Directorial Debuts/First Starts/Out the Gate/ Episode 1: Duel (1971)

Directorial Debuts/First Starts/Out the Gate/ Episode 1: Duel (1971)

Directorial Debuts is a series by new Why We Watch writer Anthony Carioscia where he tackles the first full length film of famous directors to see if they started their career with a bang, if they had a rough start, and to see if there are any signs of the director’s later style in this debut film length work. 

Before we begin though there will be some rules for these articles. We will be looking at the directors first full-length feature film so this means no shorts, no episodes of TV shows, no co-director works unless the film credits both directors in the director slot, no lost films that are impossible to watch in full, and we will not be counting their non-directing debuts. TV movies are allowed to be factored in though as this first article will be focused on a made for TV movie, the directorial debut of none other than the most famous director of all time, Steven Spielberg's Duel. 

Duel Poster Copyright Universal 1971

Steven Spielberg is someone who needs no introduction. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Steven Spielberg is from a wave of directors that made their names in the late ’60s and early ’70s known as New Hollywood. This wave of directors changed mainstream Hollywood forever and included other famous directors such as Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Peter Bogdanovich, Paul Shrader, George Lucas, and William Friedkin. Spielberg's biggest contribution to Hollywood would be of course the invention of the Summer Blockbuster with Jaws being such a megahit that it made studios release all their planned blockbusters during the summer. This would eventually lead to mainstream studios putting the control back into their films vs mostly releasing director-driven films, which at the time was common during the New Hollywood era. Spielberg would continue to make some of the most famous blockbusters of all time including Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and E.T.  He is also well-versed in making acclaimed dramatic films. It’s something that though he had early examples of, with The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun, they became his usual focus(with exceptions here and there) after the success of Schindler's List.  He also co-founded the studios Dreamworks and Amblin, both which put out many hit films as well as worked as executive producer on several TV shows including the popular ‘90s cartoons Animaniacs and Tiny Toon Adventures and the critically acclaimed war- based mini series Band of Brothers and Pacific. But none of this would likely exist if the man didn't give us a made-for-TV thriller known as Duel. 

Duel premiered on ABC in 1971 and was written by Richard Mattheson, who also wrote the short story of the same name, which was published in Playboy earlier that same year. This was part of a series ABC would do at the time called ABC’s Movie of the Week. This was a series on ABC where a different made-for-TV movie would premier on that channel every week.  This series would end up producing pilots for popular shows like Kung Fu and Starsky & Hutch as well as several films that have become cult classics such as Trilogy of Terror (also based on Matheson stories), Crowhaven Farms, and Satan's School for Girls. But back to Duel. 

Duel is about a traveling salesman played by Dennis Weaver is psychotically stalked by a mysterious truck driver. The film has very little dialogue and is mostly told through visuals and we never see who the driver even is. 

Several of Spielberg's later tropes can be seen as well as the potential of the awesome director he would go on to be. Even this early in his career he was showing that he was a master behind the camera with its excellent cinematography. The style of the film is almost of that of a classic monster movie being filmed in a way to give the truck threatening characteristics kind of like what he would later do with the shark in Jaws, and like with Jaws not showing the driver gives a sense of fear of the unknown just like what Jaws would later do with its limited footage of the shark. The style of the film would leave people on the edge of their seats  at home and two years later, it would leave them on the edge of their seats in theaters when it was released widely with 16 minutes of extra footage.

So how does Duel rank with the director's later material? Up there with with the greats, not only is this a good start but it's also his first masterpiece, one of the best TV movies ever made (yes I know that's a low bar…) and is up there with Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, Legend of Hell House, Stir of Echoes, and the third segment of Trilogy of Terror. If you have not seen Duel, fix that now because you are missing out!!!!

5/5 Truck Stop Hot Dogs