Amph What was the last movie you saw? (Ver. 2)

The Sugarland Express (1974)
Viewing Experience: DVD



A dim-witted young woman in Texas breaks her (slightly more intelligent) husband out of a pre-release detention facility to help her steal back their baby from a foster home. The naive couple end up stealing a car and kidnapping a Highway Patrolman at gunpoint, leading to a slow motion convoy pursuit by law enforcement across the state. In the process, the two become elevated as local folk heroes.

One of the top two or three most overlooked movies in Spielberg’s filmography (as it lacks the notable hit/flop/awards/actor reputations of his other films, despite being the beginning of his collaboration with John Williams). This was my second viewing of this film, after first having watched it upon its initial DVD release.

Returning to it now, and being more aware of Spielberg’s technique than I was at the time, I’ve come to appreciate it much more than I did initially. And I don’t think you actually need to approach it with that mentally or knowledge to enjoy this one because it’s actually a little charming and holds up rather well. I feel it has actually risen in the ranks of my Spielberg rankings, if only a little.



What struck me the most during this viewing was not only the expected Spielberg touches like backlit character visuals (here, achieved through sunlight reflected off the water) and overlapping dialogue, but also just how many aspects of Spielberg’s future films have their seeds planted here (or, in the case of Duel, carried forward here).

You have the car camera work from Duel as a common thread, yes, but you also get vehicles popping over multiple dirt hills like the bikes in E.T.. A sniper setting up his shot employs the dolly-zoom from Jaws. And there is a sense of excess in the vehicular swarms and crashes that evokes the carnage and over-indulgences of 1941 (but not in a bad way).

I was also very impressed with how many interesting camera shots and movements Steven pulls off inside the limited space of the car. It’s very inventive and helps provide a sense of momentum and energy to something limiting that could have otherwise been either very distant (by being filmed more from the outside) or more static (with less internal movement by the camera).

The story itself has a nice, unique tone to it. There’s definitely a sense of building foreboding to it as things start to become inevitable, but it has a light sense of fun and humor to it in its small moments. It also peppers in some intriguing minor characters who may, for better or for worse, sometimes only exist for a single shot or line (there’s a bit with a wise, old reporter I rather liked).

The cast is pretty uniformly good in their roles. William Atherton, Goldie Hawn and Ben Johnson make the characters believable and human, even if they’re all hoping for things that they may suspect are not going to happen.

It’s a film worth revisiting (or checking out for the first time), if you haven’t done so.

I couldn’t find a lot of screenshots from the movie, unfortunately, but I was amused at the variety of posters made for the film (and ending with the kinda generic DVD cover), besides the one above:

Spoiler

 

Yeah, you're not used to seeing him this young, given that's he's most recognizable from Ghostbusters and Die Hard. which came out a decade+ later.

 

Dirty Harry (1971)
Viewing Experience: Streaming (Prime Video)

(Unfortunately, there are no notable quotes associated with this film )



In an era known for its multitude of films featuring dirty cops comes a film about a cop with “Dirty” in the title… and he’s actually not a dirty cop. Go figure. The character’s nickname has a bit of a Joker spin to it, in that the answer as to what it means changes every time. It could be because he’s racist. Or it could be because he gets all the dirty jobs. Or it could be something else.



The visual look of this film is interesting- very grainy with an era-appropriate muted palette but with bright colors that really pop when present (particularly the daytime sky). And all of that wrapped in very deep, unbroken blacks that approach an almost graphic novel-like quality at times. It also uses a lot of handheld footage, so things are almost always a little shaky and, often, will go to a first person perspective. Though, with all that grain, one kinda hopes that there might be a better restoration out there at some point.



Eastwood, as you would expect, plays the hardass with ease. Meanwhile, the villain of the picture crazy, modern feel to him as well that further plays into the comic book feel- especially later on when he begins enacting more elaborate schemes against the main character.

The film throws in a lot of variety between the initial manhunts to the ransom delivery to the final showdown, as well as an ultimately unnecessary stadium sequence that is probably the film’s only shortcoming. The whole ransom pay phone treasure hunt, however, could pass for a finale in other films. And that leads to a confrontation in the park where they OH **** IT’S GARAK!! I did not know Andrew Robinson was in this! But as soon as he started talking he was instantly recognizable.



The movie deals with the main character in contradicting ways, in regards to the shoot-first-ask-questions-later tough guy cop archetype. It first condemns Harry’s actions by showing the legal problems of circumventing rights and procedures but then goes on to condone and glorify his the-law-isn’t-enough attitude. It feels consistent for the character but it also feels like the film is trying to have it both ways and it loses some nuance it could have otherwise had there.



Due to how much this has been imitated, the film may not lumber over those that have followed. It’s just too familiar in many respects- you’ve seen these character dynamics (especially with the Mayor) on TV a billion times. But, while this one may not stand out as being that special in a modern world saturated with crime dramas and procedurals, but it still holds up rather well and is probably worth checking out.

 

Oh, of course! I knew there had to be one...

 

Andrew Robinson nailed that line. ESPECIALLY the lies.