Russell Crowe’s 2020 road-storm thriller Unhinged Taking influence from Steven Spielberg’s very first movie: the acclaimed 1971 made-for-television actioner Duel. Unhinged It begins with a frustrated woman who gets into a heated verbal altercation with a young man in rush-hour traffic, played by Crowe. When the second driver becomes violent and obsessive, he spends the rest of the day stalking and terrorizing her and her family in pursuit of revenge. Unhinged was notable for being the first wide theatrical release following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
UnhingedThe story of​​​​a commuter relentlessly pursued by another driver over the course of a really bad day is loosely inspired by the very first feature film directed by Spielberg. Technically, Spielberg made his film directorial debut with The Lover Firelight In 1964, which he helmet at age 17. However Firelight was never officially released. Spielberg’s first professional directing gig was the made-for-television road thriller Duelwhich aired on ABC in 1971 as part of the ABC movie of the week Series.
Unhinged is partially inspired by Steven Spielberg’s first movie Duel
Duel is a similar story about a relentless rush-hour pursuit
Spielberg’s debut feature Duel Stars Dennis Weaver as traveling salesman David Mann. On a drive across rural California to meet a client, Mann finds himself in a cat-and-mouse chase With the unseen driver of a Peterbilt 281 tank truck, who apparently won’t stop until he runs him off the road. Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay based on his own short story, which was based on a real-life encounter in which a trucker cut him off on a California freeway in 1963.
Spielberg’s use of Hitchcockian tension, pitting a mild-mannered everyman against a foreboding monster, is what scored him the game to show Jaws for Universal.
Duel quickly became a beloved cult classic And it was immediately given a theatrical release with an extra 16 minutes of footage added in. Spielberg’s use of Hitchcockian suspense, pitting a mild-mannered everyman against a foreboding monster, is what scored him the play to direct Jaws For Universal. There are many movies that have been influenced by DuelBut the influence is especially clear in Unhinged; The only difference is that, in UnhingedThe pursuing driver gets plenty of screen time.
Is Unhinged based on a true story?
Unhinged is a fictional story
Since Unhinged Telling a pretty believable story about a man with irrepressible road rage, it seems like it could be based on true events. There are many drivers who act much like Crowe’s character in the movie. But it’s not based on a true story or even inspired by true events; It is a fictional creation of screenwriter Carl Ellsworth. While Unhinged It’s not a true story in the traditional sense, it speaks to a larger truth about road rage.