Not sure how long this one will last, but one of the best car movies of all time – Steven Spielberg’s classic TV-movie DUEL – is available in all its ’70s glory on YouTube.
It is pretty much a 90 minute chase scene between Dennis Weaver in a shitty Plymouth Valiant and an anonymous trucker in a rusty 18-wheeler. Weaver’s character is so limp and annoying that you do begin to hope the truck gets him, but that is actually part of what makes DUEL so great!
Spielberg shows why he would go on to so many great things in his career (this was 1971 – pre-Jaws!) by keeping the tension high throughout, even though the leading man is weak and ineffectual – because the truck is such a great bad guy!
Like a rusty, ominous Darth Vader, the truck dominates the proceedings as the ultimate faceless force of destruction.
If you haven’t watched it for years, then you owe it to yourself to take an hour and a half out of your day and watch it again. Go on, the boss won’t mind…
