Duel

Duel (1971)

1 suggested correction

★★★★☆

(16 votes)

Duel mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When David Mann is at the cafe, the waitress brings over his sandwich and water. He immediately drinks all of the water, yet when the shot changes to above the table, of him looking at his sandwich, the glass of water is completely full again.

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: There is an empty glass next to the full glass.

The mistake is valid. David drank all his water before getting his food and asked the waitress for another glass of water and aspirin. She then brought him the food, aspirin, and 2nd glass of water. He drinks all the water after taking the aspirin and sets the empty glass down. In the next shot he's holding a glass with water. There should be two empty glasses.

Bishop73

More for Duel

Mistakes

Visible crew/equipment: When Dennis Weaver is in the cafe a shadow of a cameraman is cast across the table he is sitting at. The shot then changes to a wider angle to reveal that there isn't anyone near him who could have cast that shadow.

More mistakes in Duel

Quotes

David Mann: Come on you miserable fat-head, get that fat-ass truck outta my way.

More quotes from Duel

Trivia

Trivia: At the end of the film when the truck goes off the cliff, we hear an odd groaning sound. This is a dinosaur growl from an old movie Spielberg likes. Interestingly, this same sound is also used at the end of Jaws as the shark sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Spielberg did this to show that Jaws and Duel would always be closely connected.

More trivia for Duel

Questions

Answer: It's never explained why but, judging from the numerous license plates from other vehicles attached to his truck, the truck driver is a serial killer and was just targeting people at random and decided to make David his next target.

Trucks used to have to be registered in multiple states if they were going to operate in them. It was very common to see semi trucks with a half dozen or so license plates on them, each from a different state.

Answer: According to director Steven Spielberg, the trucker was a serial killer, and each of the license plates were trophies from previous victims.

Answer: David pulled ahead of the truck not once but twice. He got to the gas station first, and got served before the trucker. For any normal person this would not be cause to try to murder someone, however the truck driver is an unhinged psychopath who doesn't need much reason to go into an obsessive rage. Add to that the fact that David is driving a much smaller car, and the fact that they're out in the middle of nowhere with nary a cop around, and the truck driver probably saw David as easy prey.

Answer: "It was very common to see semi trucks with a half dozen or so license plates on them, each from a different state." And that's how the psycho trucker got away with it. He could have those 'trophy' plates on the front of the truck in plain sight, and to anyone who saw it, the truck would look like just another big rig with multiple license plates. Nothing out of the ordinary or suspicious about it.

More questions & answers from Duel

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.