Duel 1971

darkman2

This was a brilliant film IMO. One of the first directed by Spielberg. Basically a man you never see in a truck chases a car driver for the entire film.


In this clip the driver of the car decides a mountain is the best course of action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1003em-pDM8

vs telephone box

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYvGhVyI6qY

SPOILER - END of film with original sound effects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9frwIqa4_8

I would describe the film as very tense. But it has all the hallmarks of a classic. Definate one of Spielberg's finest achievements.

mike65

No doubt about it, it was in fact his first film (albeit made for TV before being shown theatrically in Europe and much later in the States). When one considers the difference between Duel and Spielbergs output in the last 15-20 years you can see what a yawning chasm has to be bridged if he's ever to regain his early vitality. I guess he's not interested in stripped down seat-gripping gnawing tension these days. A pity.

When Hitchcock was forced to go back to basics with Psycho it resulted in his last really great film. Take the hint Steven!

Kess73

mike65 wrote: »

No doubt about it, it was in fact his first film (albeit made for TV before being shown theatrically in Europe and much later in the States). When one considers the difference between Duel and Spielbergs output in the last 15-20 years you can see what a yawning chasm has to be bridged if he's ever to regain his early vitality. I guess he's not interested in stripped down seat-gripping gnawing tension these days. A pity.

When Hitchcock was forced to go back to basics with Psycho it resulted in his last really great film. Take the hint Steven!

Could be argued that The Birds was his last great film.

mike65

I knew someone would mention the Birds! That's his last properly good film, its a bit compromised by the clunky optical effects and staging of the attacks (bar the attic scene).

Kess73

mike65 wrote: »

I knew someone would mention the Birds! That's his last properly good film, its a bit compromised by the clunky optical effects and staging of the attacks (bar the attic scene).

I know the effects in The Birds have dated quite badly, but I think there is a shout for it being his last great film, but at the same time I can see the arguement for Psycho being his last great film.

I think in my case my personal preference is dictating what I think is his last great film as I prefer the Birds to Psycho.


Totally agree with your point about Spielberg though, before I derailed the topic. Duel was a tuat well paced film that hooked you right to the end. I think the last time he got the pacing and tension as right in a film was in Schindler's List in 1993. I'm sure that some will say that the likes of Saving Private Ryan was his last film as a director to get the pacing and tension right, but for me SPR had sections that flagged somewhat.


One thing I have always thought about Spielberg is that he peaked as a director after Close Encounters Of A Third Kind. He has directed many good films since then, and maybe a few great ones, but in terms of creativity, pacing, and story telling I don't think he has improved on Duel, Jaws and Close Encounters. Schindler's List is the only film of his that seemed to show anything new in his style.

mike65

Ah I'd throw Raiders in to his great films list, but its true that Spielberg has followed a classic path - early films full of vigour, success causing a certain "bloat", the striving for art and significance follows (and a tilt at an Academy Award of course), then a plateauing out with the odd better film before we get the decline into irrelevance. That said he's still young enough to have a final flourish.

Kess73

Raiders is probably on that great film list for Spielberg, but it did not show anything in terms of pacing, creativity etc that he did not already show in spades in the earlier films I mentioned.

I think that as he got older things like special effects improved and budgets got bigger for his films, but his growth/improvement as a director was greater between 1970 and 19777 than it has been from 1978 to present. In my opinion of course.

If anything his ability to pace a film seems to have gotten worse with experience, especially in the last 20 years.


I would love to think that he has another Duel or better yet another Jaws left in him as I think the latter was brilliant film making on so many levels.


For me he had five great films.

Duel
Jaws
Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Schindler's List


and two films that came close to be great films

Saving Private Ryan
Jurassic Park.


The Color Purple I could never take to and I regarded it as quite a cynical film in many ways as it felt like he was trying too hard to shake off his blockbuster image at the time and I felt the same way about his next film as director which was Empire Of The Sun. Again I felt that he was trying too hard to be a director of depth/emotion, and as a result forgot/neglected the sense of pacing that his best films have.

