Duel

I corrected an oversight in my film experience this evening by watching Stephen Spielberg’s Duel, from 1971. I expected to be pleased (in general I like Spielberg, although I walked out of The Terminal), but I was surprised not by how much I liked the film, but for why I liked it. I don’t normally associate Spielberg with stark, minimalist filmmaking, but Duel displays precisely the virtues associated with this kind of work. The opening title sequence is among the best I’ve ever seen for establishing mood, setting, and the bare bones introduction of the main character, played by Dennis Weaver.

I was probably most impressed by the ending. I’m not typically in the habit of providing spoiler alerts for 34 year old movies, so proceed at your own risk. Weaver manages, after freaking out several times, to defeat his nameless, faceless antagonist. The Spielberg of 1971 ended the film perfectly, with Weaver sitting down on a hill, overlooking the smashed truck of the man who tried to kill him. We are left with the sense of closure necessary to appreciate the film as a piece of pop art, but Spielberg doesn’t try to satisfy us emotionally. Over the course of the movie, we have grown to hate the anonymous trucker who harasses Weaver for no apparent reason. But, we don’t get to celebrate his death. Weaver never offers a pithy one liner, never gets to appreciate his victory over his enemy. As far as we know, the trucker dies without coming to grips with his defeat. Weaver survives, yes, but even at the end doesn’t understand why this has happened, and doesn’t get to gloat.

The restraint, given Spielberg’s later work, is impressive. Even Spielberg’s good films of late (and I would count Schindler’s List, AI, Saving Private Ryan, and War of the Worlds among these) are marred by terrible, sentimental, emotionally saccharine endings. Minority Report is a mediocre film fatally marred by its final act. If Amistad weren’t so bad from minute three on, I might have been more annoyed by its ending. Only Catch Me if You Can, which I regard as a worthy effort, does not suffer from this problem.