'Duel' trivia and fun facts
The killer
Steven Spielberg said that the multiple license plates on the front bumper of the truck suggested that the truck driver is a serial killer which "ran down other drivers in other states".
The right man
When Carey Loftin, playing the truck driver, asked Steven Spielberg what his motivation was for tormenting the car's driver, Spielberg told him, "You're a dirty, rotten, no-good son of a bitch." Loftin replied, "Kid, you hired the right man."
His Godzila
Steven Spielberg stated that he approached this movie in the manner of a Toho monster movie, replacing Godzilla with an 18 wheeler tanker truck.
Inspiration
According to Richard Matheson, he was inspired to write the original short story "Duel" after an encounter with a tailgating truck driver on November 22, 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
Prefix
The phone number Dennis Weaver dials to call his wife at the gas station is not the standard "555" movie prefix but, at the time, a valid number.