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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Movies»Movies by Decade»1970s Movies»Movies 1974
    Movies 1974 Movies S 2 Mins Read

    Sugarland Express, The (1974)

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    This film cost $9 million and was supposed to have been shot in nine weeks. Director Steven Spielberg (on his first feature film) took sixteen.

    Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) is a fugitive mother who is chased by almost every cop in Texas when she tries to keep her baby boy who’s been farmed out to a foster family while the parents did time for some petty thefts.

    Lou Jean convinces her passive husband, Clovis (William Atherton), to jump prison and drive to Sugarland, Texas, in the hope of reclaiming their child. They take straight-laced Officer Slide (Michael Sacks) hostage along the way.

    Ben Johnson is superb as Captain Tanner, the police chief who is proud of never having killed a person in 18 years and avoids white knight heroics while suggesting both the dignity and the grubbiness of his work.

    It’s a true story (based on events which happened in 1969) but, regrettably, little of the real-life drama made it into the film.

    The film’s comic centre is the overused sight of a growing caravan of police cars following the fugitives, held at arm’s distance by the duo’s guile, charm and occasional threats of violence to hostage Slide.

    sugarlandexpress6

    Some scenes show the couple’s mushrooming status as local media celebrities, others unpleasantly mock redneck culture, while the best show the affection building among the couple, Tanner and Slide.

    There are some beautiful shots of the sun streaking the sky, but there’s precious little feeling for the actual baby, the crux of the plot.

    Lou Jean Poplin
    Goldie Hawn
    Captain Tanner
    Ben Johnson
    Officer Slide
    Michael Sacks
    Clovis Poplin
    William Atherton
    Mashburn
    Gregory Walcott
    Officer Ernie Jessup
    Steve Kanaly
    Mrs Looby
    Louise Latham
    Baby Langston
    Harrison Zanuck
    Mr Alvin T. Nocker
    A.L. Camp
    Mrs Nocker
    Jessie Lee Fulton
    Russ Berry
    Dean Smith
    Dietz
    Ted Grossman
    Hunter
    Bill Thurman

    Director
    Steven Spielberg

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