Sugarland Express
Steven Spielberg's first feature is a chase caper with Goldie Hawn playing the resourceful young mother who helps - no, forces - her husband to escape from jail so that they might retrieve their child from involuntary adoption. It is no surprise that Spielberg's heroes identify with a Road Runner cartoon they watch at the drive-in: like the ingenious bird, they out-wit and out-trap an entire state police force, and take a certain pleasure and snide pride in doing so. But Spielberg takes the desperate run behind the American road culture - the unacknowledged core of the cartoon - to a conclusion that is the sum of its violent parts, and isn't funny. Spielberg's command of action is already remarkable and, together with photographer Vilmos Zsigmond, he achieves a stunning, ironic and beautiful vision of America on the road.