It’s not hyperbole to say I’d been waiting 20 years to see this movie. I’ve been a huge ‘Jaws‘ fan for as far back as I can remember, and it’s almost inevitable that any serious discussion of that classic will broach the subject of Spielberg’s first feature (shot in about a week and a half for NBC television, but released theatrically around the rest of the world). Is it at the same frenetic level as, say, ‘Mad Max: Fury Road‘? No (although it wouldn’t surprise me if George Miller was somehow influenced by Spielberg’s work). It’s much further down the scale, but ‘Duel’ is unquestionably beautiful in its simplicity. Of course it’s always helpful to have the great Richard Matheson as your writer. The story drags a little bit in the middle, but it can be forgiven. The Southern California landscape is gorgeously captured, and the many driving sequences convey a real sense of danger (not to mention gratuitous shots of the Southern Pacific Railroad for all the train buffs out there). I feel very fortunate to have seen this one in a theater, and there’s no doubt it would make a great addition to anyone’s Blu-ray collection.
Before “The Exterminator“, before “John Rambo“, there was “Major Charles Rane” in one of writer Paul Schrader’s first follow-ups to ‘Taxi Driver‘. This is another one I’d been waiting a long time to see, and, I have to say, Cristina Cacioppo perfectly introduced the movie to the audience. She said that how you feel at the end of the film is something of a litmus test of your character. I’m inclined to agree, and at the end of the movie I felt very much the same way as she did: a little good and a little bad. There may have been more obscure examples before it, but ‘Rolling Thunder’ seems to be the originator of the Vietman-vet-comes-home-suffers-terrible-things-and-executes-his-own-brand-of-justice sub-genre; and, because it’s the original, all of the elements you’d expect to find are there, but they’re not tropes yet, so they feel completely different than in later such movies. The subject matter makes it a tough watch at times, but the performances are solid all around, especially from William Devane.
Kudos to Drafthouse Films for tracking this down and giving it a theatrical release (which it had never previously gotten in the USA). Billed as “The Most Dangerous Movie Ever Made”, it’s certainly the most insane film I’ve seen in a long time, maybe ever. To be sure, there have been artistic endeavors designed to mess with your brain, but what makes ‘Roar’ different is that you struggle to comprehend the actual reality you’re witnessing on the screen. And what really twists it is that even though you’re frightened, the movie isn’t, because the music sounds like a Mickey Mouse cartoon, and they even mix in some slapstick comedy (such as Tippi Hedren presumably being knocked out when a shelf falls on her, followed by a jar of honey spilling all over her unconscious face). It’s crazy, it’s bizarre, and you can’t look away. That Noel Marshall was one crazy cat.
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