MovieChat Forums > Duel (1971) Discussion > What Was David Mann's intended route?

What Was David Mann's intended route?

posted a year ago by MAGolding (1098)
4 replies | jump to latest

Fictionally, where did he start from and where was he intending to go to?

Obviously he took some detours onto side roads while trying to escape from the truck.

Was he trying to go from Los Angeles to San Francisco? Palm Springs to Barstow?

If he was planning to leave his home, visit another city, and return home for dinner, he would be planning on spending no more than about 8 to 12 hours away from home, counting the duration of his meeting with the client. So at his typical driving speeds of about 50 to 60 miles per hour, he could travel 400 to 720 miles, and his destination should have been no more than about 200 to 360 miles from his home.

I'm sure some fans could plot various road stretches where scenes were filmed on a map in the order the scenes were shown in the film, and that plot would probably show Mann would driving around in circles in a relatively small desert area.

But has anyone mapped Mann's fictional intended route?

[–] millsey72 (9636) a year ago

He was driving to Santa Rosita State Park to see the Big W as he was a huge fan of Its a mad mad mad world

[–] Strazdas (2328) a year ago

He was going from home to a unspecified meeting with a client at work.

[–] Callahan7 (925) 10 months ago

His journey started in San Diego. Shortly after leaving his house he is driving in downtown San Diego circa 1971.

It is unclear, as I recall, where he was headed and he was on a remote stretch of highway.

[–] MAGolding (1098) 10 months ago

At the present time with present highways the driving time from San Diego to Las Vegas is 5 hours 53 minutes on I-15 North.

At the present time with present highways the driving time from San Diego to Phoenix, Arizona is 5 hours 44 minutes on I-8 East.

And those trips seem too long and too far.

So he should have been headed to someplace closer, and across the desert. Los Angeles seems out, as well as places beyond Los Angeles, because most of the trip would have been along the coast.

So maybe he was headed for Celexico, California or Mexicali, Mexico. Maybe Yuma, Arizona. Maybe some place near Palm Springs.

If he is seen driving in downtown San Diego, near the start of the journey, maybe someone familiar with the city could say whether he was headed north, south, or east, or what main roads he was using.

Duel was filmed in Acton, Aqua Dulce, Canyon Country, Lancaster, and Palmdale, California, according to IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067023/locations/?ref_=ttrel_sa_4 They are all in northern Los Angeles County along the Antelope Valley Freeway or Highway 14.

So maybe he drove through Los Angles to the desert, headed for some place like Mojave. The trip to Mojave would take 4 hours and 28 minutes along I-215 N and I-15 N, or 4 hours and 42 minutes along I-5 N and CA-14 N. The second route would take it though the filming locations.

Of course it is possible that all of the desert locations in Southern California look very similar to the filming locations and the filming locations aren't a good clue to the fictional locations of the movie.