The Sugarland Express

Anyone here a fan of this movie?

Stephen Spielbergs debut feature from 1974. Based on the true story of a couple who take a cop hostage and force him to drive across the state to get their baby back, who had been removed and put into care.

Goldie Hawn was excellent here as the scatty but neurotic mother...its a very nuanced performance from her, and a side of her we rarely got to see. William Atherton very good as the naive father Clovis (Shame he got pigeonholed into playing officious, asshole types for much of his career).

You can see a lot of Spielbergs traits here...his use of non actors in small roles, his eye for composition (the cinematography here to die for...there is a shot of two police cars against a sunset that of my favorite ever), and his handling of big action set pieces.

Unfortunately at the time of release this was marketed as a car chase comedy caper...which it clearly is not.

One other plus point is Spielbergs determination to 'keep it real'. All of the scenes shot car to car were shot for real, with no back projection or inserts, and even the dialogue from the car radios was real. The camera moves effortlessly between and around the cars as they drive. And this was 1974 when there was no way to do it digitally.

I should also mention it has one of the most hair raising stunts ever committed to film, involving a camera crew following the cars. Check it out on YouTube.

Its a film i highly recommend. It's not perfect, but it's very watchable and very entertaining, and most definitely underrated.