duel

Director: steven spielberg

Actor: dennis weaver,jacqueline scott,eddie firestone,lou frizzell

Data Published: Sat Nov 13 1971

Genres: Action,Thriller

Key Words: truck,mysterious villain,california,chase,pursuer

IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/

WIKI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_(1971_film)

Description: Duel is a TV movie starring Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, and Eddie Firestone. A business commuter is pursued and terrorized by the malevolent driver of a massive tractor-trailer.

Plot: David Mann is a middle-aged salesman driving on a business trip. He encounters a tanker truck on a two-lane highway in the Mojave Desert, traveling below the speed limit and expelling sooty diesel exhaust. Mann passes the truck, but the truck then roars past him. When Mann overtakes and passes it again, the truck blasts its horn. Mann leaves it in the distance. Mann pulls into a gas station, and shortly afterward the truck arrives and parks next to him. Through the space beneath the truck bed, he sees the driver is wearing cowboy boots. Mann phones his wife, who is upset with him after an argument the previous night. The gas station attendant refills Mann's car and mentions that it needs a new radiator hose, but he says he will get it fixed later. Back on the road, the truck catches up, passes, and blocks Mann’s path each time he attempts to pass. After antagonizing Mann for some time, the driver waves him past. However, when Mann attempts to pass he almost runs into an oncoming vehicle. He realizes the truck driver tried to trick him into a crash, so he passes the truck using an unpaved turnout next to the highway and taunts the driver as he speeds past. The truck tailgates Mann at high speeds, forcing him to increase his speed to avoid being rear-ended. Mann finally drives his car off the road and collides with a fence opposite a diner. The truck continues down the road, and Mann enters the diner to compose himself. Though he assumes the truck driver's road rage has been satisfied, upon returning from the restroom he sees the truck parked outside. He studies the diner patrons and confronts a man wearing the same cowboy boots he saw on the truck driver. Offended, the driver strikes Mann and drives away in a different truck. The pursuing truck leaves seconds later, indicating its driver was never inside the diner. Mann leaves the diner and stops to help a stranded school bus, but his front bumper becomes caught underneath the bus's rear bumper. The truck appears at the end of a tunnel. Mann panics, frees his car by jumping on the hood while the bus driver puts the car in reverse, and flees. To Mann's slight chagrin, the truck starts the bus by giving it a push-start to get it moving. Shortly afterward, Mann is stopped at a railroad crossing when the truck pushes his car toward a passing freight train. After the train passes, Mann crosses the tracks and pulls over. The truck continues down the road and Mann follows. Mann stops at a gas station to call the police and replace his radiator hose, but when he steps into the phone booth, the truck drives into it. Mann jumps clear just in time, However, the truck also drives into some glass cages, featuring wild animals, where Mann barely escapes from getting bitten by a rattlesnake. The lady who runs the station cries out in horror as the truck destroys her cages and potentially kills some of the animals that lived in them. He gets into his car and speeds away. Around a corner he pulls off the road, hiding behind an embankment as the truck drives past, apparently without noticing him. After a long wait, Mann heads off again, but is shocked to find the truck waiting for him down the road. Mann attempts to speed past, but it moves across the road, blocking his way. Mann seeks help from an older couple in a car, but they flee when the truck backs up towards them at speed. The truck stops before hitting Mann's car and the driver waves him past. At one point, Mann observes a black-and-white car parked on the side of the road. Thinking that it is a police car, he skids to a stop, only for him to realize that it is a pest control vehicle. He speeds off and the chase continues. The truck chases him up a mountain range. The radiator hose of Mann's car breaks, causing the car to overheat. He barely makes the summit and coasts downhill in neutral as the truck bears down on him. However, a sign states that trucks have to use low gear the next twelve miles and the truck driver is forced to slow down, allowing Mann to gain speed. Mann's car cools off enough to allow him to drive up a dirt road and the truck follows him. He turns to face his opponent on a hill overlooking a canyon. He places his briefcase on the accelerator and steers toward the oncoming truck, jumping from the car at the last moment. The tanker hits the car, which bursts into flames, obscuring the truck driver's view. The driver realizes it is too late and honks one final time at Mann, before the truck plunges over the cliff, killing him. Above the wreckage, Mann jumps up and down, laughing with glee and relief. Physically and mentally exhausted and with no way to get home, he sits at the cliff's edge and throws stones into the canyon as the sun sets.