**THE CAWPINE OF ‘THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS’**


WRITING: 6
ATMOSPHERE: 7
CHARACTERS: 8
PRODUCTION: 8
INTRIGUE: 6
NOVELTY: 5
ENJOYMENT: 7



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**The Good:**

In terms of directing, The Sugarland Express is a success for Steven Spielberg, who knows how to direct the actors and cinematographers to make every scene dynamically interesting (close-ups, wide shots, layered shots). Coupled with John Williams' quirky score, the technical side of the film is great even by today's standards.

The car chases and shootouts are well-directed, giving this film a touch of western vibe. With this film, Spielberg proves he can handle smaller emotional scenes just as well as big and bombastic action sequences.

The soundtrack is surprisingly low-key for a John Williams score. This is no Star Wars or E.T. and its refreshingly different from what is usually expected from Williams.

The Sugarland Express feels like Bonnie & Clyde or Thelma & Louise on steroids; shit goes down from the very beginning and only seems to intensify as the film goes on.

Goldie Hawn and William Atherton feel like a natural, troubled couple united by a common wish to save their son. I particularly like Hawn's sass in a part surrounded mostly by white, middle-aged men. The way Hawn and Atherton go from pretty much hating each other to finding that long-forgotten love again is well-depicted throughout the story. And the way the both of them slowly bond with Michael Sacks' patrolman is sweet.

When the Poplin's become icons and attain more and more supporters, you can't help but feel that they must be simultaneously the best and the worst parents ever. That also makes the climax feel so much stronger.

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**The Bad:**

People talking on top of each other with Southern accents makes it difficult to follow some conversations.

There's quite a lot of pointless car wrecking and scenes that rehash previous things or otherwise fail to develop the plot somehow. Those make the middle part of the film in particular unnecessarily slow.

Despite a strong beginning and a satisfying conclusion, the script cannot carry the entire two hours satisfyingly and there were times where I felt that I wanted to just skip ahead.

While Goldie Hawn is great, her performance goes somewhat over the top at times and a little bit more on the screamy side.

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**The Ugly:**

Ending two movies in a row with the same shot is extremely lazy, Mr. Spielberg!

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**CAWPINE RATING: 6.71 / 10 = 3,5 stars**

Steven Spielberg's first proper cinema movie has some great photography from Vilmos Zsigmond.

The tone is uncertain. A road movie, a tragic comedy with car pile ups that is based on true facts.

Lou Jean Sparrow Poplin (Goldie Hawn) takes her husband Clovis (William Atherton) out of a minimum security prison just weeks before his eventual release.

All to save their child who has been taken away and ready to put up for adoption. They kidnap a police officer which leads to them being pursued by the police and the media.

Goldie Hawn is spiky as Lou Jean but she is also stupidly impulsive.

A story that needed more work, Spielberg does make an accomplished film.

When "Clovis" (William Atherton) is incarcerated, his wife "Lou Jean" (Goldie Hawn) is facing losing their son to adoption. She's having none of this so decides to spring her husband from jail so they can go collect their bairn and head for Mexico. Things do not go to plan, though, and pretty quickly they are in an hijacked police-car being driven by "Officer Slide" (Michael Sacks). Needless to say, the police - under the shrewd "Capt. Tanner" (Ben Johnson) now up the ante and we are now looking at a chase that involves just about every police vehicle in the country! They are gradually digging themselves deeper with each mile they drive, but equally they begin to befriend their hostage and elicit a degree of sympathy from their pursuer as their predicament starts to tug at heart strings. It's a bit preposterous at times, and is certainly too long - but it does illustrate that Goldie Hawn has a skill - as an actress with a strong narrative to deliver, and as a woman who has expert comedy timing. There is humour here. It doesn't always work and at times is maybe just a little slapstick. It also does introduce and develop some depth to the characters - including Sacks and Johnson - which I found engaging as it trundled along. It's all based on a true story so not too much Steven Spielberg could do with the ending but the journey he takes us along is entertaining enough.