365 Days. 365 Films.

Duel is an odd sort of film about a man travelling across America who overtakes a truck. For some reason the truck driver takes great offence and begins to overtake him, tailgate him and tries to kill him in various ways, including chasing him down the highway at 90 miles per hour.

The plot is very basic and I would expect to get bored of this film within fifteen minutes but I didn’t. Not a lot of writing went into it since it is basically silent throughout, however a lack of music is barely noticed because of the quality, control and general use of sound effects. Eventually we get a voiceover narration by the protagonist, but until this point it is just the sounds of the engines to occupy your ears.

Despite the lack of happenings within the plot, it does manage to keep your interest and attention throughout. As one of Spielberg’s first feature length films, it shows what he was capable of from a very early stage in his career, and I think he has only got better through time. The cinematography is clearly his; it’s often reminiscent of Jaws and E.T. and always to perfection.

I am undecided as to whether or not this is a film that can be watched over and over, but it’s definitely worth a watch at least once.