Duel (1971) stand alone Blu-ray

[Smegma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smegma]

http://www.amazon.com/Duel-Blu-ray-D.../dp/B00TF7KYJQ

Release Date: May 05, 2015

Previously exclusive to the box set. Only Spielberg I like. (Similarly, the only Lucas I like is THX-1138.) Shame they both got worse over time.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

There's a Czech UHD release coming soon, you'd assume that this won't be the only market it gets released in, so maybe a domestic one is in the works as well?

https://www.blu-shop.cz/4k-ultra-hd-...ra-hd-blu-ray/

[JoeS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoeS]

The ultimate road rage film and the TV movie that really put Spielberg on the map. Hadn't seen it since the old syndication prints, and that was the old 74 minute version. The standard now is the 90 minute “theatrical” cut and that's what I caught for the first time.

It's still an effective straight ahead thriller. The bare bones script by Richard Matheson (based on his short story) follows a businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver) as he drives from Los Angeles through the valley and deserts north. He finds himself behind a big rig truck and honks. The driver (who is barely glimpsed; played by stuntman Carey Loftin) doesn't take to kindly and chases Mann for the next hour and change.

The 16 minutes that have been added amount to four bits, none of them truly critical (the extended opening credits, a phone call, the bus and the train scenes). The most substantive is the conversation between Mann and his wife (Jacqueline Scott) which is the only time we find out any background on the character. Each sequence is well handled, but, cumulatively they add little save for padding out what is already a razor thin premise. The biggest upgrade is a widescreen 1:85 transfer which gives the film a more theatrical look and feel than the old TV 1:33 ratio (Spielberg has acknowledged that some of the re-framing isn't perfect and has introduced unwanted visual details like reflections).

Watching it again after so many years, many of Spielberg's subsequent Directorial characteristics can be seen in their infancy. Camera angles and moves (can there be much question that George Miller saw this before embarking on the Mad Max films?). Editing rhythms. His fondness for using sound and POV “cheats' to create suspense. It's all here. Billy Goldenberg's sparse score is perfect. Any more would have ruined the pure cinema.

Spielberg saves the best for last as the “Monster” dies a slow, slow death. One shot fading to the next, and the final death rattle is the very same sound effect from the Universal sound library that he used for the shark in JAWS. The studio wanted a bigger bang, but Spielberg held firm. He has made many more wise decisions in the decades since.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

Heresy perhaps but I personally prefer Duel to Jaws, probably due to the arty minimalism of Duel. This and Sugarland Express suggest a different path for Spielberg where his work is closer to his 70s peers, particularly Walter Hill, Demme and Cimino.

Course he was far more consistently successful than any of them at a commercial level so probably the best for him and I do like many of his late period thrillers and character pieces like Munich, Lincoln and especially the underrated Bridge of Spies.

[JoeS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JoeS]

Heresy perhaps but I personally prefer Duel to Jaws, probably due to the arty minimalism of Duel. This and Sugarland Express suggest a different path for Spielberg where his work is closer to his 70s peers, particularly Walter Hill, Demme and Cimino.
.

Everone remembers Spielberg hanging out with Lucas back in the day, but fewer recall that he also hung around with Scorsese, Milius, DePalma and Coppola. But, once he hit with JAWS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS he got 'side-tracked' in the blockbuster world. He has made many adult dramas over the years, but he did go his own route. And, DePalma and Milisu did their own things before becoming largely irrelevent