“The Sugarland Express” (カージャック / Carjack), Original Japanese Release Movie Poster 1974, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) ZA51

This is an original Japanese B2 poster for the Japanese release of The Sugarland Express, Steven Spielberg’s 1974 road-crime drama. In Japan, the film was marketed under the punchy title カージャック (“Carjack”), with the added line 続・激突！ (“Duel Continued!”) used to connect it to the success of Spielberg’s earlier breakthrough film Duel. It is a superb piece of early Spielberg paper, combining road-movie tension, outlaw romance, and high-speed pursuit in a bold, highly cinematic design.

Film background
Released in 1974, The Sugarland Express was Spielberg’s first theatrical feature and already showed many of the qualities that would define his later career: kinetic action, visual clarity, human vulnerability, and a gift for turning pursuit into spectacle. Based on a real-life incident, the film follows a young couple trying to reach Sugar Land, Texas, pursued by an ever-growing convoy of police vehicles as their desperate flight becomes a public spectacle. Starring Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, and Michael Sacks, it is one of the most important films from Spielberg’s early period.

Poster design
This Japanese poster is fantastic. The upper section is dominated by a dramatic cast collage, led by Goldie Hawn aiming a rifle, with William Atherton beside her and Ben Johnson in cowboy hat at left. Across the centre and lower half, the design explodes into pure pursuit-movie energy: police cars race down the highway, a vehicle flips violently through the foreground, and stylised bullet-hole graphics intensify the sense of impact and danger. The huge red カージャック title gives the sheet tremendous wall presence, while the bold vertical slogan at right — roughly “I don’t care if I get shot… run toward tomorrow!” — perfectly captures the film’s reckless romantic momentum. It is a superb and very displayable Japanese design for early Spielberg.

Condition
Very Good / Excellent. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.