Review of The Sugarland Express (1974) by Harry W — 03 Jan 2014

The Sugarland Express serves as Steven Spielberg's Feature Film directional debut, so anyone in their right mind would not openly miss it.

The Sugarland Express has a tough story to deliver, but with the hands of Steven Spielberg and a sufficiently strong screenplay it succeeds without fail.

The Sugarland Express delivers its story well with some real strong drama and character insight as well as powerful intensity in the atmosphere which ensures that it deals justice to the hard drama of its true story without ever trivialising or commercialising it. And it knows what the true source of all the drama is and conveys that to the audience well, so it's all the viewers really get a ride on The Sugarland Express.

And there is some really great cinematography in The Sugarland Express, because it moves alongside the cars and characters well, but also has a strong ability to change zoom and focus to enhance the atmosphere, particularly in the more dramatic scenes. This really assists the film in landing the neo-noir feel it aims for and enhancing its drama which makes it a grand visual experience.

So The Sugarland Express succeeds as a piece of storytelling and as a visual experience, but it's the cast, in particular the charm of Goldie Hawn which makes it powerful and easy to feel something for.

I've never before seen a film featuring Goldie Hawn, but she is excellent in The Sugarland Express. She maintains a sense of innocence that comes with her sweet young girl appearance, yet at the same time she has a look in her eyes that says its been shattered. And as she develops over the course of the story, a sense of insanity brews within her, and that combined with her attractive young girl appearance makes her quite an interesting character for viewers to follow on with. She even lands a good deal of sex appeal, so Goldie Hawn succeeds in every area in The Sugarland Express.

Ben Johnson and Michael Sacks also do a great job since they exercise a talent for creating strong chemistry between other actors as well as delivering their lines convincingly.

Really, The Sugarland Express shows Steven Spielberg's talents when he was young and on the rise with his focus more oriented in a much simpler drama film than the various blockbusters he is so well known for, and it features some of the beautiful Goldie Hawn's finest work.