Serendipity.

Flipping through the channels last week, C. and I caught an old Spielberg movie called Duel -- know it? Neither did we.

We quickly got sucked in to the story about a nebbish of a travelling salesman who unwittingly becomes the target of a murderous truck driver. Alone on a nameless desert highway, the protagonist struggles not only to stay alive, but to wrap his head around the sheer madness of his predicament. It's a taut, slow-burn suspense flick based on a short story by Richard Matheson -- coincidentally, an author I just recently discovered and who served as inspiration to a young Stephen King.

(if I may digress a moment, Matheson's 1954 novella I Am Legend is an excellent piece of horror writing, a brilliant character study and -- perhaps most importantly for all you blogophiles-on-the-go -- a quick read.)

The made-for-TV Duel was a young Spielberg's first feature and showcases many of the trademark camera angles, techniques and themes he would develop more fully in the decades to come. If you come across this on TV late one night, stop channel-surfing and check it out.