MovieChat Forums > Duel (1971) Discussion > Lots of psychological underpinnings...

Lots of psychological underpinnings...

posted 11 years ago by ralph_2ndedition
19 replies | jump to latest

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Sure, Duel is a film about a man being chased by a large truck. It is in a way nothing more than a 90 minute long car chase.
That's how I saw it the first time I watched this movie, which would have been in the early 80's, and I was maybe 8 or 9 years old. I loved it then, and have continued to love it growing up, but for different reasons.

After deconstructing the entire film while writing an essay about it, I came to the conclusion that the truck (and it's obscured driver) is more on the lines of a representation of David Mann's fear of conflict. The truck manifests itself every time David is reminded of- or brought back to that fear...

In the beginning David is cruising through the empty landscape, enjoying his time away from home (the fact that he has problems at home - being pretty much bullied by his wife and his colleagues - becomes very clear later on in the film). He's listening to the radio, laughing at the talk-show program.
The radio host is talking about a census report that has been sent out to the general public, to make some sort of statistic documentation of income and family status (I'm guessing, judging from what he's saying).
Mann laughs away...
The radio host makes a prank call to the census bureau, claiming to be one of the census takers, asking silly questions.
Mann continues to laugh...
When the radio host says something like "Here it says; Are you the head of the family? What am I supposed to answer there? I mean sure I make the money - but ever since I married that woman, 25 years ago, I lost the position as head of the family." The jokes continue to run in this direction, while Mann's laughing becomes less and less prominent.
-THEN the truck shows up!

He is stuck behind this stinking vehicle for quite a while, and just as the radio host takes his prank call to a ridiculous level - claiming to wear a dress/skirt at home - he manages to drive past the truck... But as soon as the joke is taken back to a more believable level he is overtaken.

Every time he is in a position where he is reminded of things that causes conflict or things/situations where he is being put down without speaking up or fighting back, the truck shows up.

It waits patiently outside the gas station as he is scalded by his wife on the phone, and starts to pursue him more frenetically right after that.

When he arrives at the diner the truck drives on and disappears, but after a quick visit to the bathroom - during which he talks about being "taken right back to the jungle again" (the Vietnam war, I'm guessing) - he finds the truck sitting outside on the road when he comes out to the restaurant.
As soon as he musters up enough courage to confront the one he thinks owns the truck (he is of course wrong and gets his ass kicked, but still - he did face his fear and enter into a conflict) the truck starts it's engine and drives away.

The school kids taunting him and the school bus driver not listening to him - there's the truck again.

Trying to avoid conflict by calling the police - truck forces him to deal with the situation.

Near the end, when David tries to WALK up to the truck, it avoids him, drawing a symbolic line between David's car and Davids old self and his old life. As if it's saying "If you want to face me, you're gonna have to face yourself too."
So David get's inside his car, fastens his seat belt and slowly nears the truck. The driver holds his hand out the window and waves at him to drive on... This is my favorite part of the whole film. With this simple gesture he's saying "This is the point of no return. You wanna fight? You wanna be a real man? Do you want to face you fears...? Go."

The chase is endless, and David's car (his old self) gets more and more smashed up. It overheats, it careens wildly downhill, it runs within a few millimeters of getting out of his control.
He crashes it into the side of a cliff...

Now, had David continued to be the chased, meaning had he continued to run away from conflict, he would most likely have been consumed by it - gotten killed. But when he finally decides he's had enough, and turns his car/life around to face the truck/conflict he is released.
He even places part of himself "behind the wheel" as it were, as we do see in a very clear zoom shot how he puts his briefcase, marked David Mann, on the pedal of the car to keep it running.
He bails out of his old life and watches as it catches fire and get's smashed to a million pieces.
-Elation follows....

I know, I know.
I've gone on far too long.
This movie just brings this out in me. :)

"Racoon, Rog?"

[–] CygnusRising 11 years ago

Excellent analysis of this film. I can't add anything that I can think of. I do remember seeing this as a child and liking it then. I like it even more for different reasons now.

[–] Dinodak 11 years ago

Excellent post, OP. These elements have been discussed through the years on Duel, and they shine through incredibly well if you watch the film with analyses like this in mind.

Remarkably, however, Spielberg has gone on record to state that none of these elements were ever in mind while he was directing this film. It was a simple cat and mouse story.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 11 years ago

Thank you!
I have seen the interview with Spielberg saying that he had no 'hidden meaning' in mind when making Duel, but watching it I just find that so hard to belive - I mean, it's right there! :-)

[–] Trimac20 11 years ago

I think a lot of it is sub-conscious, though. I mean I'm sure Spielberg had those themes in mind, but he never explicitly planned it that way. A lot of film analyses goes deeper into the story/theme/subject matter/character than the director/writer intended, it's not wrong it demonstrates that the beauty of film is that it can be many things to different people. I personally did see a lot of what you did in the film, and I'm sure others did.

