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Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton, Gregory Walcott ... see more see more... , Harrison Zanuck , A.L. Camp , Merrill Connally , Buster Denials , Jessie Lee Fulton , Ted Grossman , Big John Hamilton , James N. Harrell , Kenneth Hudgins , Gordon Hurst , Steve Kanaly , Guich Koock , Louise Latham , Dean Smith , Bill Thurman , Robert Golden , Gene Rader , William Scott

Based on an actual incident, Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature follows the adventures of a Texas outlaw couple striving to keep their family together by any means necessary. Determined not t... read more read more...o lose her child to the authorities, Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) gets her obedient convict husband Clovis (William Atherton) to break out of jail and help her kidnap their baby from its foster parents. With hostage Officer Slide (Michael Sacks) in tow, the fugitives head across the plains to Sugarland, Texas, pursued by a flotilla of cop cars. Even though Slide becomes the couple's friend, the Law is bent on capturing its criminal quarry. Even though it was greeted with strong reviews, and Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Spielberg won the screenplay prize at the Cannes Film Festival, The Sugarland Express flopped. The young audience that had embraced the challenging tonal shifts of Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider in the late 1960s was no longer so reliably drawn to narrative uncertainties in 1974. The massive success of Spielberg's next picture, the popcorn thriller Jaws (1975), would confirm his suspicion that downbeat films were no longer the way to popular approval. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

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60% liked it

6,485 ratings

Critics

92% liked it

25 critics

PG, 1 hr. 49 min.

Directed by: Steven Spielberg

Release Date: January 1, 1974

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DVD Release Date: August 17, 2004

Stats: 302 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (302)

  • cosmo313
    August 13, 2011
    cosmo313
    While not his first film ever, this was the feature length theatrical debut of a nice guy named Steven Spielberg. Based on actual events, this film tells the story of an outlaw couple who take a highway patrolman hostage in an ill-conceived but desperate effort to keep their chil... read mored from being taken away from them and adopted. It's not long before they are accompanied by a convoy of law enforcement and media, and stir up support from just about every averge citizen they cross paths with as they journey across Texas.

    This film very much fits into the zeitgeist of the time period, and it really reminded me of a movie that was released a year later...a little movie called Dog Day Afternoon. Whereas that film was a brilliant masterpiece, this one is really fun and entertaining, but almost too absurd to really take seriously, even though it is based on real life. Maybe there should have been a couple fewer scenes of cars scrashing or swerving, and a bit more time spent on developing the characters and their personalities better.

    The film is uneven and a little rough, but Im not sure who to really blame here. Spielberg had experience making films, so who knows? I will say though that it's cool seeing a pre-Ghostbuster William Atherton, and 70s era Goldie Hawn. They both give pretty good performances (especially Hawn), as do Ben Johnson and Michael Sacks. The music is quite nice, and the cinematography is pretty good too.

    Besides what I've already mentioned the film also is a tad unfocused and a bit dated, yet it has a very charming quality to it, and it's certainly not boring. It has some issues, but I like it enough to give it a mild recommendation, so you should give it a shot.
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    July 17, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Every cop in the state was after her. Everybody else was behind her."

    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 hostag... read moree, who is a policeman and are pursued through to Texas...

    REVIEW

    Although he began his rise with the now-classic 1971 made-for-TV thriller Duel, The Sugarland Express, released in early 1974, is Steven Spielberg's first actual big-screen foray.

    Loosely based on an actual incident that occurred in Texas in 1969, the film focuses on a fugitive couple (Goldie Hawn, William Atherton) who kidnap a Texas state trooper (Michael Sachs) at gunpoint and force him to drive them to Sugarland to get their infant son back from a foster home. What ensues, however, is a nearly 30 hour-long chase across southern Texas involving pretty much the entire Texas law enforcement community (and some right-wing gun nuts, too), including a very sympathetic veteran peace officer (Ben Johnson), who realizes that Hawn and Atherton are "nothin' but a couple of kids."

    Audiences were led to believe, based on the presence of former "Laugh-In" star Hawn, that The Sugarland Express would be a comedy. But the fact that there is gunfire and action within told them otherwise. There is humor, to be sure, much of it very Southern-fried; but Spielberg ratchets up the dramatic and tragic aspects of the story. For that reason, Sugarland was not much more than a minor box-office hit, more of a prelude to Jaws, which would come out the following year. But as an unconventional road drama and a story about love and crime taken to an extreme, The Sugarland Express is masterful. Hawn got most of the attention, and rightly so; but the really great performance here is from longtime John Ford/Sam Peckinpah veteran Johnson, who is superb as the Texas lawman sympathetic to their cause but sworn to uphold his oath to the state.

