Eat My Dust

This is merely another one of those many 70s car-chase films. It's fun & mindless and features some beautiful rural California locations. Plus, how can you go wrong with the likable Ron Howard?

The film was a box-office success for producer Roger Corman, which naturally led to the demand for a sequel. But Ron Howard didn't want money to perform in the sequel, he just wanted the opportunity to write and direct it (not to mention act in it). Thus came the hugely popular "Grand Theft Auto," Howard's first REAL stab at directing. The rest is history.

This flick is merely okay, nothing special; what makes it worth purchasing for any red-blooded male is the supremely gorgeous Christopher Norris (yeah, it's a woman not a man). She's got some incredible God-given curves, to say the least, and she shows them off well in her skimpy hot-pants!

Of course, if you're a "Brokeback Mountain" fan there's always Ron Howard.

Ron Howard (fresh off of Happy Days) was offered a two-picture deal with producer Roger Corman for New World Pictures, Howard agreed only if his next film would be a film he would direct himself and the deal was made.

The movie itself is a standard low-brow car chase comedy and often too silly, but the script and direction by Charles Griffith is pretty good. The cinematography catches the car sequences impressively and the acting is good throughout, particularly by Warren Kemmerling as the cranky local sheriff.

From the winning team of Roger Corman and Charles Griffith, with Bill Paxton as set designer... we have a fun little film about a sheriff's son who has a race car and outruns every cop who tries to stop him. Throw in a girl named Christopher and you have a movie!

Ron Howard stars, with family Clint and Rance along for the ride. Allegedly, Howard only agreed to do this film after being given the chance to direct "Grand Theft Auto", catapulting his Oscar-winning career. Well played, Opie and Corman!

The film as a whole is fun if you like seeing kids outrun cops, but the Chow Fongs car chase scene is the best. How could the building be so fragile and poorly constructed? How can a car flip so easily? It is pure genius!

Hoover likes Darlene. Darlene likes riding in fast cars. Hoover likes driving fast cars. That's enough to get Eat My Dust off and running. Who would've thought that a Roger Corman produced car chase staring Ron Howard would be so much fun. One thing that this car chase comedy has working for it, that many do not, is that it's actually pretty funny. One funny scene involves a young Corbin Bernsen playing a slow minded gas station attendant. The driving sequences are also very well executed and photographed. One crash in particular at the end of the film makes you think the car is going to jump right off the screen. It's no Oscar winner, but who cares. Shut off your brain for awhile and let Opie do the driving.

Hoover Niebold (Ron Howard) is a car-nerd, and a prankster with his friends. His daddy is the law. They're at the car race. Snooty hot girl Darlene Kurtz is willing to ride with him if only he gets the red race car. So he steals the car and they go on a joy ride.

Ron Howard wanted to direct his own movie and Roger Corman required him to star in this movie before giving him his directorial debut, Grand Theft Auto (1977). This is a thin script. I don't particularly care about any of these characters. Ron Howard is still a good lead. The rest can be left behind. There are some fun car action but that's the only good aspect. It's a B-movie with a named actor.