The Sugarland Express (1974)

The Sugarland Express is most famous these days for being the first theatrical feature film from the soon-to-be-massive directorial wonder kid Steven Spielberg. It's by no means his first significant film, as he had already directed another earlier road movie, namely the seminal TV movie Duel (1971). But this was the first time that he had went beyond working for the TV studios and made a feature directly for cinema release. Despite receiving good notices, it flopped on release though. And because it fell in between the critical and commercial hits Duel and, of course, Jaws (1975) it seems to have been kind of forgotten to a certain extent. Given this director's subsequent fame I find it quite surprising how relatively obscure The Sugarland Express actually is, especially considering that it's actually a very good film.

Seemingly based on real events, it focuses on a young outlaw couple who organise a jailbreak and then kidnap a police officer who attempts to apprehend them. They then drive over to Sugarland, Texas to try and take back their child, who has been given to foster parents on account of the authorities regarding these natural parents as being, unsurprisingly, unfit.

What makes this one stand out quite a bit is that it is clearly a product of the New Hollywood. These American movies were director-led challenging works that were released predominantly in the 70's. This one's downbeat plot elements and lack of moral certainties marks it out as a clear example of this kind of thing. It also falls into a sub-category of New Hollywood movie, namely a lovers-on-the-run film. Films such as Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Badlands (1973) were of this ilk and this one is another clear example. Maybe the public had begun to grow tired of this type of road movie by 1974 and this meant the film didn't do such good business at the box office. It's difficult to say but whatever the case, this is a fine example of this kind of thing. Goldie Hawn and William Atherton play the young criminals and do so very well, with Michael Sacks also impressive as the police officer they capture. Interestingly, the film goes a little against type by portraying the police captain who chases them in a very sympathetic manner. Usually these types of movies are very anti-authoritarian and anti-police but not so in this case, which adds a bit of extra depth in some ways because it's not spelt out to the audience who they should root for. Spielberg himself has went on the record to say that he believes the police to be the heroes in this film, with the main bad guys actually being the citizens who cheer the criminals on as part of the media circus generated by the televised nature of the case.

This is a very fine film from Spielberg and in my view one of his actual best. It shows that in the days before he was so powerful that he could pick and choose his projects, he had to interpret material that wasn't necessarily 100% aligned to his sensibilities and also had to do so on a lower budget. I think the effect of this was that he was forced to utilise his obvious talent in a more lean and economical fashion, while in directing material further removed from his naturally more syrupy and sentimental disposition resulted in tougher and less morally certain films. With The Sugarland Express we get the best of both worlds.

Fmovies: Following Duel, movies heavily featuring cars were what Spielberg seemed to be offered, as he was set to direct Burt Reynolds in the action film White Lightning. He worked on it for a few months before quitting to take on this movie. "The one thing that I almost made was White Lightning the Burt Reynolds picture," Spielberg said "I spent two-and-a-half months on the film, met Burt once, found most of the locations and began to cast the movie, until I realized it wasn't something that I wanted to do for a first film. I didn't want to start my career as a hard-hat, journeyman director. I wanted to do something that was a little more personal." Reynolds was hurt by him quitting saying " He wanted out and it really hurt me, I felt like he just didn't want to work with me, and that was the reason. And he didn't."

Shot in perfect continuity (for financial reasons) The majority of this movie is filmed in a car. But there was no rear view projection or shoot it and then have the actors lip-sync later. Spielberg's timing was just right Panavision inc had recently developed and the Paraflex, the first totally noiseless camera, compact enough to be handheld or shoulder rested. Virtually the entire movie was shot in sync dialogue with only 10 lines a looped later. The Sugerland Expressis one of the first fiims to be shot in this then revolutionary style, though shortly, all filmmaking would follow suit.

This movie shows that Goldie Hawn could have been a fine dramatic actress had her career gone in that direction. Hawn's plan, slightly mad as it is, in fact does have an inner logic. I expected her infedelity (She prostitutes herself to a male neighbour for $65) to become a bigger issue. But it's surprisingly dropped pretty quickly.

There is no villain in this movie. Captain Tanner certainly isn't one. I also like a tender scene involving a Wile E. Coyote cartoon which was probably my favourite scene in the movie. This film marked the beginning of Spielberg's friendship with John Williams and we get a Spielberg trademark (images seen in a side mirror)

This is one of the few Steven Spielberg films that ends on a downbeat note. And boy what a downbeat note it is!!

Sugerland Express grossed $7.5 million (against a 3 million dollar budget) at the domestic box office.

Man, I forgot how much fun this movie actually was. In my mind it was a heavy drama but on my recent viewing (finally it's on DVD!) I rediscovered this movie and found out how fun it was. It kind of has the same fun feeling the other 'based on a true story' Spielberg movies: "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Terminal" have.

