This Forgotten Steven Spielberg Movie Is Perfect for ‘Fast & Furious’ Fans
No one’s saying it, but the Fast & Furious franchise has been a mess ever since… ever since… Well, it’s hard to point out exactly when the “jumping the shark” moment happened. Was it when Dom flew from one bridge to another, or was it when Tej and Roman decided to go to space? Even Jason Momoa’s attempts to channel his inner Heath Ledger in Fast X couldn’t help turn the tide. Worse, no one seems to know when the next movie is coming out, including Vin Diesel, who recently begged Universal to say something.
Interesting times we are living in. Could it be that even the studio has lost faith in the franchise? We’ll wait and see. But fans have no reason to fret. Hollywood has no shortage of films that offer similar gasoline-fueled types of entertainment. From the Transporter movies to Rush, the options are endless. However, Duel, an obscure Steven Spielberg movie from the ‘70s, is recommendable because of its hair-raising chase scenes and never-ending tension.
Someone Is Chasing Our Protagonist in ‘Duel,’ and No One Knows Why
Things get creepier when Mann stops at a roadside diner, hoping the driver will leave him alone, only for him to step out and realize that the truck is parked outside. Frustrated, he scans through the patrons and confronts one that he believes is the culprit. Angered, the person assaults the man and leaves in a different truck, proving it was never him. The aggressive truck then leaves minutes later, suggesting that its driver never left the truck.
Moments later, the chase resumes. When Mann stops to help a stranded school bus, the truck targets him again, forcing him to quickly flee. And when he stops at a railroad crossing for a freight train to pass through, the truck appears from behind and tries to push the car toward the oncoming train. Understandably, Mann is pushed to the brink, physically and psychologically. After much thought, the protagonist devises a way to deal with the menace once and for all.
‘Duel’ Mirrors the Moderate Early Installments of the ‘Fast & Furious’ Franchise
There have been suggestions that the Fast & Furious franchise was better when it was more basic, and that it got worse when it began to incorporate espionage elements. Those who subscribe to such arguments are more likely to enjoy Duel — a road-action thriller that has none of the gloss and complexity of Spielberg’s subsequent films but thrives on great storytelling. Like the first four movies about Dominic Toretto and his buddies, the ’70s flick is rooted in realism. What happens to Mann is likely to happen to anyone when they meet a psycho on the road.
Cat-and-mouse dynamics also tend to be a major appeal of the Vin Diesel-led movies. These play out beautifully in the old flick, which is basically one extended pursuit scene. The cars are the stars of the show, and while the tussle is unfolding, we get to see the extraordinary driving skills of each driver. Numerous close-ups of the vehicles, coupled with appropriate sounds help accentuate the menace. And we must hail Spielberg for these hell-for-leather chase sequences because, at the time, he couldn’t avail himself of the kind of cinema trickery that today’s directors take for granted. Everything was shot for real on location, with cameras sticking out of fast-moving vehicles.
Most importantly, the Fast & Furious movies are all about confrontations and competitions. Who is the better racer? Who is the better fighter? Who is the first person to get to a device that can cause plenty of harm? The same dynamics play out in Duel. The protagonist and antagonist are very eager to outdo each other, but victory doesn’t come easy for either of them. They sweat it out and by the end of it all there is only one clear winner.
Duel is thus a perfect option for Fast & Furious fans thirsting for the dose of adrenaline they’ve been used to getting for years. It has none of the cheesy elements, just straight-up action, reaction, and tension. Most importantly, it has that Spielberg flair, that artistic touch that is always lacking in many popcorn movies. On top of that, Weaver is outstanding in the hero role, the epitome of cool-headedness and determined self-regard, while the stuntman driving the truck seethes in the explosive role.
‘Duel’ Boosted Steven Spielberg’s Career, and Changed ABC’s Fortunes
Duel was conceived under interesting circumstances. In the 1960s, movie studio executives thought of television as a second-rate medium but also competition to their theatrical revenue, so they normally charged networks extremely high fees for the rights to broadcast their films. In retaliation, networks began making made-for-TV movies.
The new format became even popular when ABC launched its “Movie of the Week” segment, a move that helped place it at the same ratings level as NBC and CBS. For a while, ABC had struggled to the point where it was jokingly labeled “Almost Broadcasting Company (ABC).” Initially, the network made low quality movies that were escapist or sensationalistic in nature, but after the critical acclaim of Duel, everyone began taking ABC seriously.
