The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express(1974)

PG
03/31/1974 (US)Crime, Drama, Comedy1h 50m
6.6

"A girl with a great following. Every cop in the state was after her. Everybody else was behind her."

Overview

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

Steven Spielberg

Director

Hal Barwood

Screenplay

Matthew Robbins

Story

Hal Barwood

Story

Steven Spielberg

Story

Matthew Robbins

Screenplay

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D
A review by DanDare
6.0

Written on June 1, 2020

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.