tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post2906113656852285284..comments2023-11-05T01:59:43.451-08:00Comments on Windmills of My Mind: DAY 5: The Sugarland Express (1974)Damian Arlynhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07937513879456460221noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-38637457726827021342010-04-22T19:03:57.470-07:002010-04-22T19:03:57.470-07:00I love this movie - flaws & all, and thank you...I love this movie - flaws & all, and thank you for the film analysis. Awesome work!<br />I first remember seeing it as a late-nite tv movie in the late 70s. I liked the characters in this - Duel is missing or implying characters. And i never got Spielberg's comment on how he re-watches Duel because 'thats when i got it right'. I couldn't relate to any of Duel's 'characters' - here i can. <br />These characters are pitch-perfect for the movie. Immature & driven by rash thinking and flawed idealism. Just like kids do.<br />***Thank you**** to those who knew these ppl and added the nuggets of truth to the story - I'm so amazed that you found this site as ALL & thankfully commented!! <br />Again, thanks!<br />But like 'The Blindside' where Entertainment Weeky divulged the truth about there being a few families helping the boy & not just the one, etc., I appreciated knowing the real story despite the Hollywood polish...<br />As for me tho, the movie ended truthfully enough, and despite the glorification & sympathy for small-time thieves, etc., the final shots of Hawn & Sacks brought the reality into focus. A powerful ending. I watched it on youtube.com while finding this site, so I'm fresh off watching it!trendyjesusguyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08287414461910090503noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-71454794310627624852010-01-24T16:34:59.797-08:002010-01-24T16:34:59.797-08:00I was born and raised in Hearne, Texas. My daddy w...I was born and raised in Hearne, Texas. My daddy was a local farmer/rancher named James "Squeaky" Fuchs. Our family ranch is called Lazy B Ranch between Black Jack and Wheelock, Texas. Since he had the equipment, daddy bailed hay for other local landowners. He employed the same ranch hands for many years on end. One of these was a small, wirey cowboy named Johnny Holliday/Holiday (I don't recall the correct spelling). Johnny was a friendly man with dark brown eyes and a very noticeable limp who managed to stay on despite the fact that he shot and killed daddy's favorite white horse; said he thought it was a deer.<br /> Sometimes we would ride with daddy and the hay-hands to the different pastures of Robertson County to pick up workers, deliver water coolers and lunch, or move hay and equipment. I remember each time we passed this one particular sharp curve near Wheelock, Daddy and Johnny would gaze out the window at a small frame shack in the middle of a pasture off FM 391 and Daddy would say, "There it is..." and Johnny would nod, "Yep..". <br /> We grew up hearing the story, later called "The Sugarland Express" as recounted many times by daddy and Johnny Holiday. Ila Fae Dent was Johnny Holday's sister. The man that killed her husband was the local Sheriff Elliott who knew the family and figured right when he thought they were heading to this particular house. Johnny said the sheriff was waiting inside, behind the door, and shot Ila's husband when he entered.<br /> The movie is so far off from the details I know. <br /> I remember the house where we used to pick up Johnny was a big two-story, crumbling-down place on the corner of the street behind the railroad tracks behind what is now "Toodie's BBQ" in Hearne, Texas. It is no longer standing and there is a small mobile home there now. This was where Johnny lived with his sister and other family during at least the late 1970's and early 1980's.<br /> Daddy died 16 years ago and the last time I saw Johnny was @ 10 years ago at Pizza Hut on Hwy 6 in Hearne. He looked exactly the same and had the same severe limp. Too bad these old-timer's are dying now, because these local stories are all but forgotten.Amy M. Rileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14029487096698511962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-22006418906667336452008-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:002008-02-03T08:48:00.000-08:00The Dents were scum. In real life a deuty sheriff...The Dents were scum. In real life a deuty sheriff blew the husband away on the porch of the mama's house, which is good. Ila Fae Dent lived, which is a shame. There was no silly flight to Mexico - what crap.<BR/><BR/>This movie is typical of H'wood's "Gee whiz, they maybe be criminal felons who tried to kill police men, but heck, we like them anyway because their sad."<BR/><BR/>Again, what crap. The kidnapped Trooper betrayed his department by assisting that trash and should have had charges filed against him and sent to jail. Additionally, this 'film' was about as realistic as Spielburg's 'Indiana Jones' films. I would have preferred to see E.T. beam down and bite Goldie Hawn's heart out.<BR/><BR/>Look, this turd may have been technically accomplished, but the subject matter was ridiculous and tried to make heroes of trash. But then, immoral scum being canonized in Tinsletown is hardly anything new, is it?Texas Raiderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08231456711947306244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-31154818216976727732007-08-26T19:32:00.000-07:002007-08-26T19:32:00.000-07:00I'm with you, Joe Valdez. I laughed out loud when...I'm with you, Joe Valdez. I laughed out loud when they mentioned putting up that roadblock in Lavaca County, of all places. Wikipedia has it wrong, too. They were never near Port Arthur. They didn't go near Mexico either, as was portrayed in the movie. The chase began in the town of Sugarland, a Houston suburb, wound counter-clockwise around the outskirts of Houston, into east Texas to the town of Dayton, about 50 miles northeast of Houston. From there it turned west to the Navasota area, which is about 75 miles northwest of Houston near Texas A&M, and ended in a small farming community outside Navasota. The whole thing took just several hours, and it covered, about 150 miles. <BR/>More importantly, this movie glorified small-town thugs who repeatedly threatened to kill a highway patrolman, which didn't deserve or receive the accolades and cheering as was portrayed in the movie. Bobby began a life of crime early on and broke the hearts of his parents. Ila was fortunate enough to have been released after a mere five-month sentence to care for her mother and children. She was working for the Holiday Inn in Livingston when she died in 1992. Crone lives in Winnie and his son is a DPS officer. The FBI agent who shot Bobby, Bob Wiatt, was director of University Police at A & M, last I heard. <BR/>Spielberg is cool and all, but as a Texan, I wish he knew what the hell really went on. The movie is a cinematic triumph, but the content doesn't do justice to those who deserved it.Cuz_I'm_The_Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18341160949347171576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-71308731255386125792007-08-08T14:50:00.000-07:002007-08-08T14:50:00.000-07:00Nice detail about Zsigmond's early influence on Sp...Nice detail about Zsigmond's early influence on Spielberg. Love his work in this and Close Encounters (too bad their relationship apparently deteriorated for good during the shooting of the latter).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-39391371253535981102007-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:002007-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00Sugarland Express was actually the last Spielberg ...<I>Sugarland Express</I> was actually the last Spielberg feature film I ever saw (with the exception of <I>Munich</I>). Although I was already a big fan of his by the time I saw it, I had put it off for the longest time because it didn't look to me at all like a typical "Spielberg film," and I wasn't sure I would like it. Although it is, as I say in my piece, a very flawed film, I was pleasantly surprised by how thoroughly I enjoyed and was engaged by it. How I could ever have doubted Spielberg I don't know.Damian Arlynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07937513879456460221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6332525178317601464.post-16131625277789917762007-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:002007-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:00I'm really on the fence with The Sugarland Express...I'm really on the fence with <EM>The Sugarland Express</EM>. As a native Texan, I can't help but ignore how ridiculous the movie's geography is. And I don't like Goldie Hawn and probably never will. <BR/><BR/>I am blown away by what Spielberg was able to accomplish at such a young age with his first feature. He was working with the best possible DP, editor and composer, but the visual panache he displayed here could be the envy of just about any filmmaker. The "downer" ending is also hard not to respect.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com