A woman attempts to reunite her family by helping her husband escape prison and together kidnapping their son. But things don't go as planned when they are forced to take a police hostage on the road.
A young couple moves into a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania. What they don't know is that there is an unseen presence in the house, and that it wants to take possession of the wife.
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Darren McGavin,
Sandy Dennis,
Ralph Bellamy
In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Stars:
Djimon Hounsou,
Matthew McConaughey,
Anthony Hopkins
While traveling through the desert for an appointment with a client, the businessman David Mann from California passes a slow and old tanker truck. The psychotic truck driver feels offended and chases David along the empty highway trying to kill him.Written by
Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Steven Spielberg wanted David Mann's car to be red so it would stand out in the wide shots of the desert highways. See more »
Goofs
When Mann is at the first gas station, the Plymouth lettering on the hood is made up of individually attached letters. In all subsequent shots however, the badging on the hood of his car is actually a one piece chrome badge with the Plymouth letters stamped on it, instead of the individual lettering as seen before. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
[radio playing, driving down the road, approaches the truck]
[David coughs, coughs again]
David Mann:
Talk about pollution.
See more »
Crazy Credits
The man with the sandwich is referred to as "Hoagy Man". See more »
Alternate Versions
Spielberg shot an additional 16 minutes of footage (bringing the running time up to 90 minutes from the original 74 of the TV version), including a longer title sequence, the expansion of the gas station / laundromat scene towards the beginning of the film (the entire phone conversation with David Mann's wife being added), and the addition of a scene showing the killer truck trying to push Mann's car under a train at a railroad crossing. These new scenes can be noted by the fact that, for shooting the new footage, Universal had to purchase both a new red Plymouth Valiant and a similar Peterbilt semi truck. The Valiant is a 1972 model, which is very close to the original 1971 model in the original film, but not exact - and the differences can be noted in the film. See more »
Steven Spielberg first movie, with fine performance from Dennis Weaver , giving one of his best ones as a driver who is at first harried and eventually horrified by a large truck. It results to be a fascinating killer game of the classic chase of the cat and mouse. A top-notch made for TV picture, concerning a relentless pursuit, including a provoking and relentless exercice in paranoia. It deals with a commuter businessman who is repeatedly threatened and attacked by an massive, huge trailer on an open desert highway. Along the way, the starring cannot see the face of the driver of the giant truck.
Spendid thriller originally made for TV plenty of thrills, chills, breathtaking chases, suspense, and many other things. There
are not motivations, no explanations, except perhaps for a hint of allegory in the screenline and a tense visual suggestion about the ancient fight between the vulnerable, prancing knight and the lumbering, nasty dragon. Dennis Weaver, only protagonist, delivers a nice acting as a docile traveling salesman who takes on a malevolant juggerneaut, an ominous tractor-trailer causing wreak havoc.
It contains a nail-biting and suspenseful musical score by Billy Goldenberg. As well as a colorful and adequate cinematography by
Jack Marta . Based on a story and screenplay by the prestigious novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson. The motion picture was very well and superbly directed by Spielberg, being his Film debut. And while in US premiered in Television, it was released threatically in Europe . Here Steven maintains the whole nightmarish situation at total tension and fever pitch. Spielberg successful film to be continued by a series of hits, such as : Sugarland express, Jaws, Close encounters in third phase , Raiders of the lost ark, ET, The color purple, Amazing stories, Empire of the sun, Hook, Jurassik Park, Amistad, Schindler list, Lost world, A. I. , Minority report, The terminal, Munich, War of the words, Indiana Jones and the last crusade and many others. Rating : Notable, better than average, 7.5/10. An absolute cracker that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
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Steven Spielberg first movie, with fine performance from Dennis Weaver , giving one of his best ones as a driver who is at first harried and eventually horrified by a large truck. It results to be a fascinating killer game of the classic chase of the cat and mouse. A top-notch made for TV picture, concerning a relentless pursuit, including a provoking and relentless exercice in paranoia. It deals with a commuter businessman who is repeatedly threatened and attacked by an massive, huge trailer on an open desert highway. Along the way, the starring cannot see the face of the driver of the giant truck.
Spendid thriller originally made for TV plenty of thrills, chills, breathtaking chases, suspense, and many other things. There are not motivations, no explanations, except perhaps for a hint of allegory in the screenline and a tense visual suggestion about the ancient fight between the vulnerable, prancing knight and the lumbering, nasty dragon. Dennis Weaver, only protagonist, delivers a nice acting as a docile traveling salesman who takes on a malevolant juggerneaut, an ominous tractor-trailer causing wreak havoc.
It contains a nail-biting and suspenseful musical score by Billy Goldenberg. As well as a colorful and adequate cinematography by Jack Marta . Based on a story and screenplay by the prestigious novelist and screenwriter Richard Matheson. The motion picture was very well and superbly directed by Spielberg, being his Film debut. And while in US premiered in Television, it was released threatically in Europe . Here Steven maintains the whole nightmarish situation at total tension and fever pitch. Spielberg successful film to be continued by a series of hits, such as : Sugarland express, Jaws, Close encounters in third phase , Raiders of the lost ark, ET, The color purple, Amazing stories, Empire of the sun, Hook, Jurassik Park, Amistad, Schindler list, Lost world, A. I. , Minority report, The terminal, Munich, War of the words, Indiana Jones and the last crusade and many others. Rating : Notable, better than average, 7.5/10. An absolute cracker that will keep you on the edge of your seat.