Duel 4K 1971 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

"Duel" (1971), directed by Steven Spielberg, is a gripping thriller. Driver David Mann finds himself in a deadly game of survival, pursued by an aggressive truck. For no apparent reason, a nightmarish series of car chases begins, creating an atmosphere of constant tension. Spielberg, making his debut, masterfully conveys fear and the unknown, turning an ordinary journey into a thrilling experience.

Review 4K Movie

"Duel" began as a short story by Richard Matheson, the plot of which was based in part on a true story that happened to him. The cinematic "Duel" originates almost from an anecdote, when Nona Tyson (Spielberg's assistant) recommended him to read a short story published in Playboy'e. Steven's reaction was predictable: "Where? In Playboy? Yeah, you've got to be kidding!". But Nona was serious, as Spielberg was convinced: the story blended a simple plot beautifully with an extremely gripping narrative. Spielberg was even more encouraged by Matheson's script. Stephen was able to convince the studio ABC to begin development of the project, to make seventy-four minute telefilm, became a director, knocked out the main role of Dennis Weaver. But he didn't know then that all the difficulties would still be ahead.....

The studio wanted most of the movie was shot in the pavilions. Spielberg this state of affairs did not suit: how can you make in the scenery realistic movie, where all the action is built on car chases? After numerous negotiations, the studio made concessions, allowing to shoot the picture fully on nature.

However, the bosses of ABC still put Stephen a pig: the entire movie was to be filmed in ten days. The calculation was simple - no one could cope with such a task, and no matter how ambitious the director, he must realize that this is impossible. But Spielberg would not be Spielberg, if he went to the studios. He agreed to shoot the picture on location and assured the studio that he would fulfill the terms of the contract. Of course, he did not meet the allotted time: the movie was shot in thirteen days.

Frankly speaking, how this is possible with such a volume of shooting, is still a mystery. Even now, when technology has jumped forward, there are few (if any) directors in the world who can cope with such a task. After filming was completed, Spielberg had only three weeks before the premiere on television, in order to edit the movie, put music and sound effects ...

On television, the picture was a huge success, after which the producers decided to allocate Spielberg additional funds for him to finish shooting a few scenes and increase the length of the movie to 90 minutes. Already in the lengthened form of the picture was released in Europe, where she expected a very warm welcome and quite unusual reviews of critics. To Spielberg's surprise, European critics saw in the movie a subtext that the director had not envisioned at all: the clash of urban and rural lifestyles, the confrontation of different classes of society, the social background....

If we don't try to find a non-existent black cat in a dark room, then our attention will be entirely focused on the exciting thriller on wheels, in which an ordinary man, without any heroic aspirations, is put in an ultra-unusual situation: could David Mann (Dennis Weaver), overtaking a truck, guess what it will lead to?

Spielberg's merit is that he chose not to show the driver of the truck, to tell us nothing about him, not to name him, and to make the audience doubt his real existence. The hero of the movie was the truck. It was the truck, not its driver. Not in vain Stephen arranged a casting of trucks, selecting an old model, and so showing it in the movie that the machine found its own face and its own emotions: The headlights are its eyes, the grille is its mouth, the hood is its nose, the gas tanks on the sides are its ears, the license plates are its trophies, the seventeen notches are its list of victories... The truck is Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers on the road: it disappears and appears out of nowhere; it always knows where you are; no matter how fast you drive, no matter what kind of car you have, it will still catch up with you. And if you're lucky, you'll only get one chance to get even with him.

"Duel" is ninety minutes of non-stop suspense, drive, adrenaline-fueled car chases filmed at the highest level; it is, finally, a story in which an ordinary man goes from confident to paranoid, suspicious of every truck driver he meets.

The film was a turning point in Spielberg's career: three years later, he would go on to make Sugarland Express, in which he skillfully used new technologies and techniques to film car chases. A year later, he would make his first mega-blockbuster, Jaws, where he would develop the ideas of menace, danger and imminent doom expressed in Duel.