The Sugarland Express (1974)

Steven Spielberg's first proper cinema movie has some great photography from Vilmos Zsigmond.

The tone is uncertain. A road movie, a tragic comedy with car pile ups that is based on true facts.

Lou Jean Sparrow Poplin (Goldie Hawn) takes her husband Clovis (William Atherton) out of a minimum security prison just weeks before his eventual release.

All to save their child who has been taken away and ready to put up for adoption. They kidnap a police officer which leads to them being pursued by the police and the media.

Goldie Hawn is spiky as Lou Jean but she is also stupidly impulsive.

A story that needed more work, Spielberg does make an accomplished film.

When "Clovis" (William Atherton) is incarcerated, his wife "Lou Jean" (Goldie Hawn) is facing losing their son to adoption. She's having none of this so decides to spring her husband from jail so they can go collect their bairn and head for Mexico. Things do not go to plan, though, and pretty quickly they are in an hijacked police-car being driven by "Officer Slide" (Michael Sacks). Needless to say, the police - under the shrewd "Capt. Tanner" (Ben Johnson) now up the ante and we are now looking at a chase that involves just about every police vehicle in the country! They are gradually digging themselves deeper with each mile they drive, but equally they begin to befriend their hostage and elicit a degree of sympathy from their pursuer as their predicament starts to tug at heart strings. It's a bit preposterous at times, and is certainly too long - but it does illustrate that Goldie Hawn has a skill - as an actress with a strong narrative to deliver, and as a woman who has expert comedy timing. There is humour here. It doesn't always work and at times is maybe just a little slapstick. It also does introduce and develop some depth to the characters - including Sacks and Johnson - which I found engaging as it trundled along. It's all based on a true story so not too much Steven Spielberg could do with the ending but the journey he takes us along is entertaining enough.

Quality!

<em>'The Sugarland Express'</em> is Steven Spielberg's first theatrical release as director, which is quite something given the movie seems like it was made by a seasoned vet. On a similar note, the look and feel of the film is absolutely outstanding; it has aged remarkably well visually, almost hard to believe it came out in 1974! I also really enjoyed the score, particularly Toots Thielemans on the harmonica, but that's no surprise - John Williams, duh!

As for plot, it is very entertaining. I like how silly everything plays out for the first chunk and the film knows it, but events gradually rise up a notch throughout the 110 minutes. The more serious conclusion would've felt quite sudden and out of place, though it is portrayed and paced perfectly. Cast-wise, Goldie Hawn, William Atherton and Michael Sacks are excellent, though Ben Johnson is probably the one I'd rate highest.

**_Inspired by the real-life incident from May 2, 1969, mixed with…_**

…elements of the Bonnie & Clyde account from 35 years earlier, such as the way Americans were rooting for the couple. In truth, the chase only lasted 5-6 hours and not several days. So, there was no time for the press to get ahold of the story and spread it to the people. Neither did the kidnapped patrolman warm up to the couple.

Furthermore, it didn’t end anywhere near the Rio Grande. The events started in Sugar Land, Texas (two words, not one), which is a town southwest of Houston, with the ensuing actions going counterclockwise around the outskirts of Houston. The actual chase started in Port Arthur with the couple hijacking the patrol care in Anahuac, both of which are east of the metropolis. The pursuit then headed into Dayton, which is northeast of the city, and wrapped up near Navasota, about 75 miles northwest of Houston and 330 miles from the Mexican border.

These changes, and others, can be excused on the grounds that movies always exaggerate real-life events and change things for the purpose of entertainment. Besides, there’s a wink of amusement to the proceedings, which is counterbalanced by a genuine sense of tragedy in the last act.

Goldie Hawn is cute, but too thin, as the foolish and frustrating female instigator. On the masculine side of things Ben Johnson is effective as the police captain while William Atherton (the convict husband) and Michael Sacks (the kidnapped patrolman) are curiously lookalikes.

Most know that this was Spielberg’s first cinematic production after making three television movies, starting with the outstanding “Duel” in 1971. The flick cost $3 million and made over twice that at the box office in USA/Canada and over four times worldwide. It was considered a disappointment but did well enough to give the greenlight to Spielberg’s “Jaws” wherein he knocked it out of the ballpark.

Besides “Bonnie & Clyde” and “Duel,” it came in the tradition of “The Getaway” from fifteen months earlier. “Dirty Mary Crazy Larry” debuted two months later and outdid it on every level. Yet it influenced future movies in ways, like Eastwood’s “The Gauntlet” and the two versions of “The Hitcher” (1986/2007).

It runs 1h 50m and was shot Dec-Mar 1972-1973 in Texas relatively near the actual locations, San Antonio and places east of there, including the town of Sugar Land, whereas the Rio Grande conclusion was filmed a few hours’ drive west of there in Del Rio.

GRADE: B-/C+