[Sugarland Express was meant to take advantage of Spielberg's] demonstrated strengths as a director of chase/road movies. It remains one of the most interesting of the genre…. Structurally, the chase is not only more exciting than most, but humorous as well. In all, quite an achievement. Since it leaves itself more time to deal with character, and since its people are complex, interesting, and rooted in reality, Sugarland Express is arguably a more interesting film than either of the two blockbusters that succeeded it. The chase draws us in, but it's the notoriety of the couple that is the real subject of the film, and that is a more interesting theme than either Jaws or Close Encounters has. (pp. 174-75)

[Jaws and Close Encounters] are surprisingly similar. Both present simple suspense stories with linear plots and make them exciting and absorbing through a continual, incessant panoply of...