'Duel' in the Sun

It is said that 'Psycho' (1960) gave birth to this new genre called 'slasher' flicks. And with slashers was born the concept of the relentless, merciless killing machine, a la Leatherface (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Jason Voorhes (Friday the 13th), Michael Myers (Halloween), Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street), to name just a few. Even the T1000 from Terminator 2, the eponymous Predator and Alien fall under the same category, though they did not feature in films which can be termed slashers, in the purest sense of the term.


What interests me most about these characters is the weapons they use: Leatherface uses a chainsaw; Jason, a machete; Freddy has needles for fingers; Predator has an arsenal at his disposal, while the alien’s biggest weapon is its intelligence. 


The other similarity I have noticed among these movie monsters is the fact that you do not often get to see their faces. Most of them wear some kind of a mask—ice hockey variant, or even made of human skin; while some have their visages burnt beyond recognition. 

Now, imagine a director by the name of Steven Spielberg creating a killer of the same nature, and I am not talking about Bruce in ‘Jaws’. In 1971, Spielberg made a film for TV called 'Duel', which had one of the most innovative weapons of death ever used—a 40 tonne trailer truck!


The stage is set with a brilliant point of view shot of a car being driven out of a garage. That moment on, we, the viewer, become one with the ironically named Valiant, a red Plymouth.


Like all great horror films, this one, too, has a very simplistic, everyday premise – a businessman while traveling for an appointment makes the biggest mistake of his life – overtaking a trailer truck. What ensues is one of the most skilfully composed elongated duel between man and machine.

What elevates this film to the level of a classic is the deft touches to it. The protagonist is 'David Mann'(Dennis Weaver). His surname is an obvious reference to every ‘man’. His car has a license plate number PCE 149. Those three initials can be interpreted as short for 'peace', but during his journey to meet a client along a long stretch of road through the desert, he encounters anything, but.


Throughout the entire running time of the film, we never get to see the truck driver’s face, neither do we get to know why he was trying to run down David at every opportunity. Spielberg simply does not provide us with a back story. This makes the experience, both for the viewer and David, all the more harrowing. Then again, when we see that the truck has numerous number plates from various states stuck on it, like trophies on a mantle piece, Spielberg does tell us a lot.


What makes ‘Duel’’s trailer truck stand out is how Spielberg has rendered ‘life’ to that mammoth made of metal. The words ‘Inflammable’ painted at the back—has there ever been a more apt one-word description of a character in the entire history of film making? The whistle of its horn is akin to any blood-curdling scream; the engine, an angry growl; while the headlights take on the shape of unblinking eyes. And in the end, it’s the wheel that stops turning first, before we see droplets of blood.


Selecting a trailer truck was a stroke of genius. No, in this case size does not matter that much. The element of surprise when one notices how fast it travels for its girth; the slithering, serpentine way in which it moves, all hark back to some of the most feared predators of the animal kingdom. In one particular sequence, Spielberg makes this bit amply clear, when rattlesnakes and spiders take a backseat in the minds of both Mann and us, while we are face-to-face with a charging truck.

And the innovation doesn’t stop at that. Spielberg knew at the tender age of 25 that what all of us are really afraid of is the ‘unseen and unknown’. But the master in the making that he was, he weaved  a twist in that bit. While most horror films rely on darkness, ‘Duel’, in its entirety, is shot in broad daylight.


As far as the identity of the driver is concerned, here, too, Spielberg literally toys with the viewer. There is an extended sequence inside a cafe, when both David and us, the viewer, know that one of the individuals in there is the driver of the trailer. But, which one, we both wonder!


Even after 39 years, this film has not aged a bit. And there are reasons for it. If movie watching is a ‘ride’, then this is the film that buckles the seat belt and keeps us rooted, first frame onwards. Technically sound, amazingly shot and superbly edited, the ‘classic’ nature of ‘Duel’ actually lies in its ageless topic. Who hasn’t encountered road rage?


Is the truck a manifestation of the pent up anger inside Mann, whose married life isn’t exactly hunky dory? Is it simply a hallucination of a man traveling a really long distance in desert conditions (except on two occasions, no one seems to notice the truck or the driver, besides Mann himself)? Is the mind game between the truck and Mann actually a game inside the mind of Mann to make him feel like the ‘Man of the house’? This apparently simplistic film, actually has a lot beneath its bonnet.


The ‘man vs machine’ premise of ‘Duel’ has been seen in many a later film, from ‘Christine’, ‘The Terminator’, to 'The Matrix', ‘I, Robot’, ‘Stealth’ and ‘Death Proof’, to name just a few. However, what separates ‘Duel’ from these is how it makes the ‘common, uncommon’. From the shrill whistle of a truck that has an ominous feel; the red traffic lights that seem to warn of impending danger; the level crossing gate that suddenly becomes a cage; the pipes underneath the truck, which resemble the innards of a hideous monster—‘Duel’ does to driving what ‘Jaws’ did to going swimming in the ocean.


Pity, ‘Duel’ remains for Spielberg the road traveled only once.