The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express (1974)

Timing: 1:50 (110 min)

6.58/10
364

6.925/10
3743

6.7/10
18660

All about film

Video 2

Photo 19

Actors and characters

Release date

1974-04-05

Country

United States

Production

Universal Pictures, Zanuck/Brown Productions

Genre

Crime, Drama

Budget

$3 000 000

Revenue

$12 800 000

Website

Director

Steven Spielberg

Actors

Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, Michael Sacks, William Atherton, Gregory Walcott, Steve Kanaly, Louise Latham, Harrison Zanuck, A.L. Camp, Jessie Lee Fulton
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown

Operator

Vilmos Zsigmond

Composer

John Williams

Artist

Audition

Mike Fenton, Shari Rhodes

Editing

Verna Fields, Edward M. Abroms
All team (42)

• Steven Spielberg's filming crew was consulted by a direct participant in the events – patrolman Kenneth Crown, who was held hostage by the Dent gang.
• The film was shot on location in Texas – in Del Rio, Floresville, Pleasanton, San Antonio, and on the grounds of the Jester Prison in Sugarland.
• Steven Spielberg faced the challenge of somehow combining Goldie Hawn's acting style with William Atherton's performance. Atherton was an experienced actor with stage training, so he improved with each take in every scene. As for Hawn, she performed best in the first two takes, although if a scene required 12 or more takes, the actress would find a 'second wind.' Spielberg concluded that he needed to start with close-ups of her. He would then film Atherton in close-up until Hawn began to 'recover,' and then he would start filming them both.
• During filming, Steven Spielberg and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (1930-2016) had breakfast together every morning and discussed the upcoming shooting. They had agreed in advance that the film should give the impression of being a documentary, so they watched documentaries at night to better understand the nature of the problems they would face on set and how to solve them. Zsigmond's fondness for shooting in natural light was very helpful.
• Many minor roles in the film were filled by local residents who had no acting education or experience. At the very least, this saved the filmmakers budget money.
• Stunt coordinator Carey Loftin (1914-1997) brought the best stunt drivers from all over Hollywood to the set to ensure that the filming of the car crashes would be carried out without casualties. The most challenging was the nighttime shoot of a scene in which a police car crashes into the side of a stolen police car, then another car crashes into the first police car, followed by impacts into several other cars one after another. There was no lighting at the intersection where the filming took place, so a tractor rental set was constructed, and 200 light bulbs were hung over it. These, along with a nearby gas station, provided enough light for Vilmos Zsigmond to film. Steven Spielberg then held a full rehearsal of the scene, but without the car collisions, because there was no money in the budget for additional vehicles. They then began filming the actual stunt, using 4 cameras simultaneously. Loftin himself drove the car that hit the stolen police car on the side, and he succeeded on the first attempt.
• Preparation for filming scenes on the highway took an hour and a half. First, the police had to stop or redirect traffic within 3 kilometers of the filming location. After each take, the vehicles involved in the filming were transported back to where the take began, while the police allowed the cars stuck in traffic to pass.
• The film is based on events from May 1959, when a married couple kidnapped a police officer and went on a chase in his patrol car in an attempt to escape the police. At one point, over 150 police cars and vehicles with reporters were in pursuit. Eventually, FBI agent Bob Wyatt (who retired in 2004) shot the man and arrested the woman.