Duel (1971) - 24 mistakes

Continuity: Watch the scene where the truck is gradually pushing the car into a passing train. Before the train arrives, a red gate comes down to stop the traffic. But when the car speeds off after the train has passed, the gate has completely disappeared, the car does not smash through it, and it does not raise back up, it just disappears.

Visible crew/equipment: When David Mann stops off at the reptile lady's place, he enters a phone booth to call the police. When he's inside, you can see a perfect reflection of Spielberg. Look how young he looks.

Visible crew/equipment: Just as Dennis Weaver goes back into the Diner after splashing his face with water in the washroom, you can see the shadow of the camera man, complete with camera on his shoulder, silhouetted on the back of his shirt and on the wall.

Continuity: There are moments in the film, notably during the railroad and pushing sequence where the car's appearance - such as being dirty or clean, changes somewhat; the truck changes during that sequence as well. (The film was first broadcast on TV, then later released to theatres, and the push sequence was specifically filmed for the theatrical release. An identical '71 Plymouth Valiant was used, but a very different truck.)

Continuity: At the end of the film, David Man comes to a dead end, so he spins the car around and waits for the truck to appear. When the truck appears from over the hill, take a look at the very next shot of the truck from the front, and you will notice that the large exhaust on the side of the truck has moved from left to right and back to left again.

Continuity: During the entire movie each time the camera pans on the car's speedometer, the odometer clearly show completely different numbers in the cars mileage which are thousands of miles apart.

Continuity: As David Mann starts fuming at the guy who he thinks is the trucker, the first shot shows him taking a sip of his beer; it is almost empty. As he says "What are you talkin' about?" its almost up to the brim.

Visible crew/equipment: At the gas station, just before the water is sprayed on the windscreen and the attendant first appears, if you look closely at the top right hand corner of the screen you can see a reflection (albeit for a split second) of a hand giving the cue for the action to begin. Was this Steven Spielberg's hand?

Continuity: When David Mann is at the service station, window cleaner is sprayed on his windshield from the driver's side (camera shot from inside the car). Within a milli-second of the spray stopping, the service attendant is seen on the passenger side of the car. We are only shown one attendant at this station.

Deliberate "mistake": Just before the truck slides off the cliff edge, you can see that the truck's cab door is open where the driver jumped out.

Continuity: Near the start of the film, David stops at the gas station. We see him get out of the car and he asks the attendant if he has got change for the telephone. We can see David take out his wallet and pull out a note with the other hand, then puts his wallet away. Then the camera angle changes and his wallet is back in his hand again and he puts it away again. Also you never see the attendant take the note out of Davids hand. It just disappears.

Visible crew/equipment: The shadow of the camera can be seen on the left side of the screen, after David takes his seat at Chuck's Cafe.

Visible crew/equipment: Just after the truck has run down the phone booth at the Reptile lady's place, it starts smashing into all the glass reptile cages nearby. If you look closely at the reptile cage which David falls over, you can see the film crew in the reflection.

Continuity: When David drives away from the petrol station near the start of the film, you will see the truck catch up with him in the next scene. Take a look at Davids parcel shelf in his car when you see the truck fly round the bend, and you will notice a white baseball cap and a pair of sun glasses on it. They were not there before and also not there for the rest of the film.

Visible crew/equipment: When David's car gets stuck on the bus bumper, the next shot is of the bus' black bumper and the side of the car. At the top of the black bumper there are two people seen in the reflection. The person on the left turns and takes a step to the right.

Continuity: When David Mann is at the cafe, the waitress brings over his sandwich and water. He immediately drinks all of the water, yet when the shot changes to above the table, of him looking at his sandwich, the glass of water is completely full again.

Visible crew/equipment: During the scene in the gas station with snakes, as Dennis Weaver is wiping the tarantula from his leg, look at the shadow of the old woman behind him. There appears to be a moving crew member shadow next to hers. It cannot be a tank as she wasn't standing next to one either in the shot before or after.

Visible crew/equipment: When Mann's bumper gets caught under the school bus and he's trying to free it, a large lighting panel is reflected in his car door every time he opens it.

Revealing: At the reptile farm, the phone booth Mann uses to try and call for help has no phone lines attached to it, above or below ground (you can see that there are no underground wires when the truck mows the booth down). It's definitely not a wireless/radio telephone, either. There should be lines running to it, but there are none.

Continuity: Mann's '71 Plymouth Valiant has the ignition slot in the steering column. But in one insert shot of his speedometer as he races the truck at 100 mph, an older model's dashboard ignition slot is visible - with no key in it.

Visible crew/equipment: When Mann's car spins out on the gravel and comes to rest facing the truck, you can briefly glimpse the cameraman (purported to be Steven Spielberg himself) crouching in the back seat.

Continuity: When David Mann is flagged down by the bus driver, the window of the rear driver's side door is up. After Mann's 'just bounce it loose' speech, the window is down and remains down for the rest of the scene.

Continuity: After the incident where the truck driver told David Mann to pass, when there was a car coming the other way, watch the rear view mirror, it changes angles in the following shots.

Visible crew/equipment: Near the end of the film, while Dennis Weaver is finally starting to get a good lead on the truck, the top of director Steven Spielberg's head is visible in the reflection of the back seat in the rear-view mirror.