The Sugarland Express (1974)

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Before Raiders of the Lost Ark, before Close Encounters of the Third Kind, before Jaws, acclaimed director Steven Spielberg made his theatrical debut with 1974’s The Sugarland Express. Of course, Spielberg would draw attention one year later with the excellent monster film Jaws, but that movie would not have been made without this movie-which David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck also produced. For a theatrical debut in the mid-1970’s, I think Spielberg did an admirable job although I am not quite over-the-moon about the movie. We see the seeds that were planted and would later make him renowned for his ability to create movie magic. I was a little surprised at first that this movie succeeded because it is considered a road trip/chase movie based on a true story and there were many of them that were produced this decade.

When viewing the movie, I was surprised this story was based on a real-life event that took place in 1969. The script, written by Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins, takes some liberties including changing the names of the characters and adding a prison break which did not happen. I did think the script showed ample character development and really focused well on the relationships each character had with each other. On the grand scale, I was impressed that one woman and her husband took on the entire state of Texas and nearly won. It was certainly a worthy story to tell, and Spielberg and company mostly succeeded.

Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) just completed an eight-month sentence for petty theft. She has a husband, Clovis (William Atherton) also incarcerated for petty theft, but he has four months remaining in a one-year sentence. The couple also happen to have a child set up for permanent adoption at a foster home. Lou Jean visits Clovis in prison and persuades him to help save their child. She breaks him out of prison and they hitch a ride with an elderly couple. Their car is eventually stopped by patrolman Matthew Slide (Michael Sacks), and the younger duo kidnaps the patrolman. Now with the entire state of Texas after them led by Captain Harlin Turner (Ben Johnson), Lou Jean and Clovis will find it very challenging to complete their mission.

I will be blunt when I say I generally do not like Goldie Hawn as an actress. Her acting style and humor do not appeal to me. I thought she was decent but was still the weakest actor amongst the others. She later become known for comedy, but I think she works better in the drama setting. Ben Johnson is great as the police captain who understands that the husband/wife duo are decent people, but just committed serious crimes under their current mission. I thought, in particular, that William Atherton and Michael Sacks were fantastic. I liked how the movie portrayed the relationship between the two men getting closer and close as the chase progresses near the end. I liked the discussion where Sacks’s character, in friendly terms, talks about how police chases work.

How realism was portrayed in the film tended to irk me from time to time. I get this is based on a true story, but is it really proper to show like a thousand police cars chasing after this one car? Did it really happen like that? That is the one thing about chase scenes from movies of the era. There are way too many police cars, and honestly it can take me out of the film! Also, I was interested in how this couple were known as celebrities in the Lonestar state. It reminded me of 1973’s Badlands where there was a couple hiding from authorities. Here, there would be people keeping tabs on Lou Jean’s quest with intent to either hinder or help her get her kid back.

The Sugarland Express is quite the debut film for Steven Spielberg. It tackles a familiar theme, but he created an earnest, well-meaning feature. The movie was shot beautifully and realistically thanks to cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond’s use of natural light. John Williams is probably the best composer ever to film music, and he is famous for his working relationship with Spielberg. This was their first collaboration, and it’s a fantastic one. The acting is strong, even from Goldie Hawn. The characters are well-developed and we sympathize with their actions. After all, family is family. One would destroy the world just to be with family. The pacing can be slow, and there is a very thin line between reality and fantasy at times, but that’s okay. This is the first movie in Spielberg’s very long filmography and it’s worth a watch.

My Grade: B