Delayed Reaction: The Sugarland Express

Premise: After springing the husband from prison, two parents take a police officer hostage for a cross country flee to get their child back.

 

Sometimes movies make perfect sense in a career timeline. This is Steven Spielberg's first major theatrical film, even before Jaws. Before this, he was best known as a TV director. His most famous movie was the trucker chase movie, Duel. It's very easy to see how that road thriller would lead to him getting the opportunity to make this road thriller. It also isn't that much of a leap to see how this got him Jaws the next year.

 

The Sugarland Express doesn't feel particularly Spielberg-y. I get the sense that this was more of a tryout movie to prove that he could color within the studio lines. Granted, if pressed, I really couldn't define a Spielberg movie anyway. I more know one when I see one, and he's had such a long career that it's a series of evolving trends.

 

I don't know that The Sugarland Express has any "Spielberg magic" but it is pretty entertaining. As far as I can tell, this is the first movie that gave Goldie Hawn anything dramatic to play and she's really good in it. Because she stopped making movies for 15 years (2002-2017) and she took her time between movies for much of her career before that, I sometimes forget that Hawn had a multi-decade career as a big star. She brings a lot of her charisma to this movie. The rest of the cast is fine, but there is a reason why I know Goldie Hawn but had to remind myself where else I've seen William Atherton, Ben Johnson, and Michael Sacks.

 

In my attempts to be a completionist with actors or directors, there's typically a few movies toward the end that I put off because they just aren't very good. It's why I still haven't gotten around to the Coens' The Ladykillers. It's nice that as I'm getting around to the final Spielberg movies I have left (just Twilight Zone: The Movie and Amazing Stories unless I want to include his TV movies), they are still as good as The Sugarland Express. It's far from his best movie, but it's got a sly sense of humor, some good action (I love car crash scenes from that era), and a strong starring role at the center.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend