Originally made for TV audiences, Duel is the epitome of the taut horror-thriller. Shot over 13 days and on a ridiculously tight budget, reportedly around $450,000, it's one of the slickest, most entertaining thrillers I own and one that I reacquaint myself with on a monthly basis. Spielberg has undoubtedly done bigger, grander films since, but he has rarely bettered this masterclass in suspense.

Duel's premise is simple. What would you do if you were being stalked on the hot, wide roads of the USA by a tanker whose driver seemingly wants you dead? The aggression is calculated and unrelenting. The motives unknown. The driver unseen.

While it might not sound like the scariest of prospects, the way Spielberg and, of course, Richard Matheson's sublime screenplay grabs you and refuses to let go until you're mentally exhausted and your fingers have been bitten to the bone, is exemplary. It might not have the shocks of many thrillers, but it certainly has the tension.

The film's star by name is Dennis Weaver, at the time a prominent television actor who had made his name is shows like Gunsmoke and Dragnet. His performance as David Mann (see what they've done there?) is electrifying, wringing every last bit of drama possible out of every scene. Internal monologues pepper the film as Mann struggles to comprehend just what's happening to him. Why is this truck after him? Who's driving it? Will he end the day alive?

The film's real star, though, is, of course, the truck itself. It's like a living, breathing beast on wheels and the fact that we never get to see the driver makes it all the more effective. For long periods you almost find yourself forgetting that this truck has a human influence at all, almost as if the truck has a mind all of its own. Close-ups of the truck and its moving parts at all angles are key to the film's set pieces building up a picture of this huge, lumbering killing machine. It's the Terminator running on diesel.

Best of all the film's perfectly executed set pieces is perhaps the school bus scene, added on to the movie to ensure its length for a theatrical release. The bus is stranded and Mann stops to help. Suddenly he notices the truck approaching, stopping at a nearby tunnel with its exhaust breathing out fumes and the engine purring away menacingly. Panicking, Mann is screaming at the children to get back in the bus while the driver tells them to remain where they are.

The children get rowdier and rowdier, jumping on Mann's car and all around him, screaming, shouting, laughing maniacally. Mann spies the truck approaching faster and faster and decides he has to get out of there but his car bumper is now stuck under the bus as Mann has tried to push the bus out of its own tight spot. More gas, sweat and fevered brow later, the car manages to escape just before the truck arrives, at which point he turns around only to see it pushing the bus on its way. This scene, is a true tour de force for Spielberg and marks out one of many set pieces in the film that are some of the finest of his career to date.

The lack of budget really helps in this respect, Spielberg being forced to get the best performances and effects from those around him without any reliance on costly re-shoots or CGI grandeur. Shooting in such a short space of time with a shoestring budget appears to have done wonders for the film's creativity. It must have kept everyone on their toes, not least Weaver who really shines considering the lack of people to bounce off or interact with. Internal monologues apart, how he manages to express so much emotion with a few looks is a marvel to me and this remains one of my all-time favourite acting performances.

The film, too, is comfortably in my top five films. It's a tense, tightly directed and hyper-real thriller that successfully plonks you in the driving seat and refuses to let go until the final reel, with an ending that is satisfying, brief and wonderfully executed.

Duel deserves to be watched, studied and appreciated as a compelling exercise in how to make a thriller without spending oodles of dollars or dolloping on the special effects. They just don't make them like this any more.