The Rare Review - Movies, books, music and TV

“Duel”: Naw, It Ain’t “Jaws” On Wheels

On September 28, 2026

Cover of Duel (Collector’s Edition)

Man-made cars and the interstate highway system are not the modern wonders to make us forget, and not be shocked by, the strange brutality in human behavior. Indeed, it is on the interstate that businessman David Mann (Dennis Weaver)—in Steven Spielberg‘s Duel (1971)—encounters a stranger who tries to off him with a tanker truck, the reason for which is never revealed. It is activity as absurd as it is horrible.

Spielberg’s first notable success, Duel is a made-for-TV action thriller which has been called “Jaws on wheels” except that it’s a better flick than Master Steven’s Jaws. It has a shaky climax, but is consistently fun and nicely economical. The smart script is by Richard Matheson, and Weaver is constantly on screen but never abandoned by skill. As well, Duel is one of those many 1970s films enamored of rural American settings, as though it is only in these pristine outdoor places that insights about life may be had.

Poor Burt: “Starting Over” (1979)

By EarlD

On September 23, 2026

In General

Film poster for Starting Over - Copyright 1979...

What might be a decent novel is, here, an unsatisfying film. The script is wobbly, and the strikingly handsome Burt Reynolds, with his star quality, is miscast as an ordinary, somewhat less-than-virile gent.

Starting Over (1979) does effectively focus, though, on the internal psychological ping-pong experienced by divorced and recently unattached people.

Directed by Alan J. Pakula.

Goin’ To “The Clock,” Going To The Chapel

By EarlD

On September 18, 2026

In Movies

The Clock (1945) is a good-natured comedy-drama starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker as a couple who fall in love and (mistakenly) quickly marry during soldier Walker’s two-day leave. Although some of the humor is feeble, the cast is appealing, and the film is acceptably plotless. It was directed by Fred Zinneman, who was forced to give way to Vincente Minnelli, the credited director of the flick. His work here is as inspired as it was in Meet Me in St. Louis.

The Clock reminds me of a Whit Stillman film, though with less comedy. The moviemakers warm to American institutions and values, especially marriage. Minnelli, wedding Garland in ’45, doesn’t ignore its sanctity.

On The Bergman Effort, “Wild Strawberries” (1959)

By EarlD

On September 14, 2026

In General

In Wild Strawberries (1959), an old man and esteemed professor gets, in a way, bludgeoned for being less virtuous than others would suspect. (He’s expressionistically bludgeoned.)

Is there anything that saves this famous Ingmar Bergman film? NO. It’s tiresome glop. When it isn’t fatuous (the despairing husband who also serves as figurative judge) it’s sentimental (the old man’s gentle eyes fixed on a remembered Bibi Andersson). Plus the protag’s selfishness, etc. is usually revealed through exposition, not drama. . . In truth, art should not be as unentertaining as this.

Wild Strawberries (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cinema “Hamlet” In ’26

By EarlD

On September 11, 2026

In Movies

The 2026 Hamlet, on film, is smashing. Technically accomplished, cleverly directed by Aneil Karia, it presents a British Indian Hamlet in modern London and is a rich chronicle of agony. Riz Ahmed is interesting and distinguished—not at all standard-issue—in the title role. He exudes intelligence, no less so than the gripping Joe Alwyn as Laertes. Art Malik and Sheeba Chaddha are a perfect Claudius and Gertrude, and Morfydd Clark a true and touching Ophelia. Timothy Spall is a human curio as Polonius.

Karia’s film may be Shakespearean cinema at its most exciting. Music and dancing—don’t worry; it’s limited in quantity—add to the fascination.