The movie is made with lot's of profession and very little money. The small budget does not stop Spielberg of making a good movie. This movie was also the first Vilmos Zsigmond/Steven Spielberg collaboration. They later worked together on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". But more importantly; it also was the first collaboration of John Williams and Steven Spielberg, one of the most successful collaborations in movie history, as later turned out.

the movie features a young Goldie Hawn and William Atherton who I really like as an actor. Atherton is probably best known for his role in "Die Hard 1 & 2", "Ghostbusters" and the more recent movie "The Last Samurai" in which he has a small part early in the movie.

It might be a bit too slow and probably boring for some people but I still recommend this movie. It has both action and substance. In a way also a must see because it was Spielberg his first real big hit and can be regarded as his breakthrough.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The Sugarland Express fmovies. Petty crook is busted out of pre-release jail by his determined-yet-reckless wife; seems their infant son has been farmed out to a wealthy foster couple while the two were behind bars and the Mrs. wants her baby back now. Director Steven Spielberg's first theatrical film has a scene midway through that still takes my breath away: Goldie Hawn and William Atherton take refuge in a mobile home parked in a lot behind a drive-in movie theater, a cartoon is up on the screen and Atherton supplies the sound effects--but, as the cartoon descends into violence, he stares out the window while his wife giggles on, oblivious to the parallels between the film and the paths their lives have taken. It's a miraculous moment in a high-spirited comedy-drama about trying to get what you want--even at the expense of the law. I'm surprised most Spielberg fans turn their noses up at this movie, it's one of his best. The finale doesn't really work (the picture switches gears too many times and eventually leaves us eating dust), but Goldie Hawn's performance is brave and funny and wonderful. In fact all the acting is excellent, right down to the last two-line player. *** from ****

Steven Spielberg's theatrical feature film debut is a smartly crafted, expertly composed & skilfully executed adventure drama that clearly exhibits the legendary director's penchant for turning an on-screen moment into a larger-than-life event without ever going over the top and is also significant for marking the commencement of one of cinema's greatest collaborations.

Based on a true story, The Sugarland Express tells the story of a young woman who successfully breaks her husband out of prison to help her assist retrieving her child, about to be placed in the care of foster parents. Things soon take a turn for the unexpected when they're left with no choice but to take a patrolman hostage & are pursued by the police throughout their journey.

Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film wonderfully introduces many of his trademarks & themes that would continue to recur in his later works and is a solid work that has enough style & substance to keep the viewers engaged for the most part. Camera-work is dynamic, makes excellent angle choices & remains consistent throughout while editing steadily paces its narrative.

Coming to the acting department, the cast comprises of Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton & Michael Sacks amongst which it's Hawn who chips in with the most impressive performance. Marking his first collaboration with Spielberg, John William provides a score that beautifully reflects the film's tone with tracks that are adventurous, light-hearted & at the same moment, slightly poignant.

On an overall scale, The Sugarland Express is one of Spielberg's highly underrated flicks & although far from a masterpiece, it's still a quality work of passionate filmmaking that's admirable for a number of things. Full of crowd-pleasing elements, presenting the then-young filmmaker refining his craft & an indication of greater things to come, The Sugarland Express is a must for Spielberg's fans as well as critics.

Haven't heard about "Sugarland Express" till recently and I had to see it because it was vintage Spielberg, and I'm a fan. And I wanted to see the young Goldie Hawn. I was not disappointed. It was one of these road-chase movies, bigger than life, but it was unique, especially because it was based on a true story. That fact made me incredulous throughout the film, but everything in Texas is supposed to be bigger than life.

Goldie desperately wants to get her baby back. She was in jail for some minor crimes and was found to be an unfit mother and her baby was put in a foster home and the foster parents were going to adopt him. Despite being a young girl, or maybe because of it, she was desperate to have her baby back. It was a love-child and the mother-love was passionate and obsessive. Hawn played the part to the hilt and used her sexuality and femininity to overcome the objections of her husband who was in a pre-release facility with low security.

She had a plan to help him escape, but he didn't want to risk it, take a chance of being caught and being incarcerated again. He only had four more months to serve. The other inmates were incredulous as they disguised themselves and got an old couple to give them a ride.

From this quiet beginning the film proceeded to repeated crescendos of drama and excitement. Try to imagine the young couple, young officer in tow, leading a chase of police cars, first a few, then a few dozen, then many dozen and ultimately hundreds, law-enforcement officers from all over the state and then snipers and a helicopter.

Lucky for the young couple an old-hand cop realized they were just a couple of kids and he staved off snipers with telescopic long-range rifles and a couple of vigilante gun-nuts.

You know something bad is going to happen at the end, because these kids didn't know what they were doing; they were madly in love and in a fantasy-land of getting their little boy back and living happily ever after in Mexico. Something bad happened, but something good happened. It will be worth your while to see this little classic from one of the greatest directors of the 20th century.