Post by erik on Mar 8, 2024 23:13:14 GMT -5
Quote by Captain Harlan Tanner (Ben Johnson) to one of his fellow Texas law officers in THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS:
Having proven himself as a director of TV projects, including the frighteningly memorable 1971 psychological thriller DUEL, Steven Spielberg made an impressive big-screen directing debut with a strikingly dark crime drama based on a real-life incident that happened in Texas in 1969. That film was THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS; and although the fact that it was a "downer" according to Lew Wasserman, then the CEO of Universal Studios, where Spielberg was employed, meant that it was only a moderate hit when it came out fifty years ago, in April 1974, it nevertheless continued some of the "road movie" aspects of DUEL, and it showed Spielberg capable of doing tragedy, belying what a lot of what people would come to think of him.
Goldie Hawn and William Atherton portray a desperate married pair of ex-cons who end up kidnapping a Texas state patrol officer (Michael Sachs) to take them to Sugarland so that they may get their infant son back from a foster home there. But their actions, which involved breaking every state law plus the federal charge of kidnapping, attract not only the whole of the law enforcement community in the Lone Star State, but also a few right-wing gun nuts as well, all of which have to be controlled by Sachs' superior officer, Captain Harlan Tanner, portrayed very convincingly by veteran character actor Ben Johnson (a familiar face in the Westerns of John Ford and Sam Pekcinpah. It becomes a very drawn-out chase that finally concludes with tragic results at the banks of the Rio Grande.
Shot entirely on location in Texas, THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS is a truly impressive film, made by Spielberg on a very modest budget of $2.5 million, and with a good feel for the wide-open spaces of Texas, and, in a much darker way, the state's penchant for shoot-first-ask-questions-later when it comes to "law enforcement", though Johnson's character tries his damnedest to not use violence. Hawn, though she had already won an Oscar in 1969 for CACTUS FLOWER, was still trying to shake off the 'dumb blonde" persona she had on TV's Laugh-In; and she managed to do it here. The film is also noted for a decidedly Americana-type music score by John Williams (the first of dozens he'd do for Spielberg), and the decidedly overcast look in the cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, who'd win an Oscar in 1977 for his work on Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.
For all the reputation he has had as being someone who can only direct high-concept action involving UFO's, dinosaurs, and lost arks, THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS did show that Spielberg could very easily do genuine human drama and tragedy, as would be borne out in later decades by SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and WEST SIDE STORY. It may be a "downer", but it is still a compelling first-time offering from a director who would forever reshape the way cinema works, and show his ability to veer between the artistic and the crowd-pleasing with more aplomb than any director alive.
"Aw shoot, they ain't nothin' but a couple of kids."
Having proven himself as a director of TV projects, including the frighteningly memorable 1971 psychological thriller DUEL, Steven Spielberg made an impressive big-screen directing debut with a strikingly dark crime drama based on a real-life incident that happened in Texas in 1969. That film was THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS; and although the fact that it was a "downer" according to Lew Wasserman, then the CEO of Universal Studios, where Spielberg was employed, meant that it was only a moderate hit when it came out fifty years ago, in April 1974, it nevertheless continued some of the "road movie" aspects of DUEL, and it showed Spielberg capable of doing tragedy, belying what a lot of what people would come to think of him.
Goldie Hawn and William Atherton portray a desperate married pair of ex-cons who end up kidnapping a Texas state patrol officer (Michael Sachs) to take them to Sugarland so that they may get their infant son back from a foster home there. But their actions, which involved breaking every state law plus the federal charge of kidnapping, attract not only the whole of the law enforcement community in the Lone Star State, but also a few right-wing gun nuts as well, all of which have to be controlled by Sachs' superior officer, Captain Harlan Tanner, portrayed very convincingly by veteran character actor Ben Johnson (a familiar face in the Westerns of John Ford and Sam Pekcinpah. It becomes a very drawn-out chase that finally concludes with tragic results at the banks of the Rio Grande.
Shot entirely on location in Texas, THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS is a truly impressive film, made by Spielberg on a very modest budget of $2.5 million, and with a good feel for the wide-open spaces of Texas, and, in a much darker way, the state's penchant for shoot-first-ask-questions-later when it comes to "law enforcement", though Johnson's character tries his damnedest to not use violence. Hawn, though she had already won an Oscar in 1969 for CACTUS FLOWER, was still trying to shake off the 'dumb blonde" persona she had on TV's Laugh-In; and she managed to do it here. The film is also noted for a decidedly Americana-type music score by John Williams (the first of dozens he'd do for Spielberg), and the decidedly overcast look in the cinematography of Vilmos Zsigmond, who'd win an Oscar in 1977 for his work on Spielberg's CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND.
For all the reputation he has had as being someone who can only direct high-concept action involving UFO's, dinosaurs, and lost arks, THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS did show that Spielberg could very easily do genuine human drama and tragedy, as would be borne out in later decades by SCHINDLER'S LIST, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, and WEST SIDE STORY. It may be a "downer", but it is still a compelling first-time offering from a director who would forever reshape the way cinema works, and show his ability to veer between the artistic and the crowd-pleasing with more aplomb than any director alive.