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"The Sugar Land Express" also was the nickname of the American football player Kenneth Hall.

The Sugarland Express
original film poster
Directed by	Steven Spielberg
Produced by	David Brown Richard D. Zanuck
Written by	Story: Steven Spielberg Hal Barwood Matthew Robbins Screenplay: Hal Barwood Matthew Robbins
Starring	Goldie Hawn Ben Johnson William Atherton
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Editing by	Edward M. Abroms Verna Fields
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	April 5, 1974 (USA)
Running time	110 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American drama film starring Goldie Hawn and William Atherton. It is the first theatrical feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a true story. 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 Lone Oak Community, Floresville, Pleasanton, Converse and Del Rio, Texas.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Real Event

In May 1969, Ila Fae Dent assisted her husband Robert Dent escape from the Beauford H. Jester prison farm in Texas, because she feared their son will be placed in the care of her mother. During their flight, they overpowered and kidnapped Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Kenneth Crone, holding him hostage in a slow-moving caravan, along with reporters in news vans and helicopters. The Dents and Crone travelled through Port Arthur, Houston, Navasota, and finally Wheelock, Texas. In contrast to the film the events took only several hours.

The Dents brought Crone to the home of Ila Fae's mother, where they encountered numerous officers. An FBI agent and county sheriff shot and killed Robert Dent, and later arrested Ila Fae. Trooper Crone was unharmed. Ila Fae spent five months in a women's correctional facility, and later died in 1992. Crone was an advisor on the film and had a small role as a deputy sheriff.

[edit] Cast

• Goldie Hawn - Lou Jean Poplin
• Ben Johnson - Captain Harlin Tanner
• Michael Sacks - Patrolman Maxwell Slide
• William Atherton - Clovis Michael Poplin
• Gregory Walcott - Patrolman Ernie Mashburn
• Steve Kanaly - Patrolman Jessup
• Louise Latham - Mrs. Looby
• Harrison Zanuck - Baby Langston Poplin
• A. L. Camp - Mr. Alvin T. Nocker
• Jessie Lee Fulton - Mrs. Nocker
• Dean Smith - Russ Berry
• Ted Grossman - Dietz
• Bill Thurman - Hunter
• Kenneth Hudgins - Standby
• Buster Daniels - Drunk
• George Hagy - Mr. Sparrow

[edit] Film promotion

The promoters of the film played up the grassroots support that existed for a mother trying to claim custody of her child. Some posters used the tagline:

A girl with a great following
Every cop in the state was after her.
Everybody else was behind her.

For the DVD release, the first line was dropped.

[edit] Awards

The film won the award for Best Screenplay at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

[edit] Trivia

Goldie Hawn, lobbycard for The Sugarland Express.

• The pre-release facility is located in the Jester III Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice - Institutional Division, in present-day northwestern part of Sugar Land, Texas and no where near the Mexican Border as depicted in the movie.
• Every Spielberg film from this one on has been scored by John Williams, except The Color Purple, and Spielberg's segment for Twilight Zone: The Movie.
• The female dispatcher's voice in the movie saying "2311 Houston...2311 Houston...Houston Pierce", was an actual employee of the DPS.
• Patrolman Slide's DPS cruiser is a 1973 Dodge Polara. After filming was completed, Spielberg purchased the vehicle, and drove it as his daily driver for a short period of time - bullet holes and all.

[edit] Notes

Jester 3 is not the pre - release unit. It's the Jester 2 unit which is now the Carol Vance unit that is the pre - release unit that it took place in. It is located in Richmond Texas, 5 minutes away from Sugarland Texas.

[edit] References

• "The Sugarland Express Gang", Texas Monthly, September 1, 2001

[edit] External links

• The Sugarland Express at the Internet Movie Database
• The Sugarland Express at Allmovie