Review of The Sugarland Express (1974) by Alex G — 28 May 2012

I sought it out purely because it's an early Spielberg film, and for a theatrical debut (not counting Duel) he does a good job and the movie isn't that bad. It's pretty intense and engaging in the beginning, and throughout the rest of the movie it fades from monotonous to intense until it ends on a downbeat note (rather rare for a Spielberg film).

There's not a whole lot of development or depth to Clovis and LouJean but you can definitely understand and feel their frustration at times with just wanting to get their baby back. I really liked Vilmos Zsigmond's cinematography and I liked John Williams' music.

Not the type of music he became famous for, but it fits and is actually quite catchy. It became monotonous because it did get a little boring just watching them going on a cross country trip because even though Clovis and LouJean and Officer Slide are believable, they're just not that interesting to watch (except for the scene when they're watching the Looney Tunes cartoon).

Overall, the characters are believable; just not that interesting. Some of the stuff in between felt a bit like filler. Would I watch this movie even if Spielberg hadn't directed it? Obviously, it wouldn't be done the way he did it but the story is interesting enough to sit through.

You could definitely tell we had a great director on the horizon.