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Before Ron Howard made his most famous movies, he started with this ultra-wacky car chase story. Sam Freeman (Howard) and Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) try to announce their marriage plans to her parents', but the latter refuse to accept it. So, Sam and Paula run away in a car. As the story progresses, the whole situation snowballs. That is, more and more people get drug in. And of course, a bunch of cars get wrecked. Much like in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", everyone drives in every direction at top speed, damn the peripheral consequences.

One thing that really caught my eye was that Marion Ross starred in "Grand Theft Auto". You may remember her as Marion Cunningham on "Happy Days". I guess that you could say that Richie decided to cast his mom. Maybe it would look like this:

Marion: "Now Richard, always remember to be careful behind the wheel."

(Richie zooms off.)

Marion: "He always took after Howard when it came to driving."

***

Either way, the movie's outlandish (in fact, it's done like a B-movie), but it's impossible not to like.

GRAND THEFT AUTO (2+ outta 5 stars)

Pretty minor car crash movie from the peak of the car crash movie boom of the mid-to-late-70s. Notable as the directorial debut of star Ron Howard... so producer Roger Corman deserves some credit for the later *good* movies that Howard directed. Actually, this movie isn't bad at all... if you like this sort of thing... cornball plot about 2 young kids in love stealing a Rolls Royce and heading for Vegas to get hitched. Egged on by a loudmouth radio broadcaster who sees the ratings potential, the pair head west... followed by the law and an assortment of comical character actors who want to stop them. Last major film role for Ron Howard... who probably sensed that time was running out on his ability to keep playing these clean-cut teenager roles.

This movie will never be remembered as great filmmaking, but it's sure to go down in history as an eerily accurate time capsule of the 1970's. The seventies, a time when, despite the depressingly high crime rate, people left their keys in the ignition without giving it a second thought; when cars were stolen so often we considered them communal property.(By the way, if you're ever the victim of a car theft, stand in the road shaking your fist as the car drives off, then yell 'come back here!' as loudly as possible. This is sure to get your car back.)The seventies were a magical time, when gubernatorial candidates wore jumpsuits without fear of ridicule and kept hired goons on retainer; when towns had only one radio station and we all listened to it; when whiny polo players were considered good catches.

And the car chases! Every day and twice on holy days, my Dad would tell me. Many times, while driving to his job as Jack Lord's shoe buffer, he would come across an impromptu car chase headed to Las Vegas or Tahiti or some other fun place and you better believe he joined in! He would be gone for weeks at a time but we always understood. Mom and I were never worried about him; we could follow his progress from the constant radio reports given by the DJ flying overhead. In the seventies, radio stations thought nothing of scrapping their entire playlist and sending up a fleet of helicopters manned by skinny DJs in smoked glasses to spend days covering a car chase while whole police forces sat idly by, except for that one wacky policeman who always seemed to show up carrying some personal vendetta against one of the chasers and was in way over his head but didn't know it because he wasn't too bright but we understood and we loved him anyway.

Because it was the seventies.

The big directors have to start somewhere.... From the Roger Corman school of filmmaking. As such, it's a solid product, IF you keep in mind PLENTY of 70's context. It's a fun drive-in movie which were once a staple of American cinema. Ah, simpler times... Read Ron and Clint Howard's co-written memoir {The Boys} before watching this. The back story helps to make sitting through this a little easier. Their dad and Ron wrote the screenplay, Clint has a supporting paet, character actors galore, some celebrity cameos and tons of sweet old cars meet their demise. So much car carnage... Fun, harmless and kitschy.

Nutty, non stop laughfest depicting 2 idealistic, love struck teens determined to make it to Vegas to be wed against the wishes of the bride's parents. This sets off a huge manhunt for the pair by any and every breed of looney, each intent on cashing in on the 25K reward. Never have I seen this many wrecks; dozens and dozens, maybe more. Kooky comedy at it's best.

