Media Alert

Set the DVR for Turner Classic Movies tonight if you haven't seen this movie -- or perhaps even if you have, but not for a long time since it first aired on television over 50 years ago.

The movie is Duel -- and for some people, that's enough.  For others who don't know it, this is one of the most acclaimed TV movies, not just for its quality, and not just for its technique, but also because it was the very first full-length movie directed by a young man who instantly became Someone to Keep an Eye On.  That would be Steven Spielberg.

The movie stars Dennis Weaver, who was a pretty solid TV name at the time.  And it's written by Richard Matheson, based on his short story.  (Among his many credits are the novel and screenplay for the film Somewhere in Time, and the famous Twilight Zone episode, "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," where William Shatner thinks he sees a demon on the wing of the airline he's in.)  But of course, it's Spielberg today who is the attention-getter.

Duel is about road rage, inspired by a real-life experience that Matheson had.  In the simplest terms, the plot is that Dennis Weaver accidentally annoys the driver of a semitrailer tanker, who takes it personally and chases after him through the Southern California Desert.  But what makes the film so special and riveting is how it's told.  There's almost no dialogue, and we never see the truck driver -- at most, just his feet and flashes of his body.  As such, he becomes an almost mythic evil.  We don't know why he has such fury at Weaver (nor does Weaver), he is unrelenting in his effort to run Weaver down, unconcerned with the threat to anyone who might get in the way, and as the riveting tension builds, and the pace and quick cuts intensify, Weaver is pushed to an almost primal state of fear and survival.

The TV movie was so well-regarded that Universal released it theatrically in Europe, and even in limited run in the U.S.  Because the TV version was 74 minutes, additional footage was shot to extend it to 90 minutes.  From the timeslot that TCM has it in, I suspect this is the theatrical release.

Duel airs tonight (Friday) on Turner Classic movies at 9 PM in Los Angeles, and midnight in the East.  Probably 11 PM in the Midwest.

This is the trailer.  It doesn't do the movie justice -- though it does do a respectable job getting some of the idea across.