Duel (1971)Director: Steven Spielberg
For Introduction to Cinema this week we are looking at the phenomenon of the B-movie, and we watched Steven Spieberg's first film, Duel. I'd seen it before as part of my thesis research but was quite excited to see it again.
Duel was a made-for-television movie. It was an ABC Movie of the Week. This meant that the production schedule that Spielberg had to work to was very condensed. He was initially given 10 days to shoot the film, making the studio very nervous about his decision to film on location rather than on sound stages. Spielberg was adamant that shooting on stages would result in the film looking fake and tacky, and having seen it, if I try and imagine what it would have looked like if every interior shot was done in front of a screen I think his insistence saved this film. In the end his shoot ran over a bit, lasting 12-13 days. After the lightening shoot Spielberg was left with just over three weeks in which to edit the film before it was to go to air, so he had to work with multiple editors to get it done. On the back of impressive ratings Duel was given a cinematic release in Europe for which Spielberg had to film an additional 12mins of footage to bring the running time up from 73mins to 85mins, the minimum acceptable running time for a feature film. It is this version of the film which is available on DVD.
The B-movie/exploitation cinema in the 1960s and 1970s provided a valuable entry point into the film industry for a number of young filmmakers. Films were made quickly and cheaply so required filmmakers willing to work for very small salaries, but still talented enough to work around the limitations of cheap filmmaking. Many notable filmmakers made B-films early in their career including Martin Scorsese (Boxcar Bertha) and Francis Ford Coppola (Dementia 13). It can be argued that Duel is not strictly speaking a B-movie as it was made for television rather than the cinema, but much of the priorities in the filmmaking process were the same, as were the reasons which made the young Spielberg the ideal choice of director. No small part of the interest in a film like Duel comes from the fact that it was the debut film for Spielberg, who would go on to become one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood history. The DVD release of Duel contains an excellent 35min interview with Spielberg from 2001 in which he talks about his experience making the film. While some might expect a director who has achieved as much as Spielberg has to be a bit embarrassed about his humble beginnings, he actually comes across as very proud of what he achieved and very aware of how important a step it was in his career. He acknowledges that if it were not for Duel he would never have got the opportunity to make his first cinematic feature The Sugarland Express, and it was the combination of the two which helped to land him Jaws. In fact many of his later films contain references to Duel. In 1941 John Belushi's character lands his fighter jet at the same petrol station, where the same actress is playing the attendant. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the same elderly couple who David pulls over for assistance are present in an escape helicopter. The most direct link of all though is that the same roaring sound effect it used for the destruction of the shark at the end of Jaws as is heard when the truck is destroyed at the end of Duel.
The B-movie/exploitation cinema in the 1960s and 1970s provided a valuable entry point into the film industry for a number of young filmmakers. Films were made quickly and cheaply so required filmmakers willing to work for very small salaries, but still talented enough to work around the limitations of cheap filmmaking. Many notable filmmakers made B-films early in their career including Martin Scorsese (Boxcar Bertha) and Francis Ford Coppola (Dementia 13). It can be argued that Duel is not strictly speaking a B-movie as it was made for television rather than the cinema, but much of the priorities in the filmmaking process were the same, as were the reasons which made the young Spielberg the ideal choice of director. No small part of the interest in a film like Duel comes from the fact that it was the debut film for Spielberg, who would go on to become one of the most powerful directors in Hollywood history. The DVD release of Duel contains an excellent 35min interview with Spielberg from 2001 in which he talks about his experience making the film. While some might expect a director who has achieved as much as Spielberg has to be a bit embarrassed about his humble beginnings, he actually comes across as very proud of what he achieved and very aware of how important a step it was in his career. He acknowledges that if it were not for Duel he would never have got the opportunity to make his first cinematic feature The Sugarland Express, and it was the combination of the two which helped to land him Jaws. In fact many of his later films contain references to Duel. In 1941 John Belushi's character lands his fighter jet at the same petrol station, where the same actress is playing the attendant. In Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the same elderly couple who David pulls over for assistance are present in an escape helicopter. The most direct link of all though is that the same roaring sound effect it used for the destruction of the shark at the end of Jaws as is heard when the truck is destroyed at the end of Duel.
Duel is a simple little film which is really good fun. It won't take much of your time, and if you like some cheap thrills you'll love it.
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