Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Brendon Jones It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

jimbo-53-186511 Lou-Jean (Goldie Hawn)visits her husband in prison with the sole intention of helping him escape from prison. Lou-Jean informs her husband Clovis (William Atherton) that she has lost custody of their son and asks her husband to assist her in kidnapping their son from his foster parents. Initially, the plan is working until they take a police officer hostage...Based on a true story, The Sugarland Express starts out quite fun and Spielberg gives the film a mostly light-hearted and playful touch to it which makes it moderately enjoyable. Unfortunately, the screenplay does little to develop the main characters making them rather one-dimensional, thinly-drawn and rather uninteresting as people. Presumably this is intended as part road-movie and part character-study, but it isn't fun enough to be classed as a good road-movie (a lot of the film sees the couple being followed round Texas very slowly which hardly makes for an exciting picture). It also fails as a character study because there is precious little to study - the film occasionally mentions the state determining that Lou-Jean is a bad parent and her argument to the contrary, but this is never really explored or given any focus which is a shame because this probably would have made the narrative that bit more involving.Later in the film, there is almost a Stockholm syndrome scenario developing between the kidnapped cop and the couple which again was an interesting direction to take the story in, but again it never really developed into anything; in fact this aspect of the story started out interesting and grew more and more ridiculous as it progressed...The Sugarland Express isn't all bad and does have a few good points about it; Goldie Hawn once again puts on a good show and is great fun to watch here, the supporting cast are all OK, but Hawn easily outshines everyone. The film also has some amusing moments - the car being pushed to the petrol station was one such example.Whilst it starts out well, unfortunately The Sugarland Express has already stretched its thin plot beyond breaking point by the midway point in the film and it starts to become repetitive, tedious and a tad boring. The Sugarland Express once again proves that having Steven Spielberg's name against a film isn't always a cast-iron guarantee of a good quality film.

jbirks106 by someone not named Spielberg, it would have been consigned to the obscurity it so richly deserves. Audience would see it as the totally implausible movie it is. I know, it's based on a true story, but I can't believe this movie is very faithful to the facts of the actual case. It certainly isn't true to the cinematic tenet that a story and its characters must be internally consistent.

Red-Barracuda 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.

CinemaClown 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.