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Post by lowtacks86 on Apr 4, 2019 17:36:50 GMT
A psycho? Or perhaps something supernatural?
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Post by vegalyra on Apr 4, 2019 17:38:28 GMT
Maybe the Creeper from Jeepers Creepers? He had a crazy truck in that movie.  |
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Post by Anonymous Andy on Apr 4, 2019 17:40:56 GMT
Jack Burton
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Post by Dramatic Look Gopher on Apr 4, 2019 18:28:24 GMT
Probably just some guy who hates Plymouth Valiants.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Apr 4, 2019 18:28:48 GMT
Large Marge
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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 4, 2019 18:31:44 GMT
A rural working class American. Evil incarnate. There's another tv movie starring Ralph Meeker as a kidnapper and he says at one point: "I'm a working man. I work with my hands. I ain't ashamed of it." I am looking at a recent Stephen King novel "Desperation" read by him, and it seems to have a similar gist. Urban vs rural. "I am a gun-toting, Snapple-drinking, Bible-reading, Clinton-bashing sonofabitch. Never mind the dog, beware of the owner." talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/02/richard-matheson-duel.html |
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Apr 4, 2019 18:39:01 GMT
A rural working class American. Evil incarnate. There's another tv movie starring Ralph Meeker as a kidnapper and he says at one point: "I'm a working man. I work with my hands. I ain't ashamed of it." I am looking at a recent Stephen King novel "Desperation" read by him, and it seems to have a similar gist. Urban vs rural. "I am a gun-toting, Snapple-drinking, Bible-reading, Clinton-bashing sonofabitch. Never mind the dog, beware of the owner." talesofmytery.blogspot.com/2013/02/richard-matheson-duel.htmlThe irony being that many 'rural working class Americans' probably view everyone else as evil incarnate.
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Post by Lebowskidoo 🎄😷🎄 on Apr 4, 2019 18:59:05 GMT
Who? 
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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 4, 2019 19:00:05 GMT
The irony being that many 'rural working class Americans' probably view everyone else as evil incarnate. That's like saying anyone from a big city is a selfish, unethical, gender-bending child molester. The purpose is to create divisions, not present reality. If the aim was sincere social commentary then it would not be so negative.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Apr 4, 2019 19:02:10 GMT
The irony being that many 'rural working class Americans' probably view everyone else as evil incarnate. That's like saying anyone from a big city is a selfish, unethical, gender-bending child molester. The purpose is to create divisions, not present reality. If the aim was sincere social commentary then it would not be so negative.
Not sure what the purpose of your original post was.
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Post by politicidal on Apr 4, 2019 19:02:30 GMT
John Ryder.
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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 4, 2019 19:08:36 GMT
Not sure what the purpose of your original post was. To answer the OP question. The truck driver in the short story and the movie is a working class rural white guy. He is presented as a spooky figure--the main character is an urban white collar worker. This is demonstrated when he goes into the diner and imagines himself confronting the trucker.
It's the David and Goliath story (in fact--the character's name is David Mann). Although it may not have been intended as a explicit political message, given Hollywood's depiction of the working class rural American from the 1960s onward, it can be perceived as such.
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Post by Rey Kahuka on Apr 4, 2019 19:16:33 GMT
Not sure what the purpose of your original post was. To answer the OP question. The truck driver in the short story and the movie is a working class rural white guy. He is presented as a spooky figure--the main character is an urban white collar worker. This is demonstrated when he goes into the diner and imagines himself confronting the trucker.
It's the David and Goliath story (in fact--the character's name is David Mann). Although it may not have been intended as a explicit political message, given Hollywood's depiction of the working class rural American from the 1960s onward, it can be perceived as such.
I wouldn't say working class people are depicted as evil incarnate, but if that's your take so be it.
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Post by Prime etc. on Apr 4, 2019 19:25:01 GMT
I wouldn't say working class people are depicted as evil incarnate, but if that's your take so be it. Or comical fools. Mayberry types.
Jack Burton in Big Trouble in Little China is a fool. Never truly positive or normal portrayals.
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Post by msdemos on Apr 4, 2019 19:26:04 GMT
......and, was this (possibly) the first instance of "road rage" depicted in movies/TV ??  SAVE FERRIS
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Post by lenlenlen1 on Apr 4, 2019 19:50:07 GMT
A psycho? Or perhaps something supernatural? "...The devil..."
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Post by Marv on Apr 4, 2019 19:53:25 GMT
Prequel to Maximum Overdrive.
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Post by MCDemuth on Apr 4, 2019 20:12:58 GMT
If the movie had been made by Michael Bay, it would have been his version of Motormaster...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2019 20:37:13 GMT
In my read of the film, the trucker is a representation of the primal, uncaring side of nature. Mann hints at this in his bathroom soliloquy: "And all the ropes that kept you hanging in there get cut loose and it's like there you are... right back in the jungle again."
Mann is depicted as being afraid of confrontation. He's browbeaten by his wife because he failed to step in when his wife was being sexually assaulted by another man, he's having trouble at his job, and all around he gives off the air of a man who is used to getting stepped on and pushed around. It's not explicitly stated but heavily implied he avoids confronting all of his problems in life.
When he passes the trucker, he unintentionally sparks a confrontation that he cannot shy away from. He tries to run away, he tries to hide, he considers placating the trucker, he tries to get help within the rules of civilization, but none of these things will get him out of it because what he is up against is a force of nature that cannot be appeased or fled from. It is only when he decides to take action and confront the trucker-- when he stops running and faces the threat literally head-on-- that he conquers it.
In short, it's Mann versus Wild. That's why we have a nice shot of him at the end, looking over the fire of the truck like a campfire, symbolic of ancient man learning to survive against a callous nature through struggle and wits.
Now that's just my take. Duel is a great film because you can take away a lot of different meanings from it and the story still works. The trucker could be a serial killer or supernatural force or a representation of something else... but I like my read best. I think that's what the story was really going for.
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Post by Ass_E9 on Apr 4, 2019 21:59:39 GMT
Dennis Weaver's doppelgänger. Something about the duelity of man.
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