant and exciting cap to a wonderful scene.
Alan Howell
Contributor
Alan Howell is a native of Southern California. He loves movies of any and all kinds, Hollywood, indie, and everywhere in between. He loves pizza, sitcoms, rock and pop music, surfing, baseball, reading, and girls (not necessarily in that order).
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