The Sugarland Express

A woman who wants her husband out of prison so they can take back the baby placed with foster parents takes a police officer hostage on the road. Dozens of cars fall in behind them. The film treats the chase not as suspense but as something turning into a spectacle: reporters arrive, whole towns come out to the roadside to cheer, and the hostage becomes friends with the couple. The narrative also keeps reminding you how this must end. It is Steven Spielberg's first film made for cinemas. Goldie Hawn leads, with Vilmos Zsigmond as cinematographer and a score by John Williams. It draws on a real case. Who it's for: those who like the American road films of the nineteen-seventies. Who it's not for: viewers expecting a light escape comedy; it ends hard.