The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film follows a woman (Goldie Hawn) and her husband (William Atherton) as they take a police officer (Michael Sacks) hostage and flee across Texas while they try to get to their child before he is placed in foster care. The event partially took place – and the film was partially shot – in Sugar Land, Texas. Other scenes were filmed in San Antonio, Live Oak, Floresville, Pleasanton, Converse and Del Rio, Texas.

The Sugarland Express marks the first collaboration between Spielberg and composer John Williams, who has scored all but five of Spielberg's films since. Although Williams re-recorded the main theme with Toots Thielemans and the Boston Pops Orchestra for 1991's The Spielberg/Williams Collaboration, the score was not released as an album until June 15, 2024, coinciding with the film's 50th anniversary.

The film premiered at the New Directors/New Films Festival on March 29, 1974, and was released theatrically in New York City on March 31, 1974, followed by a year-long worldwide theatrical rollout. The film bombed at the box office; however, it received positive reviews from critics, who praised Hawn's performance, Spielberg's direction and the cinematography.