For Spielberg, success was still a dream when he made the movie. The idea came to him after his secretary convinced him to apply to be a “Movie of the Week” director for a film about trucks. At the time, ABC had come up with the idea to adapt a Richard Matheson story published in the March 1971 issue of Playboy magazine. Matheson got the inspiration for the tale when he was tailgated by a trucker while driving home from a golfing match, on November 22, 1963, the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Spielberg, a relatively unknown filmmaker at the time, applied and got the job. It became his second directing effort, after “L.A. 2017,” an episode of the NBC television series The Name of the Game. By playing heavily into the fear of the unknown. Spielberg got himself the first hit of his career. It was the 18th highest-rated television movie of 1971, with a Nielsen rating of 20.9, and an impressive audience share of 33%. Following its success, the movie was also released theatrically. Sadly, it was eclipsed by Spielberg’s blockbusters that came after and remains largely forgotten today.
Thanks to the high numbers, great reviews, and award recognition, Steven Spielberg began getting more opportunities. It was a great time for him to rise since the stodgy studio types were now giving young turks free rein and allowing them to remake Hollywood in their own mold. A few years later, he would direct Jaws, the movie that changed the blockbuster landscape forever. Interviewed by the Archive of American Television, Spielberg revealed that Duel remains one of his favorites. “You know, I watch that movie at least twice a year to remember what I did,” he said.
How Russell Crowe’s Unhinged Was Inspired By Steven Spielberg’s First Movie From 53 Years Ago
Duel is a fairly straightforward movie and never has a boring moment. It opens with David Mann (Dennis Weaver from Gunsmoke), a middle-aged electronics salesman driving a Plymouth Valiant through the Mojave Desert on a business trip. While cruising along a remote two-lane highway, he finds himself behind a slow-moving, rusty Peterbilt 281 tanker truck. Mann passes the truck, only for it to speed up and roar past him. And when he tries to overtake again, the driver blasts the horn loudly in an attempt to intimidate him.
Mann, who had initially brushed this off as poor highway manners from the other driver, quickly realizes that the truck driver is deliberately targeting him. Interestingly, the face of the villain is never shown on screen. At one point, the truck tailgates Mann, blocks him, and attempts to bully him off the tarmac. And the harder the protagonist tries to escape, the more intense the aggression becomes.
Russell Crowe’s 2020 road-rage thriller Unhinged took influence from Steven Spielberg’s very first movie: the acclaimed 1971 made-for-TV actioner Duel. Unhinged begins with a frustrated woman getting into a heated verbal altercation with a fellow commuter in rush-hour traffic, played by Crowe. When the other driver turns out to be violent and obsessive, he spends the rest of the day stalking and terrorizing her and her family in pursuit of revenge. Unhinged was notable for being the first wide theatrical release after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unhinged’s story of a commuter getting relentlessly pursued by another driver over the course of a really bad day was loosely inspired by the very first feature film directed by Spielberg. Technically, Spielberg made his feature directorial debut with the amateur film Firelight in 1964, which he helmed at age 17. But Firelight has never been officially released. Spielberg’s first professional directing gig was the made-for-TV road thriller Duel, which aired on ABC in 1971 as a part of the ABC Movie of the Week series.
Unhinged Was Partially Inspired By Steven Spielberg’s First Movie Duel
Duel Is A Similar Story About A Relentless Rush-Hour Pursuit
Spielberg’s debut feature Duel stars Dennis Weaver as traveling salesman David Mann. On a drive across rural California to meet a client, Mann finds himself in a cat-and-mouse chase with the unseen driver of a Peterbilt 281 tanker truck who seemingly won’t stop until he runs him off the road. Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay based on his own short story, which was in turn based on a real encounter in which a trucker cut him off on a California freeway in 1963.
Spielberg’s use of Hitchcockian tension, pitting a mild-mannered everyman against a foreboding monster, is what scored him the gig to direct Jaws for Universal.
Duel quickly became a beloved cult classic and it was promptly given a theatrical release with an extra 16 minutes of footage added in. Spielberg’s use of Hitchcockian tension, pitting a mild-mannered everyman against a foreboding monster, is what scored him the gig to direct Jaws for Universal. There are many movies that have been influenced by Duel, but the influence is particularly clear in Unhinged; the only difference is that, in Unhinged, the pursuing driver gets plenty of screen time.
Was Unhinged Based On A True Story?
Unhinged Is A Fictional Story
Since Unhinged tells a pretty believable story about a man with irrepressible road rage, it seems like it could’ve been based on true events. There are plenty of drivers out there who act a lot like Crowe’s character in the movie. But it’s not based on a true story or even inspired by true events; it’s a fictional creation of screenwriter Carl Ellsworth. While Unhinged isn’t a true story in the traditional sense, it does speak to a larger truth about road rage.
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