"Duel"

This started as a 1971 TV movie directed by Steven Spielberg. Yet here we are on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles in a shot from the production looking at the Palace Theatre on the right running "The Possession of Joel Delaney," a May 1972 release, along with "Rosemary's Baby" from 1968. Thanks to Shawn Dudley for figuring out the top title. The Los Angeles farther down the block on the left is running the April 1972 release "Buck and the Preacher."

A bit closer to the Los Angeles. Thanks to Jonathan Raines for spotting the theatres in the film and for the screenshots. As far as the miracle of a 1972 film appearing on a theatre marquee in a 1971 movie, Jonathan has the answers:

"After it screened on TV, footage was added. I think some additional footage was shot for a longer version, which was released theatrically in Europe. The UK release was October 1972. That's now the available version, I think. So that extra footage likely included the downtown stuff. The beginning features several minutes of camera attached to a car, with a radio playing -- easy padding to make the movie longer, no significant change to the story."

Shawn Dudley adds: "Universal always intended to release the film theatrically in Europe. However, the 74 minute running time was too short to qualify for European theatrical release, so the studio brought Spielberg back in to film some extra sequences to get the film to 90 minutes. The new footage includes the new opening title sequence shown above, but also two new scenes featuring the truck (they had to use a different truck for the new sequences, there are some continuity differences).

"I did read that they added a little profanity into the new scenes, so it wouldn't sound so much like a 'tv movie.' I was too young to see Duel in the original TV broadcast, but I did see the 1983 theatrical re-release which was the first time the European cut was shown in the US. I was 13 at the time and I saw the movie at the Drive-In, which was the perfect venue for this feature. I kept looking over my shoulder in case the truck had driven in..."

For more information about the two theatres, see the pages about the Los Angeles and the Palace on the Los Angeles Theatres site.

On IMDb: "Duel"

The poster for the 1983 US theatrical re-release. Thanks, Shawn!