The biggest Spielberg film you have never heard of? DUEL fans launch crowdfunding campaign to explore the director's first film

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You may have heard of big Stephen Spielberg-directed blockbusters like ET, Jaws and Jurassic Park, but now two film buffs are looking to get recognition for one of his earliest works.

Film fanatic Roger Allen and documentary maker Enric Folch are part of a team that has launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to fund a fan and social media-led documentary about Spielberg’s first work DUEL - a film about a man being chased by a threatening truck. 

The pair want to give their film, called The Devil on Wheels, the cinematic treatment.

DUEL: Spielberg's first film, starring the late Dennis Weaver, has a cult following

Before he became famous for Hollywood blockbusters such as ET, Spielberg directed DUEL, his first feature.

Released in the 1971, the film follows a terrified motorist who is stalked along the California desert highway by a tanker truck, the driver of which you never see.

The film has a cult following and fans regularly meet in the US to follow the route shown in the movie.

Roger and Enric have launched a campaign to fund a documentary that will explore the fandom around the film and explore the route, shots, location and cars used.

Enric still has the ticket from when he saw the film in the cinema in 1978, he explains: 'When I watched DUEL it impressed me deeply. But I did not suspect that it would still impress me almost 45 years later. Time is usually a ruthless judge, but one would say that DUEL has passed its trial unscathed.

The big screen: Forget ET, fans of Spielberg's first film DUEL are trying to bring it to the cinema

'You can't justify its success with money, locations, stars, budget or explicit sex. It's a man, a car and an open road. 

'Yet it has filled the heart of countless film fans the way only a selected few films can do. It's many people's favourite film. 

'What makes it an even more special case is that it started as just a humble movie of the week. It was not supposed to hit the screens. It was not supposed to be remembered for generations.'

They will also try to break the land speed record in Utah using a DUEL-inspired Peterbilt 281 truck and a red Plymouth Valiant

They are looking to raise £60,000 which will be enough to fly to US and make the documentary, but they would also like more so they could pay for film rights on DUEL and show clips of the original movie in their film.

Anyone backing the crowdfunding campaign gets a variety of perks. These will range from a credit as an associate producer and a ride in a replica DUEL truck, depending how much they invest,.

They plan to ask to interview Spielberg for the film, but say it will ultimately be made by the fans by making use of social media to ensure as many people as possible can be involved.

Roger adds: ‘It will be a documentary about the power of film on people. DUEL had no special effects, neither will ours, it’s the story that makes a good film stand out.

'We are also going to try something new with social media which we don’t believe anyone has tried before – ours is a fan based documentary so in order to allow the fans to almost be with us as we travel across the USA filming and interviewing, one of our rewards will be that fans can be on our What'sApp/line group on their mobile phones – we can send them real-time pictures, locations and news of what we are doing and then can send us their ideas. 

'They can help us make the documentary from their phone.’

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