During Episode #129 of the LoserKid Pinball Podcast interview embedded below, pinball wizard player and acclaimed pinball designer, Keith Elwin (Stern’s newest pinball Jaws, plus Godzilla, Jurassic Park, Iron Maiden, Avengers Infinity Quest, Bond 60th), was asked what Spielberg movie for a theme for a future pinball he’s like to work on?
Spielberg has made a ton of great movies that could be fertile ground for pinball. Just look at Spielberg’s resume of great movies listed on Wikipedia:
Before getting to Elwin’s answer, let’s peruse a few tantalizing titles: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Poltergeist, The Goonies, AI: Artificial Intelligence, War of the Worlds, Ready Player One …
Elwin has already done Jaws and Jurassic Park and the other major one he could choose would be some kind of Indiana Jones remake, but Elwin isn’t going to want to go there. Already a great pin there from Mark Ritchie and Bally/Williams.
So, what Spielberg movie would Elwin choose?
His answer befuddled the hosts, that didn’t recognize the 1971 nailbiting thriller, Duel. Wow what a dream pinball theme this would be.
Haven’t seen Duel? Stephen King lists Duel as one of his 22 favorite films. It’s a grueling story of man vs. machine. It’s the movie that Stephen King failed to make himself with his horrifically directed Maximum Overdrive film. Duel is a lesson in suspense that even Alfred Hitchcock, the master, would hat tip.
Just imagine what kind of great table a story about a menacing truck as a monster would do with the king of pinball designer monsters, Keith Elwin?
Would you be interested in playing a Duel pinball machine? I sure would. Just to reiterate, this was merely a question posed to Elwin in an interview, not a machine Stern is actually considering making. At least as far as we know here at PGM. We would like to see it, would you?
Bob