[–] Drooch 9 years ago

Let's not forget that Matheson wrote the screenplay, so many of these deeper story ideas were likely his. Meanwhile Spielberg will have been attempting a Hitchcock - a pure exercise in fear and suspense, inspired by the mysterious, unexplained malevolence of The Birds. Spielberg's raw technical rendering of primal fear, couched in Matheson's thoughtful screenplay which clearly delves into the main character's failure to find his masculinity, produced something slightly unreal but deeply true, a bit like a dream.

Jaws is similar in that a mysterious demon appears to seemingly taunt a vulnerable man, playing on his most intimate fears. Trying to escape it makes it grow and cause more chaos. The only way to free yourself is to face it head on (the shark and the truck are literally charging towards our hero just before their defeat) and alone.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 11 years ago

Thank you!
It is one of my favourite movies, and I could probably talk about it for ages! :-)

[–] JSouth1 11 years ago

It sounds as if you are trying to imply that the whole truck chase thing is in fact just in David Mann;s mind. Not reality in the film. Not sure if I follow that thought line.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 11 years ago

Sort of...but not entirely.
As I interpret it the truck is a physical manifestation of David Mann's fear of conflict/confrontation. Meaning it IS there as a physical thing, anyone can see it, touch it and can smell it. But it poses no threat whatsoever (and would for the most part probably even go unnoticed) to anyone but David.
The truck is the splinter in David's mind, that just won't go away, and ultimately forces him to confront that which causes him most grief; himself.

"Racoon, Rog?"

[–] cheap_chardonnay 10 years ago

When he's in the restaurant and notices the truck is parked across the street too, the subsequent shot is a guy starting a pool game (one-player, i.e. self-game? There might go your theory of Mann's fear). I interpreted that as 'It's now all official, I'm here to play the cat'n'mouse till the very end.'

[–] ralph_2ndedition 10 years ago

I always saw that as him being brought out of his bubble.
There he is, fearing the truck, and the truck chases him. It's just him and the truck. It's frightening, but he knows where it is and where the driver is (inside the cabin of the truck).
And then he sees the truck outside, empty...and "CLACK!" the sound of the pool-cues snaps him out of it, and he realizes he now no longer has control of where his element of fear is, because it could be everywhere!

-If made by George Lucas, this would be re-released 3 times - and by now be mostly cgi.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 10 years ago

Thank you!
Like I wrote somewhere in a reply above, this is a movie I could talk about for hours on end. :D

-If made by George Lucas, this movie would be re-released 3 times - and be mostly cgi.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] The_Classic 9 years ago

ralph_2ndedition,

Your analysis of the film has made me love this masterpiece even more, well done. I absolutely couldn’t have said it better myself.

It’s just ridiculously crazy this was Spielberg’s first film & in his early twenties....no wonder he went on to have the film career he did, the writing was on the wall!

One of the best movies ever.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 9 years ago

Thank you The_Classic!

Glad you enjoyed my post!
Duel is a movie I could watch many times over, and probably never get tired of discussing. :)

-If made by George Lucas, this would be re-released 3 times - and by now be mostly cgi.

[–] SaberRider85 9 years ago

I would also add that Duel is a huge nod to Hitchcocks The Birds and Psycho. The soundtrack of Duel is very Bernard Hermann-esque. Where in The Birds the birds are a manifestation too and in both films there is a strong mother figure which has influence on the life of a character. In Duel it is his wife. I would also assume that he married the woman which reminded him the strongest of his mother.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 9 years ago

YES! A very "Hitchcockian" score indeed. Also - for the budget and intended purpose - a very bold score. I mean, it is in essence a suspense film, but the traditional "suspense instruments" (strings) is accompanied by tubular bells and african drums etc. Very cool!

-If made by George Lucas, this would be re-released 3 times - and by now be mostly cgi.

[–] hoosiersfan2011 9 years ago

Good points in your original post.

I've never been a big fan of Spielberg, but I thought I'd give this film a try because it was the first one he ever made. And now I think it might be the best one he ever made.

I feel like in many of his movies, Spielberg lets the images and his cinematic techniques overwhelm the story. For example, Close Encounters seems to me to be mainly images, with very little plot.

But I think the opposite is true of Duel. Because the story is relatively simple and straightforward and takes place in a dry, rather dull desert landscape, it needs imaginative visuals to keep it interesting while ratcheting up the suspense. And Spielberg really delivers. I think this kind of strong, basic storyline was perfect for his filmmaking style.

I also enjoyed watching the "making of the movie" featurette on the DVD. Spielberg explains, with great enthusiasm, all the techniques and strategies he used to film Duel--on a stressfully short schedule.

[–] ralph_2ndedition 9 years ago

That featurette is awesome!
And I especially likes the way he (Spielberg) himself says that if he were to try and do 'Duel' again today, in as few days as he made it in back then, he couldn't do it. He'd overthink it... Self insight. :)

-If made by George Lucas, this would be re-released 3 times - and by now be mostly cgi.

[–] 9 years ago

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