It was 2:00 AM on May 2, 1969 as Bobby Dent and his wife Ila Fae drove through Port Arthur, Texas. Texas Democrats Went Missing for Decades. The two hitch a ride with an older couple (A.L. In the real life incident the husband did indeed get shot and killed although it happened differently than the way it gets played out here, so I don’t really have anything against showing it, but film should’ve added in a brief moment showing Lou Jean being reunited with her child after her stint in prison, which also really happened. They had no intention of kidnapping them like it is portrayed in the film only to visit them for 15 minutes, which Captain Jerry Millter (portrayed by Ben Johnson) initially agreed to allow, but then later reneged. Don't have an account? However, seeing Clovis get shot is jarring and takes away from the film’s otherwise lighthearted tone. The couple managed to evade them by abandoning their vehicle and fleeing on foot into a heavily wooded area. . And that’s not even including all the helicopters. The caravan ended up in the little town of Wheelock, and the crazy couple pulled up to the house where their kids lived. Unfortunately for the Dents, their car broke down a few minutes into the chase, forcing them to sprint into the nearby woods. But what became of the survivors after the credits rolled? Can They Come Back Tuesday? turned their story into his first feature film, The Sugarland Express. Armed and dangerous, Bobby and Ila Fae cuffed the trooper, took his weapons, and forced him behind the wheel of the squad car. This film marks director Steven Spielberg’s full-length theatrical feature film debut and the result is highly entertaining. He takes an odd moment in history and helps infuse a playful quirkiness to the proceedings while also gently nudging the Texas stereotype. By the time the desperate duo had reached Houston, they were leading a parade over 100 cars long, including a passel of news vans.

They eventually came upon a ranch whose owner called the police to say that he had been attacked by two hitch-hikers. It was 2:00 AM on May 2, 1969 as Bobby Dent and his wife Ila Fae drove through Port Arthur, Texas. .

The press took a photo of her staring at Bobby’s lifeless body right after the killing.

Khruangbin Might Be the Biggest Band in the World of Vinyl, The List: The Top 50 Barbecue Joints in Texas, “It’s the Most Outrageous Thing I’ve Ever Seen. As for what happened to him 32 years ago, “Not a month goes by that someone doesn’t bring it up,” he says. It all started in the early morning hours of May 3, 1969 when Ila Faye Dent (1947-1992) and her husband Robert where chased by the Port Arthur police for speeding. Otherwise, try again or reset your password. Instead of pulling over, Bobby hit the gas. The film’s biggest downfall though and the main reason it didn’t do well in the box office is with its downbeat ending. The character of Texas Highway Patrolman Slide is based on then-27-year-old Trooper J. Ila Fae Holiday (Dent) never assisted in breaking out Robert Dent. Bobby probably appreciated the kind gesture since he felt he might never see his stepchildren again. The officer is able to track them down when their car crashes, but when he goes to investigate the accident Clovis pulls the officer’s own gun on him and uses it to take him hostage. Wiatt, who is now 75, retired from the FBI in 1980 but three years later went to work at Texas A&M, where he is now the director of University Police.

From a directorial stand point I liked it as Spielberg infuses all sorts of interesting elements into it including making the house in which the child supposedly is staying look very foreboding and ominous as well as a brief shot of a teddy bear being thrown out a car window and laying the road while the cars speed all around it.

Republicans Face an Uphill Battle to Win It Back. The impromptu TV interview done during the chase is great as is the first CB conversation that Tanner has with the three inside the patrol car. But when they opened the door, the room was strangely dark.

But when the peace officer flicked on his lights, the Dents didn’t slow down. In 1974, one year before Steven Spielberg, On Texas Time: Surfaces, College Station’s Viral Pop Duo, Jerry Jeff Walker, Remembered by Lyle Lovett, Lucinda Williams, Dan Rather, and Many, Many Others, ‘Bad Hair’ Is a Contemporary Black Fable and Devilishly Fun Satire, Willie Nelson Singing ‘Under Pressure’ With Karen O Is the Duet We Didn’t Know We Needed in 2020, Matthew McConaughey’s Memoir Doesn’t Dispel His Own Mythology—But Does Challenge It, Billy Joe Shaver, the Blustery, Tenderhearted Country Star Known as the “Wacko From Waco,” Dies of a Stroke, It’s Always a New Menu at Blood Bros. BBQ, How the Texas GOP Went Off the Rails in 2020.