Spielberg's first film one of his best

Before he broke box office records and wowed audiences with "E.T." and "Jurassic Park," Steven Spielberg started out like almost all other directors: cheap and simple. \nLast Friday at 7 p.m., the City Lights film series showed Spielberg's first film "Duel" (1971) as part of its weekly screening of classic films in 16mm. The series runs every Friday in Ballantine auditorium and is free and open to the public.\nDennis Weaver plays salesman David Mann, a regular guy attempting to drive on the highways of '70s California to keep a work appointment. Suddenly his life is thrown into chaos when a psychopathic truck driver passes Mann in his giant rig and then slows down to a snail's pace. \nBut every time Mann passes the guy, he's immediately overtaken again, and soon it becomes clear that the driver will stop at nothing until Mann has been run off the road in a twisted game of cat and mouse.\nThough originally made for TV, the movie was so successful that in 1973 it had a limited screening in Europe, garnering much critical praise.\nIn many ways, "Duel" is nothing like Spielberg's later blockbusters, like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" or "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." It's a low-budget thriller with no glitzy special effects or saccharin endings. The tense, fast-paced drama shows signs of his budding talent. This energy is evident four years later, when he exploded onto the movie world with his first hit, "Jaws" (1975), another Spielberg classic.\nThis is a remarkable debut for a 24-year-old director, whose previous work was limited to various TV episodes. The audience is immediately wrapped up in Mann's fight for survival. The barren roads of California become a frightening wilderness, and one gets a clear sense of the hopelessness of Weaver's position. What do you do when a madman decides to run you off the road? \nAll you see of the truck driver is his creepy, waving arm and a pair of brown leather boots. His nameless character is developed solely from his behavior while driving, an extremely difficult task. But Spielberg pulls it off nicely. What first appears to be a not too rare case of road rage suddenly becomes a deranged, modern-day duel. \nBy the time our hero decides he's not just being paranoid, there's no one in sight to call for help (remember, there were no cell phones back then). And, as a side note, this is one of those rare movies that actually makes believable use of an inner monologue -- the only thing Weaver has to console himself with.