Steven Spielberg’s debut film (aired first on TV, and then theatrically in a slightly longer cut) is essentially one long car chase. Based on a Richard Matheson (I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come) short story, the film achieves suspense out of one of the simplest plots imaginable: a salesman driving through the California desert is stalked by a tanker truck that wants to kill him. (Since we never see anything of the driver but an arm waving out of the window, we’re going to just go ahead and conflate the driver and the truck.) That’s pretty much it. That’s the entire story. One tense, dusty, seemingly endless, and fantastic car chase. Nice job, young Spielberg.
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