A young couple Sam and Paula are planning to be hitched, but when they confront Paula's influential parents about it. They won't have any of it, and beg her to marry the snobby, rich Colin. Instead she and Sam steal her father's Rolls Royce and head to Las Vegas to elope. From this a large road chase eventuates with Colin calling a radio station to announce a $25,000 reward for Paula. While on their tails, Colin's mother Vivian joins in with another $25,000 for his return. Soon Paula's father has got out the big guns to stop them, while plenty of nutty people join in chase for the doe and the local radio station DJ happens to be commentating the action in a hovering helicopter.

Just sit back, and soak it all up. Following the success of Ron Howard's starring vehicle "Eat My Dust". Another chance was on offer, and this follow up had Ron Howard kicking off his directorial debut under the watchful eye of producer Roger Corman and what we get is purely light-headed fun with non-stop bustle and chaos ensured. This tight budget drive-in, b-film is a madcap chase comedy all the way, which is ebulliently staged and provides such a rush due to Howard's concisely economical and desirable direction. The animatedly mindless screenplay, which is penned by Ron and his father Rance Howard crackles with plenty of freedom to cluster and stretch out the story with mini sub-plots, clever visual gags, highly witty dialogues and a circus show of colourful characters. The concept is simple, old-school and cartoonish, but Howard's knowledgeable timing and honest tailoring lets the film open up naturally with its crackerjack pacing that never lets the momentum slip and expansively robust and tightly choreographed stunts that lead onto a smash-a-thon of fast and stolen motor vehicles ending in flourish of explosions. Howard captures many well-displayed images. Helping out behind the scenes, is that of Joe Dante's airtight, sped-up editing to Gary Graver' sharply inventive cinematography and giving the film some heart is the casually, cosy music score that can spruce up when needed. Being shot on location in open desert back roads gave it a down 'n' dirty feel of authenticity. Attached to it are joyful performances from the entire cast who like to gesture a lot. Nancy Morgan shines excellently in a sprightly cheeky turn as Paula and Ron Howard amusedly sits on cruise control as Sam. The Corman-regulars that co-star on this one range from the eccentrically self-absorbed performance by a fantastic Don Steele, Clint Howard, Rance Howard and a minor appearance by Paul Bartel. Marion Ross and Paul Linke are a riot as Vivian and Collin Hedgeworth. Playing Paula's snotty parents are the enjoyably comic Elizabeth Rogers and Barry Cahill. Also Jim Ritz, Hoke Howell and Garry Marshall give capable, snappy and crazy support. Oh, they don't make 'em like this anymore. Man, these type of spirited features really put these wannabe shallow Hollywood dosh to shame. Something about these outings just seem to stay fresh.

"Grand Theft Auto" is a groovy, no-nonsense splurge into high-octane overload, which is considerably well executed with clarity and precision for what it is. So go ahead and floor it for one pleasurable and fulfilling genre romp.

"Grand Theft Auto" is Ron Howard's second attempt at a car chase n' crash movie. It is a lot better than his first, "Eat my Dust", but it still isn't the best. The plot is that a girl runs away to Las Vegas with a guy she likes, and is being Chased down by her parents, a jealous lover, cops, and many other randos trying to collect a bounty on them. The script writing wasn't the best. It starts off good enough, then downgraded to just being jam packed with stuff, and by stuff I mean excuses to put car crashes and stunts. The car action was really nice, but it gets old after a while. Near the end, a lot of sense in writing and direction is lost, rather just being cars mindlessly crashing into each other. There are some pros to the script, as every once in a while you'll get a funny joke. The the cast of characters participating in the chase Aren't the best people. They aren't really fleshed out, and there's way too many of them. By the end, over 20 people are chasing and racing against each other, and after a while I just stopped keeping track of them. The acting saved this film a bit. Overall, a wild car action comedy, jam packed with cars, crashes, and explosions.

