349. Duel (1971)

Starring: Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone

Director: Steven Spielberg

Running Time: 90 mins

Duel is an American film about a man, while on a cross-country drive back home, encounters a mad truck driver, who has the sole intention of killing this man by terrorising him on the road, for no apparent reason…

Wow. This film was one of, if not THE most thrilling films I’ve ever seen. It had such a simple, yet incredibly bizarre stories I’ve encountered, and with that plot it managed to create a fantastically tense atmosphere that was gripping from start to finish.

Firstly, I’ll say that the film itself was not at all simple, it was the concept of just a big lorry and a normal man in a car having this ridiculously long-winded battle on the roads in the middle of the USA. The story, on the other hand, was extremely clever. The ways in which the film kept you from knowing the identity, or any of the motives, of the lorry driver added greatly to the tension, and the constantly insane actions of that driver to kill his supposed nemesis were just beyond shocking to see, making it both exhausting and frightening, yet amazingly exciting to watch.

Also, great credit goes to Steven Spielberg, in one of his first films, for excellent directorial work. The shaky cam, the rear-view mirror cam, the view from the driver’s perspective made the film so much more engrossing than ever, once again, making it further tense and enthralling.

Overall, this gets a 9.2, because it was beyond thrilling, it was stunningly suspenseful and fascinating to watch, making for an incredible viewing experience.