4K Blu-Ray: The Sugarland Express

The Film

Based on the wild true story that took place in Texas in the early 70s, The Sugarland Express is Steven Spielberg's take on what could have been a tawdry, ripped-from-the-headlines affair. Instead, the then-young filmmaker turns it into a delicate but thrilling portrait of losers trying to make a difference the only way they know how.

Goldie Hawn is a revelation in lead, balancing the naivety and stupidity of a child with the instincts of a mother she doesn't fully comprehend. Her child is now in the system, living with another family where, frankly, he seems better off than with her. Yet Hawn's young delinquent refuses to accept reality, and, after breaking her beau (William Atherton) from prison, sets off on a long trip across the state to see her child one last time.

What will they do when they find him? They don't know, and it's not like any of this was thought out to begin with. Instead, there's a desperate, almost folk-hero quality to their shortsightedness. Whatever happens, it happens because screw The Man, or whoever gets in their way.

Spielberg keeps the tension ramped up from the very beginning and never eases up until the bittersweet finale we can see coming a mile away. His use of enclosed spaces, smart camera movements, and his innate ability to direct actors makes the long getaway consistently engaging. Even when we're stuck in the car, he crafts a small cosmos of the cramped interior. It's no wonder he went on to great things. For others, The Sugarland Express would be a feather in their cap of a long career. For Spielberg, it was a warmup act.

Technical Specs & Presentation

The Nordic release of The Sugarland Express comes on a single 4K UHD disc. In other territories, the release is split between the 4K and a Blu-Ray disc for bonus features. The only included extra is a featurette about the restoration, which feels like a major whiff considering the importance of the release.

The Nordic release cuts down on languages and subtitles from other regions as well. It's not a massive loss, considering the other releases only include mono mixes instead of upscaled or cleaned up ones. So you're still only getting the best available.

Video

The Sugarland Express has never looked better. Originally shot in 35mm film, the 4K restoration is in native 2160p format with all the beautiful grain still in the image. Sadly, it appears there's AI trickery used in this one, like the Aliens release, but it's luckily not as bad here.

Most notably you can see the AI induced blur and oddities in big landscape shots that feature text in the background. Look at gas stations and store signs and you'll see the storefronts become garbled and oddly sharpened. It could be because of lens distortion, but I've never seen anything like it before in other restorations. It's a shame that studios are taking these shortcuts on their most iconic, classic properties. It doesn't benefit anyone and only hurts the original release.

That said, for the most part The Sugarland Express looks diving. Colors pop, skin tones are accurate, and it looks as if it was shot yesterday, not almost 50 years ago. For Spielberg fans, it's the best release we've got of the film to date.

Audio

This is a mixed bag. On one hand, it's great that The Sugarland Express has a modern, subtle, and often exquisite 5.1 audio mix that really livens up the picture. On the other hand, I grew up with the original Mono sound mix found on the DVD and Blu-Ray, and while that one was never perfect, it sounded very different from how the film sounds now.

So, in a way, this kind of preservation takes away from the original by not including it even as an option for audiences. Purists will likely scoff at the omission and cling to their original Blu-Ray copies even harder.

For everyone else, well, it does sound great. It's hard to deny that this is a fine mix with plenty of detail, none of which feels artificial. In fact, there's a fantastic example of how to do these new mixes well in the scene where the townsfolk crowd around the car just before the climactic chase sequence.

It's a loud and chaotic moment, one that could easily become a muddled mess in lesser hands. Instead, it sounds like we're at the center of the action, with plenty of fine detail from the hands hitting the car, the people shouting at the protagonists, and the low roar of the engine as it tries to wade through the crowd. Good stuff all around.

Extras

The sole bonus material is a featurette on the restoration process that, while intriguing, is so short and superficial we don't really get anything new out of it. Lots of talk about how important the film is, which feels incongruous considering how little extra this release includes. There's also no talk about AI use in the process, which is a shame, considering studios will push the application into everything but not explain their reasoning behind it.

At 20 minutes, it's a decent enough little addition, and Spielberg movies have always had disappointing extras. So, in that sense, it's more of the same. But goodness if this wouldn't benefit from a proper retrospective documentary, especially now when most of the cast and filmmakers are still here to tell us about it.

Overall

The Sugarland Express may not be my favorite Spielberg film, but even a lesser outing from the master is better than the best from other filmmakers. Here, his love for oddball characters and desperate runs from the establishment are in fine form, and you can see where the foundations lie for future stories like Catch Me If You Can and even Bridge of Spies.

The 4K UHD is a mixed effort, with great visuals and sound, both marred by AI and the lack of options that previous editions included. While it's good to see this classic restored (and it does look great!), it feels like a step back in film preservation in terms of how the studio has approached the finished release.

If you're a Spielberg fan, or if you've never seen The Sugarland Express before, you owe it to yourself to see it in 4K. It really does make a difference, and short of seeing it in cinemas, this is as close to perfect as you can get. At least for now.