Movie Reviews by Edwin Jahiel

THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (1974)

Steven Spielberg's debut in movie features, at age 26 (after he had made TV films) is a tale of human road runners. Goldie Hawn (literally hysterical) and husband William Atherton (malleable and obedient), whose family values are questioned by the law, kidnap their own child from a foster home, take a highway cop (Michael Sacks) hostage, and are pursued up hill and down dale by what looks like all the patrol cars in Texas, especially as compressed by Vilmos Zsigmond's lenses in his color cameras. Unusual, single-idea, cartoonish road movie has feverish action. Though based on a a true incident (in 1968 Texas) the film is given an absurdist, surreal treatment. Amusing, but, unlike most of later Spielberg -- with the notable exception of "Schindler's List"-- also sad. Must be seen letterboxed, in its original wide-screen format, the way AMC showed it in 1992. Otherwise (and I cannot tell what TNT will do) wait for another AMC screening. (Edwin Jahiel)