DVD Review HTF Review: Duel - Collector's Edition (Highly Recommended!) (1 Viewer)

[Andrew Bunk]

Just picked this up. My copy has a slip case over it. Thing that sucks though is that there is a big UPC sticker placed over the UPC printed on the slip case, and it covers a lot of the description of the movie. Not sure why they would do this, as the UPC underneath is the same. Could this be something specific to Best Buy?

Well anyway I'm looking forward to seeing this for the first time.

 

[John CW]

Anyone?

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Another funny observation. When you open the case, on the side where you used to have a chapter listing , there's an ad for.....Duel! Duel now on video! No s#$t!

That just struck me as kind of funny. Now the flip side of the ad has info on Sugarland Express so it's obviously the same insert for both releases, but you think they might have taken the effort to face the correct side up for each release.

 

[Christian Preischl]

The insert had the correct face up in my copy. Also, it didn't have an additional barcode sticker on it (got mine from DVDSoon). It did however, for some obscure reason, have an easily removable sticker on it that said "Made in Mexico"

And no, I'm not making this up!

Chris

 

[EricSchulz]

My copy from Target had the same sticker.

 

[Keith Paynter]

That may be a Free Trade issue complying with requirements to show country of manufacturer. I was offered a copy at a retail outlet a couple of months ago - the 'recalled' version, no slip cover, no insert. It's nothing to really get upset about, it's just business - as with much of the manufacturing south of the border, this is a cheaper replicating source.

Getting to the movie at hand (I could have been the first to post a review, but I held off for an official release date), I have some very unique memories of this film that oddly enough differ from this release version...

My first exposure to this film was in the late '70's, in the form of an abridged 20 minute edit by Castle Films/Universal 8 on 16mm through our local public library. The last days of the Universal 8 (16mm) catalogue included edited versions of 'Airport', 'Duck Soup', 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein' and many classic Universal horror films such as 'Frankenstein', 'The Bride Of Frankenstein', The Incredible Shrinking Man', and 'Dr. Cyclops'. They were the last gasp of home movies before the stronghold of videotape shook the home entertainment market.


The opening credits are considerably different, and the film simply opens with David Mann on the highway, features the 'passing' encounter resulting in the crash outside the restaurant (but cuts the indoor scene), moves to the gas station/snake woman, skips the school bus scene, and moves to the showdown. One thing that this cut also had, but is not in the DVD theatrical cut (and was possibly part of the TV version), was an inner dialogue by Weaver's character as he cruises at slow speed and the truck reappears on the highway horizon in front of him. This may possibly have been an outtake used to help fill in holes caused by the abridgement. According to http://www.spielbergfilms.com/duelnews.html , the UK cut had more inner monologues, and this could be the source of the 16mm abridgement, since a US theatrical cut was not released until briefly in 1983, and the later version would become the source for home video release and future TV broadcasts. Even in this abridged cut, I found this to be a fascinating psychological thriller. All the more interesting was seeing Spielberg's name pop up as the director of the film, at a time when I was most familiar with him through 'Jaws'.

This is the first time I have ever seen the film in this length, although the abridgment stuck in my memory for years, and it is good to have the film (even in preferred mono) as part of my library.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

A 20 minute version of Duel? That's one hell of an editing job. Did it even make sense?

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I disagree to a degree. Ala Jaws, I suspect that a lot of the effects in the 5.1 mixes were redone and don't come from the original sources - they sounded way too good to be from a 1971 TV movie. I've heard lots of mono-to-5.1 soundtracks, and they almost never sound this good - the audio of Duel is excellent.

 

[DanC]

I sat down and watched this last night and forgot how well crafted of a movie it actually was! I was still on the edge of my seat after all these years.

I'm with Colin on the audio, I was simply blown away! Everything about the soundtrack sounded like a new film. The video wasn't quite as good IMO but still pretty dang good for its age.

 

[Keith Paynter]

Matthew, remember, the whole film is a game of cat and mouse, told with little dialogue, and even the full-length version fails to explain a motive - it just something the driver does. By simply removing a few setpieces, the story is told the same way, albiet considerably shorter.

 

[AaronMan]

I can't believe no one has mentioned this yet. If someone has in another thread, its worth noting again. The 5.1 soundtracks, both Dolby Digital and DTS, are missing the famous "roar" when the truck goes over the cliff!! Its there in the mono track, butnot in 5.1! Here's a perfect example of why it is so important to keep the original mono track. Spielberg even mentions the "roar" in the bonus interview. How could they overlook this?

 

[John KB]

AaronMan, I was just coming to mention the same thing!!

That's the famous Universal roar, used for the family pet Spot in The Munsters, and in the original Jaws & Jaws 4 The Revenge when the shark gets killed, among other movies.

I love that roar, and I can't believe it's not there, and like you, I can't believe no one has mentioned it yet.

 

[GuruAskew]

But it *is* there on the mono track, which is all that matters.

 

[John KB]

True, but I do like the DTS mix and would have liked to still hear the roar in that mix.

Since it's talked about in the conversation with Spielberg, it's obviously a part of the movie that he appreciated, plus he made sure to use the same sound in Jaws stating that it was to show appreciation to Duel for even giving him the oportunity to make Jaws.

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

quote:Matthew, remember, the whole film is a game of cat and mouse, told with little dialogue, and even the full-length version fails to explain a motive - it just something the driver does. By simply removing a few setpieces, the story is told the same way, albiet considerably shorter. True - perhaps "make sense" was the wrong phrase. The thing that is great about Duel is the slow buildup of dread and fear, and almost paranoia in the film. I can't imagine that would be anywhere near as effective in a shorter film, even if it was comprehensible.

 

[Kevin M]

Holy s**t...it's true! The dinosaur roar is neither on the DTS or DD track....so is this what they delayed it for? Considering how many times Speilberg has mentioned this over the years you would think any audio engineer assigned to this film would be well aware of it....someone just lost a job I would think.





And yes, yes it's on the mono mix but still....what a foul up.


*edit for lack of mentioning what the hell I was referring to..

 

[Martin Jeeves]

quote:Holy s**t...it's true! (The roar) It's neither on the DTS or DD track....so is this what they delayed it for?



You have GOT to be kidding! That is SOOOOOOOO BAD!

 

[Douglas Bailey]

Well, look on the bright side: we already know (from Jurassic Park and the Back to the Future set and the new version of Monty Python's The Meaning of Life) that Universal knows how to run a disc-replacement program.

 

[David Von Pein]

Don't forget "Pillow Talk", to boot.

 

[John Hodson]

Has anyone else had problems actually playing the disc? I've tried it on two players and there's substantial picture break-up and pixilating at what appears to be the layer change (when Weaver goes off the road at the train crossing, and lets the truck go by intending to just sit it out 'for an hour')

Seems fine on my PC, but on one player it's annoying and on another it's virtually unplayable.