Duel

Duel (1971)

Timing: 1:29 (89 min)

7.426/10
1782

7.547/10
14997

7.6/10
86000

All about film

Video 5

Photo 52

Actors and characters

Release date

1971-11-13

Country

United States

Production

Universal Television, American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

Genre

Action, Thriller, TV Movie

Budget

$450 000

Revenue

$2 544

Website

Director

Steven Spielberg

Actors

Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Gene Dynarski, Lucille Benson, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Shirley O'Hara, Alexander Lockwood
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

George Eckstein

Operator

Jack A. Marta

Composer

Billy Goldenberg

Artist

Audition

Editing

Frank Morriss
All team (15)

• On the car that Dennis Weaver's character mistakenly believes to be a police vehicle, you can notice the inscription “Grebleips” – Spielberg's surname written backwards.
• Lucille Benson (the woman at the gas station) played a similar role in another Spielberg film – “1941.” The elderly couple in the car that Mann stops also appears in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
• You can see 17 tally marks on the truck.
• Mann's car is a 1970 Plymouth Valiant.
• Footage from the film was used in one episode of the series "The Incredible Hulk" (1978). After Steven Spielberg found out about this, he insisted that all future contracts include a mandatory clause prohibiting studios from using footage from his films without his consent.
• The number Mann calls his wife on was a real, working phone number at the time the film was made.
• When Cary Loftin, who played the truck driver, asked Spielberg why his character was so relentlessly pursuing David Mann, Steven said: "Simply because you're the most repulsive and filthy son of a bitch to ever walk the earth." To which Cary replied: "Well, then I'm exactly what you need."
• Dennis Weaver's acting in "Duel" convinced Spielberg that no better candidate for the role of the victim could be found.
• No sets were built for the film.
• According to the filmmakers, the license plates on the truck were taken from cars that it destroyed. According to Spielberg, the truck driver wanted to destroy one car in each state.
• The film is partially based on a true story that happened to Richard Matheson.
• Originally, it was a 74-minute television film made for ABC. But after its tremendous success on television, producers decided to expand the film and release it theatrically.
• After the television broadcast, Spielberg shot several additional scenes for the theatrical release of the film.
• The film was shot in 13 days (excluding additional scenes for the theatrical release).
• After filming wrapped, Spielberg had just over three weeks for post-production.
• During the filming of the scene where the truck falls off a cliff, the special equipment controlling the driverless car malfunctioned. To avoid losing time on repairs, a stuntman got behind the wheel of the truck and jumped out just a moment before the vehicle plunged into the abyss.
• The scene at the railroad crossing, where the truck attempts to push Mann’s car under a train, was specifically shot for the theatrical release.
• The truck driver's face is not shown, and his name is not mentioned. In the short story of the same name by Richard Matheson, the driver is named Keller, which sounds quite similar to the word 'killer'.
• At the 56th minute, when the main character enters the phone booth, the film crew is clearly visible in the reflection.
• On the car that the character played by Dennis Weaver mistakenly believes is a police vehicle, one can notice the inscription “Grebleips” – Spielberg’s surname written backwards.
• Lucille Benson (the woman at the gas station) played a similar role in another Spielberg film – "1941". The elderly couple in the car stopped by Mann also appears in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
• Footage from the film was used in one episode of the series "The Incredible Hulk" (1978). After learning about this, Steven Spielberg insisted that a mandatory clause be included in the contracts for his future projects, prohibiting studios from using footage from his films without his consent.
• When Cary Loftin, who played the truck driver, asked Spielberg why his character was so persistently pursuing David Mann, Steven said: “Simply, you’re the most repulsive and filthy son of a bitch to ever walk the earth.” To which Cary replied: “Well, then I’m exactly what you need.”
• Dennis Weaver's acting in "The Evil" convinced Spielberg that a better candidate for the role of the victim could not be found.
• The truck driver's face is not shown, nor is his name mentioned. In Richard Matheson's story of the same name, the driver is named Keller, which sounds quite similar to the word "killer".