The Sugarland Express poster

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Directed by Steven Spielberg · Crime, Drama

Starring Goldie Hawn, William Atherton, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, Gregory Walcott, Steve Kanaly, Louise Latham, Harrison Zanuck, A.L. Camp, Jessie Lee Fulton, Dean Smith, Ted Grossman, Bill Thurman, Ken Hudgins, Buster Daniels, James N. Harrell, Frank Steggall, Roger Ernest, Guich Koock, Merrill Connally, Gene Rader, Gordon Hurst, George Hagy, Big John Hamilton, Kenneth Crone, Charles Conaway, Robert Golden, Rudy Robbins, Charlie Dobbs, Gene Lively, John L. Quinlan III, Bill Scott, Ralph E. Horwedel, Edwin 'Frog' Isbell, James Robert Allen, Marianna Clore Blase, Richard Bright, Dean Jones, Al Evans, Harvey Christiansen

IHBM6 IMDb6.8 RT87% MC65 Trakt67% TMDb6.6Not bad

Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.

My review · Reviewed 07/15/2026

Goldie Hawn is obviously the best thing about this movie, but even she couldn't elevate this slow-speed car chase to be anything more than that. The movie needed something else to hang its hat on to be something other than just "ok".