The Sugarland Express (1974) Review

https://youtu.be/JLSQBAXIKtk?is=f2anWTWMKTL6wO-W

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

Sometimes, the fight for love can be done in more ways than one.


PLOT


The Sugarland Express begins in 1969 Texas, following a young lady named Lou Jean be freshly released following a sentence for petty latency. She visits her husband Clovis Michael Poplin who is only months away from wrapping up his same sentence to tell him their infant son Langston is about to be in permanent foster care. Not wanting to lose him for good, Lou Jean breaks Clovis out of prison and hitchhikes with a couple until having to hold hostage an inexperienced patrolman, named Maxwell Slide. This leads to a lengthy chase of many cop cars and news vans following them as they travel from Beaumont to all the way to Wheelock; the pursuit is led by Captain Tanner who was alerted of the couple’s actions in the middle of a Houston court hearing. Although he sympathizes with what they’re doing, he still believes they need to be stopped. With Slide as hostage, the Poplins are able to make stops for gas and surprisingly het provided food by locals who are in awe of their journey to retrieve their baby. As the pursuit goes on does Slide respect them too for what they’re doing. Around the time they stop at a used car lot next door to a drive in theater does Tanner get to Lou Jean’s father who makes a statement on the police radio hoping to convince his daughter to turn herself in, but instead lets his ignorance get to him claiming he’d shoot her and her husband if he had the chance, knowing god would get to her soon enough. Just as Slide hears this on the radio does the trio get attacked by leftists who spot them. Tanner gets wind of it and has the vigilantes arrested, but still lands on arresting the couple. Knowing that they’re getting closer to the city of Sugarland where Langston lives with his foster parents, the captain instructs them to hide in a downtown shelter while sharpshooters hide in the house to shoot them down. Lou Jean pushes Clovis to go get their son once they reach the house, but the latter’s worries come true when he gets shot down as he gets shot from behind and after one last chase does Lou Jean surrender at a lake. When the chase concludes, Slide tells Tanner they were never gonna shoot him as he gets his gun back. The film would end in an epilogue revealing that after a 14 year sentence did Lou Jean convince authorities she was fit to raise Langston and both Slide & Tanner continued to work with Texas Department of Public Safety long after.


THOUGHTS


This is the theatric debut of Steven Spielberg following his success on television from the early 70s. Needless to say, he has not disappointed since. From every second that passes, this was an unusual adventure for the better because this isn’t about personal glory, greed, nor is it a search for uncovering a mystery. This is just a family trying to reunite and it goes off the hinges. While this would be the first time Spielberg would begin his longtime relationship with composer John Williams who provides the right amount of exhilaration and empathy upon each track, the cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond is what keeps me onboard as each scene puts me on the edge of my seat. You don’t see a lot of cop car pileups like this and the ones shown here are crazy. Even seeing Slide’s car pass on to a tight bridge before reaching the lake gave me chills because it truly felt like the chase would never end. With such intensity ensuing, you’re gonna expect some shootouts to go with it and all of which are well edited by both Verna Fields & Edward M Abroms. With such elaborateness that unfolds, you’re gonna end up wondering what is the whole point of this journey? While showing firsthand good intentions don’t justify recklessness, it also shows family love goes a long way. With breakout performances from the pair of Goldie Hawn & William Atherton, we see from Lou Jean & Clovis that they know they’re flawed but they don’t want that to stop them from loving their son. The fact Clovis is willing to break out just to see him one more time proves how much he cares, apart from Lou Jean choosing to hijack a car that leads to holding a cop hostage. They are not Bonnie & Clyde where they enjoying wreaking havoc, they’re just trying to maintain what’s left of their family and choose to do what they think is the absolute to get that. At first it was impulsiveness that brought them together but this time, their son is what makes them want to be better people than they tend to be. In my eye, the fact the public became in awe of their actions does back why the court eventually came around for Lou Jean to have a second chance of parenthood as they saw how far she was willing to go to show unconditional love she has for her son. Sadly, it took such unprepared loss for her to have that chance. The fact she still got to have her son back does back the case Clovis’ death wasn’t in vein and whatever happens to Langston as an adult, I’m sure he’ll remember fondly what was done to be where he is. Although the public were impressed with what the baby’s parents did for him, there were only two that respected them most firsthand. Inspired by real life Kenneth Crone who was held hostage by a criminal couple, Michael Sacks has you be impressed with Slide because he grows to be quite reasonable the longer he’s with the Poplins and gets where they’re coming from, hence not really trying to escape. On the other hand, Ben Johnson showed Captain Tanner as the more grounded one since he too gets the motive but can’t condone it, hence trying to meet him halfway in not wanting to kill them immediately. He gives Slide his gun back because he knew he did his best in his predicament. They still stood by their line of works because they still trusted the system and it was proven when Lou Jean still got what she wanted after everything. I don’t know about the captain, but I’d like to believe Slide would try to keep in touch out of respect to the father who loved just as much as the mother. In short, The Sugarland Express is an adventure that says more than what people are paying attention to and if those are the kind of films you prefer, see this now.