Richard Zanuck and David Brown were excited by the script [written by Hal Barwood and Matt Robbins]; however, since Universal were a key part of the production team, they had to consult Wasserman, the head of the both the studio and MCA, its television production wing. Wasserman’s objection is worth considering because it is not only concerned with commercial considerations but also contains serious observations. He told the two producers that the happy era of positive heroes was over as far as American cinema was concerned. He respected [Steven] Spielberg and thought that the script was good, but that they should not delude themselves… It is true, as Spielberg himself affirmed, that the film suffered from comparisons with Malick’s Badlands and Altman’s Thieves Like Us, which were released the same year (Spielberg claimed the reviews were practically interchangeable). It is also true, however, that these three “contemporary” films all possessed very distinctive individual traits; only a superficial critic could lump them all together…
Almost entirely shot on location on the streets of Texas, The Sugarland Express is a road movie, a type of film that was in fashion at the time but whose roots can be traced back to It Happened One Night and Sullivan’s Travels. Nevertheless, both the road and the story constructed around it now carried very different meanings. This was not a fable critiquing contemporary reality, like Easy Rider or Vanishing Point. Sugarland does not make use of a tourist gaze to capture international audiences or crank out a sensationalist tale of American violence, nor does it offer an allegory for contemporary society. To an extent, all of these are true, but in a way that transcends each of them and always – even in its tragic moments – with a healthy dose of irony… Visually, the film is far removed from the picture postcards of Easy Rider. Spielberg has a perfect, refined sense of composition and there is not a trace of semi-documentary aesthetics in this film, even if it can nonetheless be considered a documentary on America.

Franco La Polla, Steven Spielberg, l’Unità-Il Castoro, Milano 1995