365+ movies in 365 days: Day 45 -The Sugarland Express

Today I started a Steven Spielberg film retrospective and the first film viewed was his theatrical debut The Sugarland Express. The film starred Goldie Hawn as a Texas mother who convinces her husband, played by William Atherton, to break out of minimum security prison so they can retrieve their child who has been put in a foster home. In order to evade capture they kidnap a Texas trooper and lead a pursuit of Texas law officers across the state. Ben Johnson stars as Captain Tanner, the Texas Trooper who leads the pursuit, and attempts to get the pair to give themselves up before things get out of control.

Everything that makes up a great Spielberg film is present in this debut film. The cinematography, editing and music cues. The careful use of lighting. The sense of place and time, and an authentic feel to the setting and people. The attention to small details, such as a man rooting around his garage because his son took his axillary police lights and put them on his bike. He carefully builds the tension and then provides a little relief with deft comic moments. You can see his skill at handling crowd scenes and complicated car chases, utilizing unique camera angles. There is a shot from the interior of Ben Johnson's car looking out the windshield into the rear window of Goldie Hawn's car. He capture both Hawn in the rear window and Ben Johnson's reflection in the rear view mirror, both in sharp focus, giving a look into the thoughts of each character, she is in over her head and he knows this will end badly. As a new director he works with two seasoned actors, Hawn and Johnson, and he gets great performances out of them and the rest of the cast.

This was the first collaboration with composer John Williams and Spielberg has worked with Williams on every film since, except The Color Purple and his segment of Twilight Zone:The Movie

Unique to this Spielberg film is the down beat ending. It was not uncommon for movies in the 70's to have films that ended on a negative note. Think of films like Bonnie & Clyde or Cool Hand Luke, this changed with the advent of the summer blockbuster and the business men taking over the studios from the artist. These days, even though the film was based on a real incident, the ending would be changed to be upbeat and positive. This movie could not be made, as it is, in Hollywood today.

At The Movie House rating ***1/2 stars