Duel, directed by Steven Spielberg in 1971, follows the story of David Mann (Dennis Weaver) as he
travels across country. He happens to pass an oil tanker who doesn’t like that he was overtaken and
so sets out to initially just annoy David, but things soon turn darker when the truck starts to try and
kill him. It is then a fight between vehicles and between men- although you don’t ever see the man
behind the truck’s wheel. The film ends when David finally over powers the truck and destroys it.
Fig 1. Duel Movie Poster
Although Duel has a very simple plot, the story that it tells behind the action you see on screen is
quite complex. The film is thought to be quite heavily centred about masculinity and the fight for
dominance. “It’s a more anxious proposition than it once seemed, with a thick vein of masculinity-in-
crisis running through its centre” (Lyne, 2015). The idea that neither man can stand the idea of being
overtaken on an open road as it diminishes their dominance and masculinity- especially for the truck
being overtaken by a little red car, which may be why the truck was so angry at David, reinforces the
ideas surrounding masculinity and man’s need to appear strong and powerful.
Fig 2. David’s car overtaking the
truck
Furthermore, “Mann himself is shown to be a henpecked husband who regains his masculinity only
through the contest on the road.” (Maslin, 1983) Shown through a short phone conversation with his
wife, David is shown to not have much authority, as for example, they discuss how his wife was
harassed by the work colleague and David had done nothing to stop it from happening. This
reinforces the idea that in his day to day life David was not a very masculine, dominant person and
so this may be why he feels the need to not let the truck also beat him, like he has allowed other
people to in the past.
It has also been said that: “For Spielberg, the character of David Mann (as played by Dennis Weaver),
who is the target of the trucker’s unmotivated road rage in the film, was ‘typical of that lower
middle-class American who’s insulated by suburban modernisation,‘ A man ‘that never expects to be
challenged by anything more than his television set breaking down and having to call the repair
man.” (Crawley, 1983, cited in Schober, 2015). This idea revolves around the idea that the reason
that David and the truck’s fight escalated was due to that someone like David would never think that
they would be challenged in such a way, and so when he is he needs to prove that he is powerful.
Fig 3. Fight between car and truck
Finally, “Duel restages the contest between David and Goliath, a battle that seems the soul of many
of [Spielberg’s] films. [Spielberg] is an aficionado of the unequal struggle, eager to affirm again, and
again, the little guy’s triumph.” (Newton, 2016) This suggests that the film is based around the myth
of David and Goliath (note the main character is also called David), which reinforces the idea of
David being triumphant even when faced with a huge, seemingly unstoppable truck. As mentioned,
Spielberg likes to use this approach in his films as it seems that he likes to see the ‘underdog’ come
out on top.
Illustration List
Figure 1 Duel Movie Poster (1971) [poster] At:
https://horrorpediadotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/duel-1971-00.jpg (Accessed on 7/2/18)
Figure 2 David car overtaking the truck (1971) [film still] At:
http://www.themoviescene.co.uk/reviews/_img/7218-2.jpg (Accessed on 7/2/18)
Figure 3 Fight between car and truck (1971) [film still] At: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-
aj6hgp18XNo/VPpapthZu6I/AAAAAAAAJqs/PrWxjP56vXs/s1600/duel_PushIntotrain.jpg (Accessed on
7/2/18)
Bibliography
Crawley, T (1983) The Steven Spielberg Story. London: Zomba Books.
Lyne, C (2015) ‘Duel: Spielberg’s mediation on manhood gets a handsome Blu- Ray release’ In: The
Guardian [online] At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/09/duel-spielberg-blu-ray-
release (Accessed on 7/2/18)
Maslin, J (1983) ‘Spielberg’s ‘Duel,’ Four- wheel combat’ In: New York Times [online] At:
http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9804EFD81138F936A25757C0A965948260 (Accessed
on 7/2/18)
Newton, M (2016) ‘What Steven Spielberg’s science fictions tells us about America’ In: The Guardian
[online] At: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jun/03/what-steven-spielbergs-science-
fiction-tells-us-about-the-america (Accessed on 7/2/18)
Schober, A (2015) ‘Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971) and the Road to Interpretation: Steven Spielberg
and Duel: The Making of a Film Career by Steven Awalt’ In: Senses of Cinema [online] At:
http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/book-reviews/steven-spielbergs-duel/#fnref-25736-3 (Accessed
on 7/2/18)
