The Sugarland Express
“A girl with a great following. Every cop in the state was after her. Everybody else was behind her.”
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
Genres
Crime, Drama
Studio
Universal Pictures
Language
en
Status
Released
How The Sugarland Express performed
Budget
$3.0M
Worldwide Gross
$12.8M
Gross Profit
$9.8M
Return
4.3× budget
Opening Wknd (est.)
$2M
Source: TMDB. Domestic/international split (~48/52, genre-typical) and the opening-weekend figure (35% of the domestic run, typical for Crime) are MoviesRankd estimates. Profit is gross revenue minus production budget and excludes marketing — studios typically need ~2–2.5× budget to break even.
Where to Watch
Cast
Lou Jean Poplin
Goldie Hawn
Lou Jean Poplin
Clovis Poplin
William Atherton
Clovis Poplin
Captain Tanner
Ben Johnson
Captain Tanner
Slide
Michael Sacks
Slide
Mashburn
Gregory Walcott
Mashburn
Jessup
Steve Kanaly
Jessup
Mrs. Looby
Louise Latham
Mrs. Looby
Baby Langston
Harrison Zanuck
Baby Langston
Mr. Nocker
A.L. Camp
Mr. Nocker
Mrs. Nocker
Jessie Lee Fulton
Mrs. Nocker
Russ Berry
Dean Smith
Russ Berry
Dietz
Ted Grossman
Dietz
If you liked The Sugarland Express
Midnight Special
2016
A Perfect World
1993
John Q
2002
News of the World
2020
Frontera
2014
Fire in the Sky
1993