Truck Driver

The truck is the villain of Steven Spielberg first directed movie (for TV), Duel.

The film's protagonist, David Mann, while travelling on a freeway, gets chased by a big truck whose driver, for no explained motive, wants to kill him. The movie focuses on the thrilling car chase.

The driver is never fully shown to the audience: only his feet and his arm (when waving Mann) are shown, but the rest of his body is a mystery. In fact, the limited screen appearence of the driver gives more character to his truck, to the point that the vehicule becomes the actual antagonist.

The driver's motives are unexplained. He seems to stalk Mann for the thrill. For exemple, he usually doesn't attack Mann when he is out of his car, unless to scare him and get him back in the chase. Also, the truck attacks only Mann, and no one else, since it considers him to be his prey, and wants to achieve the chase. You can notice several registration plates on the truck's hood, implying the driver had many previous victims.

After a long chase, Mann tricks his ennemy to run into his car, and blinds him. Losing control, the truck falls down a cliff, and the driver seemingly dies in the crash.