Plot points are linear links that make up the chain of traditional Aristotelian 3-act dramatic structure. This classic structure worked well in Hollywood for almost a century now. Although young movie makers are forcing the limits of this structure, plot points still rule the day as the “tent poles” that hold up of the circus of our dreams. Here are the plot points of an early-Spielberg movie, Sugarland Express (1974), as I see them.

Sugarland Express (1974)

Starring: Goldie Hawn, Ben Johnson, William Atherton, Michael Sacks, Gregory Walcott
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Hal Barwood (Writer and Conception), Matthew Robbins (Writer and Conception), Steven Spielberg (Story)

ESTABLISHING SHOT: Intersection of lonely Texas highways on a rainy day.

INCITING INCIDENT: Lou Jean Poplin (Goldie Hawn) helps her husband Clovis Michael Poplin (William Atherton) escape a Texas Penitentiary Pre-Release Center in order to kidnap their baby son given to the custody of another family in Sugarland, TX.

PLOT POINT 1: Lou Jean and Clovis take the Texas Patrolman Maxwell Slide (Michael Sacks) hostage and take off in his patrol car towards Sugarland.

MID POINT EVENT: Clumsy patrolman from all jurisdictions chasing the trio create the mother of all collisions when dozens of patrol cars crash into one another (a la Blues Btorhers) and lose track of the fugitives.

PLOT POINT 2: Sharpshooters prepositioned in the baby's home in Sugarland shoot and wound Clovis.

3rd ACT RESOLUTION: The fugitives are caught when their car gets stuck on a sand dune in the middle of a river at the Mexican border.