Young mother Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) hatches an elaborate escape plot to break her husband Clovis (William Atherton) out of the pre-release facility he is in, having served nearly all of his twelve-month prison sentence for larceny.
The two of them go on the run, trying to get to Sugarland, the town where their infant son lives with his foster parents. Having been deemed by the court to be an unfit mother, Lou Jean plans to kidnap their son back to prove them wrong.
Following a severe case of mistaken intentions, they take a police officer named Maxwell Slide (Michael Sacks) captive, and force him to drive them to Sugarland.
This brings about a massive manhunt/car-chase sequence that lasts for most of the rest of the film, led by Captain Tanner (Ben Johnson).
As with practically every single one of Spielberg’s movies, this film is scored by John Williams. However, it’s not your typical Williams score, if there is such a thing. The music of this film is very different, very uniquely Texas (the state where the film is set), and very sparse as well. It works very well in my opinion, allowing the comedy to come through loud and clear, leaving the music to the background.
The comedy is the main feature of this film, with a very clever script written by Hal Barwood & Matthew Robbins. The characters are all very well developed, with plenty of backstory and existing connections. The majority of the comedy comes not from witty dialogue and numerous jokes, however, but from the actions the characters (in particular Clovis and Lou Jean) take as things continue to escalate as the film goes on. It feels very similar to a film like, say, The Gods Must Be Crazy, where things just keep getting worse and worse, and the laughs coming more and more frequently, until the final resolution (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you).
The other thing I want to mention is the tight editing of this film, by editors Edward M. Abroms & Verna Fields. The pacing of the film is very quick, particularly in the higher-energy chase sections, and the editing of the film throughout is perfectly matched to the level of tension. We have a lot of longer shots as the film opens, and each shot becomes shorter and shorter in duration as things pick up. I realise this is a very simple description of exactly the effect that film editing consists of, but the editing is particularly impressive in this film. I wouldn’t say this of every film that is fast-paced, though, but here it is a key element of the action, and particularly of the comedy.
Spielberg demonstrates clearly with this film that he is not only a master of serious dramatic movies, but also has a keen sense of comic timing. I suppose he is just an all around cinematic genius. I am yet to see a Spielberg film I haven’t enjoyed.
8 out of 10.
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