    A must-see early film from master cinemagician Steven Spielberg.
  • Godless
    January 11, 2010
    Godless
    This movie should not have the word Express in it.
  • deano
    July 24, 2009
    deano
    I was surprised to find out this Steven Spielberg adventure-crime-drama film is based on a true story the couple plan to kidnap their own child, who was placed with foster parents. The escape is partly successful, they take a rookie Texas State trooper hostage. Really interested ... read moreand excitement. The ending was sad as well, but I won't give it away.
    Goldie Hawn's performance is brave, funny and wonderful. In fact, all the acting is excellent, right down to the last two-line player.
  • FireStormStudios
    January 25, 2009
    FireStormStudios
    I?m not sure what is was about this film, maybe the time frame or the lower budget film tactics, but there was something incredibly attractive about this film. It?s a simple story that is well worth a look.
  • staindslaved
    March 9, 2012
    staindslaved
    The Sugarland Express is a surprisingly great film with an equally surprising performance by Goldie Hawn. An outlawed couple hijack a car in an attempt to get back their children and make a mad-dash for the border. Along the way they become a media sensation and become national... read more celebrities. If that sounds quirky its because it is, however the film is always presented authentically and it pulls no punches as it dwindles down to its realistic and inevitably violent conclusion. Anyone who says that Spielberg was given the golden ticket in Hollywood, with all his initial major films having giant budgets and unquestioned directorial control, are ignorantly unaware of the mans early work. Spielberg is actually the greatest example of gradual progression through the industry. He started filming in his backyard, then on short films, then TV shows, then a TV movie until finally given his first attempt at a theatrical feature with The Sugarland Express. All this before his big studio deal.
  • fb1281229360
    December 4, 2011
    fb1281229360
    This is an Underated classic as Steven's first "Theatrical" feature. Its an interesting story about how criminals can become folk heroes. Its very tragic too! Also was the beginning of a great friendship with composer; John Williams.
  • Lemure
    December 10, 2011
    Lemure
    Great work by Spielberg in this "petty criminal duo take a policeman hostage and go on the run to get their child back". The problem is the tone: it's far too light. And without a villain there's no tension. It's definitely worth a watch though, and Hawn is fantastic.
  • kenscheck
    January 21, 2012
    kenscheck
    After directing the TV film "Duel" Spielberg made his move to the big screen, making his theatrical feature film debut with this quirky film based on the true story of Lou Jean Poplin, who after getting out of jail fellow convict husband out of pre-release jail and kidnaps a stat... read moree trooper in Texas in order to get to Sugarland and get her son back, who has been taken away by the state. It is a good film, it shows that Spielberg quality, which is evident pretty early on. Hawn is really good, and the supporting cast is solid as well. I would definitely recommend checking this film out.
  • English47
    June 25, 2011
    English47
    Spielberg's come a long way since his debut in Sugarland Express but there are a few hints of his skill... it has aged horribly since 1974 (but then again so does every film that's almost 40 years old) and I can see why it might have gotten such high reviews at the time.

View All The Sugarland Express Reviews

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert
October 23, 2004
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

If the movie finally doesn't succeed, that's because Spielberg has paid too much attention to all those police cars (and all the crashes they get into), and not enough to the personalities of his char... Full Review

Nora Sayre
May 21, 2003
Nora Sayre, New York Times

The movie has a casual craziness that seems especially native. Full Review

Christopher Lloyd
September 6, 2010
Christopher Lloyd, Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Sugarland Express is not terribly original - Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands and The Getaway are indelibly marked in its DNA - but shows an already dazzling young filmmaker honing his skills and vision. Full Review

Fernando F. Croce
September 25, 2009
Fernando F. Croce, CinePassion

Steven Spielberg in Malickland, with dolly and zoom and a wagonload of familial issues Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
June 12, 2009
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Modest but assured work. Full Review

Emanuel Levy
December 1, 2006
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Reflecting the zeitgeist of mid-1970s America, this early Spieleberg picture is still one of his strongest, dealing with alienation, anarchy, and lack of control; Goldie Hawn gives an uncharacteristic... Full Review

Dan Fienberg
December 22, 2005
Dan Fienberg, Zap2it.com

One of the most purely fun and slyly political films Spielberg has ever made. One of Hawn's best performances.

MaryAnn Johanson
October 29, 2004
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher

[W]ould be mostly forgotten melodrama if it hadn't been directed by a kid named Steven Spielberg... Full Review

Jeffrey M. Anderson
August 30, 2004
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

There's no question that this is a director with a God-given talent. Full Review

Matt Brunson
August 19, 2004
Matt Brunson, Creative Loafing

Features real attention to the sort of character dynamics that would serve subsequent [Spielberg] titles. Full Review

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  • What is the name of Steven Spielberg's debut feature film which stars Goldie Hawn?  Answer »
  • Who directed "Always" "The Sugarland Express" and "1941"?  Answer »
  • Who directed The Sugarland Express, Duel and Always?   Answer »
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