"The Sugarland Express" Talkback (Spoilers)

[Lord Dalek]

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

Release Date: April 5, 1974
Studio: Universal
Director: Steven Spielberg
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
Starring: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton

Plot Synopsis: Lou-Jean, a blonde woman, tells her husband, who is imprisoned, to escape. They plan to kidnap their own child, who was placed with foster parents. The escape is partly successful, they take a hostage, who is a policeman and are pursued through to Texas...

COMMENTS?

As part of a master plan to do a talkback for every Spielberg film where one does not exist (IE: Jaws), I will be doing ones sporadically throughout the upcoming months. The Sugarland Express was his first real film, and probably his most obscure. A box office flop when released in 1974, and largely overlooked today, it still has a fairly big following. Trivia: Sugarland Express marks the beginning of several collaborations with Spielberg: John Williams will do the music for every film after this one with the exception of The Color Purple in 1985, Co-writers Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins later turn up in a cameo in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Barwood will later design two computer games based off Indiana Jones, and Panavision selects this film to try out their then brand new Panaflex cameras.

The Dalek Spielberg Talkback Series:

Duel

[MajorTom]

Great movie. I love the opening, and the last shot is beautiful. Not one of Spielberg's best, but certainly a strong debut (theatrical) film.

[Michael24]

This is one of the few Spielberg films (and the only one of his older films) that I've still yet to see. I've always been curious about it though, since it seems so different from the rest of his work. I'll have to add the DVD to my NetFlix queue. Thanks for reminding me, Dalek.