The Sugarland Express is a 1974 American drama film starring Goldie Hawn and William Atherton. It is the first theatrical feature film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a true story. The event partially took place, the story is partially set, and the movie was partially filmed in Sugar Land, Texas.
Other scenes for the film were filmed in Lone Oak Community, Floresville, Pleasanton, Converse and Del Rio, Texas.
In May 1969, Ila Fae Dent assisted her husband Robert Dent escape from the Beauford H. Jester prison farm in Texas, because she feared their son will be placed in the care of her mother. During their flight, they overpowered and kidnapped Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Kenneth Crone, holding him hostage in a slow-moving caravan, along with reporters in news vans and helicopters. The Dents and Crone travelled through Port Arthur, Houston, Navasota, and finally Wheelock, Texas. In contrast to the film the events took only several hours.
The Dents brought Crone to the home of Ila Fae's mother, where they encountered numerous officers. An FBI agent and county sheriff shot and killed Robert Dent, and later arrested Ila Fae. Trooper Crone was unharmed. Ila Fae spent five months in a women's correctional facility, and later died in 1992. Crone was an advisor on the film and had a small role as a deputy sheriff.
The promoters of the film played up the grassroots support that existed for a mother trying to claim custody of her child.
Some posters used the tagline:
A girl with a great following
Every cop in the state was after her.
Everybody else was behind her.
For the DVD release, the first line was dropped.
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