Steven Spielberg wastes very little time making an ordinary drive feel strange in Duel. When David Mann first encounters the enormous tanker truck, nothing has happened yet that would suggest he is in serious trouble. He is simply driving, listening to the radio and getting irritated by another vehicle on the road.
Look a little closer, though, and those opening minutes are already doing much more. Seemingly disposable radio chatter echoes David’s own frustrations, a petty passing contest establishes the movie’s central struggle, and even a routine check under the hood quietly prepares us for what is ahead.
1. The Radio Caller Isn’t Just Background Noise
David’s drive begins with a radio caller discussing an unusual problem at home. His wife works while he handles much of the housework, leaving him uncomfortable with the idea that she might officially be considered the head of the household.
It plays like amusing chatter meant to fill the silence of the road, but the subject is surprisingly relevant to David. Duel will repeatedly put him in situations where control, pride, and his sense of authority are challenged, and the radio has already introduced those ideas before the truck becomes a problem.
2. David’s Joke About Who Is “The Boss” Tells Us a Lot
That connection becomes harder to ignore at the gas station. When the attendant casually tells David that he is the boss while discussing his car, David responds that this is not exactly the case at home.
It is an easy joke to miss, especially with the mysterious truck parked beside him. But paired with the earlier radio conversation, it gives us a glimpse of a man who already feels that he has lost some control over his own life. The confrontation on the highway is about to push directly on that insecurity.
3. The First Passing Battle Is More Than Road Annoyance
David initially treats the tanker as exactly what it appears to be: a slow, dirty vehicle he would rather get around. He passes it, only for the truck to overtake him and settle in front of his car again.
David passes once more, and this time the truck answers with its horn. What could still be dismissed as ordinary irritation has suddenly become an exchange. Spielberg has turned a basic highway maneuver into the first contest between two drivers, even though David still has no reason to understand how far that contest will go.
4. The Driver Is There, But Spielberg Refuses to Show Him
At the gas station, David finally has a chance to look at the person who has been driving the truck. Spielberg gives him almost nothing. There is a glimpse of a hand, and later David can see the man’s boots after he has left the cab.
Keeping the driver out of sight does something important to the truck itself. Instead of meeting a recognizable antagonist, David is left staring at a huge machine with an unseen person somewhere behind it. The less Spielberg shows us of the man, the easier it becomes for the truck to feel like the real character.
5. The Radiator Hose Warning Is Easy to Brush Aside
While David is focused on the truck, the attendant checks his car and tells him that the radiator hose should be replaced. David has apparently heard the same recommendation before and decides not to worry about it.
In almost any other road trip, that would be forgettable small talk at a gas station. In Duel, it quietly establishes that David’s car already has a weakness before he is forced to depend on it under increasingly difficult conditions. What sounds like routine maintenance advice becomes another small piece of Spielberg’s setup.
To watch or buy Duel, click here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/animals/harassed-by-a-big-truck-duel/vi-AA1Z0VU7