The Sugarland Express

The Sugarland Express is a 1974 film starring Goldie Hawn. The movie was filmed and also takes place in Sugar Land, Texas. It is the second feature length film directed by Steven Spielberg. It is about a husband and wife trying to outrun the law and was based on a true story.

Background

In 1969, Ila Fae Dent helped her husband Robert escape from a Texas pre-release prison facility, the same one where the movie was filmed, because she feared losing custody of their child from Ila Fae's mother. During their flight, they overpowered and kidnapped Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Kenneth Crone, holding him hostage during a slow-moving caravan of up to 150 DPS vehicles, along with media in cars and helicopters and hundreds of curious bystanders, that passed through Port Arthur, Houston, Navasota, and finally Wheelock, near Bryan. Unlike the film, the events took just several hours.

Related Topics:
1969 - Custody - Kidnapped - Texas Department of Public Safety - Hostage - Port Arthur - Houston - Navasota - Bryan

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At Ila Fae's mother's house, they encountered numerous officers including an FBI agent. The situation grew tense, with Crone held at gunpoint, and the FBI agent and county sheriff shot and killed Robert. The trooper was uninjured. Ila Fae spent five months in prison, and died in 1992. Crone was an advisor on the film and had a small role as a deputy.

Related Topics:
FBI - Prison - 1992

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