At this point when I see his name as director on a film I am expecting lots of sentimental stuff shot well with good actors that I might enjoy some of but find myself losing interest in at points during it.

Lu Tze

mike65 wrote: »

I knew someone would mention the Birds! That's his last properly good film, its a bit compromised by the clunky optical effects and staging of the attacks (bar the attic scene).

This film terrified me at the age of 14/15.The effects were effective in my opinion

bonerm

The DVD is a good one to pick up too. Plenty of extras on it and I'd imagine it still costs practically nothing. Spielberg goes into detail on camera tricks he used such as filming the truck at low angles against rock-faces to give an illusion of speed to a vehicle that in reality couldn't go very fast at all.

darkman2

On the scene in the phone booth you can see Spielberg's reflection in the glass;)


P.S why did they change the sounds in the film? The original seems to have different sound effects - for some reason they changed them.

Kess73

bonerm wrote: »

The DVD is a good one to pick up too. Plenty of extras on it and I'd imagine it still costs practically nothing.

Special edition on dvd is £3.99 on amazon.co.uk. A good purchase for anyone who has not seen the film.

take everything

bonerm wrote: »

The DVD is a good one to pick up too. Plenty of extras on it and I'd imagine it still costs practically nothing. Spielberg goes into detail on camera tricks he used such as filming the truck at low angles against rock-faces to give an illusion of speed to a vehicle that in reality couldn't go very fast at all.

Yeah i got the DVD recently- the extras are pretty good.
I was wondering if Spielberg would go into the symbolism/themes in the movie but he seemed to maintain he wasn't going for anything more than an atmospheric, suspenseful car chase movie IIRC.

But there does seem to be stuff there:
Emasculated and stressed modern man (wrt both workplace and marriage)
The pursuing tanker- big oil maybe? :pac:

It really is a great film IMO- even the bit at the start with him setting out and flicking through the radio channels is very evocative.

Kess73

Jaws is on TV3 at the moment.

krudler

I do prefer earlier Spielberg to later, but even his later movies have touches of utter brilliance in them, his last great movie for me was Minority Report. Munich was much lauded but I thought it was very drawn out, I must rewatch it actually. But even his recent, less critically sucessful stuff like War of the Worlds had flashes of brilliance, like the intitial arrival of the tripods, the ferry sequence and the basement invasion, in other directors hands they would have been good scenes, but Spielberg adds a certain something to them that makes them brilliant.

MagicMarker

The first hour of WOTW is utterly fantastic tbh. In fact, the movie was an hour long, I refuse to believe otherwise.

krudler

MagicMarker wrote: »

The first hour of WOTW is utterly fantastic tbh. In fact, the movie was an hour long, I refuse to believe otherwise.

I really can't understand why he couldn't

just let the son die, he made his choice and off he went, having him arrive in one piece at the end was just stupid

The whole basement scene is brilliant, and the sound of the tripods is amazing, especially the constant droning and clunking around outside the house

take everything

krudler wrote: »

his last great movie for me was Minority Report.

Minority Report is one of those films where the special effects are seamlessly integrated. They look amazing but take nothing from the film.

bonerm

Kess73 wrote: »

Jaws is on TV3 at the moment.

Watched it just now (even tho I have the DVD sitting here).

Anyway, It had been bugging me for ages where I'd heard this piece of music below (specificall 0:37 onwards) and it was so familiar I was sure Williams had lifted it from somewhere. Check .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlQM_cad8B0

So just now I made the connection. Michael Jackson copied it for the verse melody on his song "heal the world". It's beyond close (see 1:08 onwards).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWf-eARnf6U

Jaws, a film I get something new from everytime I watch it!

krudler

take everything wrote: »

Minority Report is one of those films where the special effects are seamlessly integrated. They look amazing but take nothing from the film.

Indeed, A.I. too, the female mecha opening her face is still one of the best cgi shots ever

3.30 into that clip