Taglines: A girl with a great following.
The Sugarland Express movie storyline. In Texas, Lou Jean Poplin has just completed an eight month sentence for petty crimes committed. Her husband, Clovis Poplin, is in minimum security pre-release remand, where he is serving the remaining four months of a one year sentence also for petty crimes committed. Albeit by threatening means, Lou Jean convinces Clovis to break out of remand.
The reason?: child welfare services have awarded permanent custody of their infant son Langston to his foster parents who live in Sugarland, Texas. Lou Jean vows to get Langston back by whatever means, and she needs Clovis’ help. Early on in Clovis’ escape, they take highway patrolman Matthew Slide hostage in his patrol car, he who is to drive them to Sugarland.
Captain Harlin Tanner, who is leading the pursuit of the Poplins, sees that the Poplins are basically decent but misguided kids who in their current mission have committed some serious crimes, all which he takes into account when deciding on the appropriate course of action to end the pursuit while trying to protect Slide. But the case takes on a life of its own when the story hits the airwaves, with every Texan having his or her own very strong opinion on the Poplins, what they are doing and how best to help or hinder their mission.
The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American crime drama film co-written and directed by Steven Spielberg in his theatrical feature directorial debut. It stars Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, and Michael Sacks. It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a real-life incident. In the movie, a woman and her husband take a police officer hostage and flee across the United States, as they try to get to their child before he is placed in foster care. The event partially took place, the story is partially set, and the movie was partially filmed in Sugar Land, Texas.[citation needed] Other scenes for the film were filmed in San Antonio, Live Oak, Floresville, Pleasanton, Converse and Del Rio, Texas.[citation needed]
The Sugarland Express marks the first collaboration between Spielberg and composer John Williams. Williams has scored all but five of Spielberg-directed films since (Twilight Zone: The Movie, The Color Purple, Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One and West Side Story being the only exceptions); this is the only score he has composed for Spielberg that has never been released as an album, although Williams re-recorded the main theme with Toots Thielemans and the Boston Pops Orchestra for 1991’s The Spielberg / Williams Collaboration.
About the Story
In May 1969, Lou Jean Poplin visits her husband, Clovis Michael Poplin, to tell him that their son will soon be placed in the care of foster parents. Even though he is four months away from release from the prison in Texas, she convinces him to escape to assist her in retrieving her child. They hitch a ride from the prison with a couple, but when Texas Department of Public Safety Patrolman Maxwell Slide stops the car, they take the car and run.
When the car crashes, the two felons overpower and kidnap Slide, holding him hostage in a slow-moving caravan, eventually including helicopters and news vans. The Poplins and Slide travel through Beaumont, Dayton, Houston, Cleveland, Conroe and finally Wheelock, Texas. By holding Slide hostage, the pair are able to continually gas up their car, as well as get food via the drive-through. Eventually, Slide and the pair bond and have mutual respect for one another.
The Poplins bring Slide to the home of the foster parents, where they encounter numerous officers, including the DPS Captain who has been pursuing them, Captain Harlin Tanner. A pair of Texas Rangers shoot and kill Clovis and the Texas Department of Public Safety arrests Lou Jean. Patrolman Slide is found unharmed. Lou Jean spends fifteen months of a five-year prison term in a women’s correctional facility. Upon getting out, she obtains the right to live with her son, convincing authorities that she is able to do so.
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, Michael Sacks, Louise Latham, Gregory Walcott, Steve Kanaly, Harrison Zanuck, Jessie Lee Fulton, Dean Smith, Bill Thurman, Buster Daniels
Screenplay by: Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins
Cinematography by: Vilmos Zsigmond
Film Editing by: Edward M. Abroms, Verna Fields
Art Direction by: Joe Alves
Makeup Department: Del Armstrong, Susan Germaine
Music by: John Williams
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: March 30, 1974 (New York City)
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