Who was the cinematographer for Spielberg's The Sugarland Express?

Vilmos Zsigmond was the cinematographer for Spielberg’s The Sugarland Express.

Zsigmond photographed Spielberg’s 1974 crime drama about a desperate couple fleeing across Texas while trying to recover their child. His work helped give the film its expansive, road-movie look, balancing crowded highway scenes with intimate moments involving Goldie Hawn, William Atherton, and Ben Johnson.

The Sugarland Express was Spielberg’s first theatrical feature made for a major studio, following his television work and the TV movie Duel. It was based partly on a real 1969 Texas incident and marked Spielberg’s first collaboration with composer John Williams, who would become his most famous long-term creative partner.

Zsigmond was a Hungarian-American cinematographer whose career became especially influential during the 1970s New Hollywood period. He later reunited with Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. Allen Daviau and Janusz Kaminski also worked on major Spielberg films, but neither shot The Sugarland Express; Douglas Slocombe was associated with the Indiana Jones series.