I've never considered Howard much of a director - and I only rented this, his debut feature, because I've been on a 'grindhouse' kick ever since I watched the recent Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino homage! Made for Roger Corman's low-budget outfit (he explains how it all came about in the accompanying interview), this road movie on the lines of VANISHING POINT (1971) and THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS (1974) evolves into one uninterrupted chase along the American midwest. It's undeniably enjoyable on a non-think level, relying on an endless stream of energetic stunts (mostly gratuitous car crashes and explosions) to carry its thin plot as far as it can go. Howard also took the lead role and co-wrote the script with his father Rance; fellow cast members from Howard's popular HAPPY DAYS TV series also put in appearances…and there's even a cameo by director Paul Bartel! The technical crew holds some surprise: Allan Arkush (who later helmed the Corman-produced ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL [1979]) served as second-unit director, Gary Graver (best-known for his collaborations with Orson Welles) was the cinematographer, and Joe Dante (even after having started his own directorial career) edited the film!

Ever since his breakthrough with "American Graffiti", and TV'S "Happy Days", this movie should be making the headlines all the way! Transitioning from actor to director and writer, Ron Howard is at the top of his game. In "Grand Theft Auto", Ron plays Sam, a smart, simple man who runs off with a rich man's daughter named Paula ( Nancy Morgan) , whom her father and mother disapproves completely. They set her up with a wealthy man, whom she doesn't like. In order to put them in their places, she runs off in her father's Rolls Royce. And the chase is on! The two couple go on into a high speed chase all the way to Las Vegas to elope.Unfortunately, the father wants to put a stop to it. After avoided all the roadblocks set by her father, the duo never stopped. Even the fiancé wants her back. But, stealing every car cost everyone their chances to stop the couple from heading to Las Vegas. The fiancé mother (Marion Ross) was in so much trouble with the law from stealing a car, to assault to a policeman, I don't think she''ll ever see the light again. With all the wrecks and totals, the insurance rates have skyrocketed. With so many stars including Happy Days producer Garry Marshall, Marion and Ron weren't very Cunningham like in this movie: the language, obscene gestures, and Marion hitting the officer in the groin. The grand theft auto turned into a media circus for the two, but they ended up instant celebrities at the end. Who says you won't have a happy ending? Make your dream come true. This movie was excellent. I enjoyed it very much. 4 out of 5 stars.

Paula Powers and Sam Freeman (Ron Howard) shock her rich parents with news of their engagement. Her father Bigby Powers is running for governor and they forbid it. She sneaks out from her room and steals the family Rolls-Royce driving off for Vegas. Her mother informs unrequited suitor Collins Hedgeworth who goes on the chase. After a couple of crashes, Collins offers a reward over the radio and the mad chase go into high gear.

This is Ron Howard's full length directorial debut. He's calling in plenty of favors including Marion Ross. The plot is only an excuse to put on a cross-country car chase like "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World". The female lead Nancy Morgan is sufficient but nothing special. It's all about the car action. There are lots of crashes and destruction. Howard is doing a few good camera shots but it's nothing revolutionary. For a first time effort, this movie shows his professionalism and excellence before his years. It also shows that action is not going to be his forte. He can have some fun but he's not changing the way car chases are done.

Ron Howard's directorial debut (in which he also stars) is a pretty good piece of drive-in movie fun, with a silly but fast-paced story and enough car chases and crashes to keep those who go for this kind of thing plenty satisfied. A handful of familiar faces in amusing cameos add to the fun.

The Howard brothers, Ron & Rance got together to write this film. The script is not great, but the direction is solid. What holds this film together is the crashes and the direction. Plot wise, at least it has a plot, but it gets a little wild at times.

Amazing Howards direction is good enough here that for his first film it comes out OK. Ron & his girlfriend are running off to get married in spite of both their parents objections. Her family is rich, while Ron's TV mom (Marion Ross) is just against the whole thing. The theme here is the classic chase movie which has sold many tickets.

For a comparison, think Smokey & the Bandit, the first one. Now if this film had the great music soundtrack as the Bandit had, it might have been held just as good. The difference here is not just Jerry Reed, though. It is the character development too. You get the feeling fairly late in the film that some of the characters including Ron & the girlfriends own are just getting developed. In the Bandit film, the characters get developed stronger and earlier in the film.

As far as direction, Howard is already close to Hal Needham here. He just isn't quite there yet. Still, this film shows me enough that I am glad Howard is behind the camera as his later films prove that this launching pad effort showed his promise.

Incredibly fast-paced car chase caper that never lets up from the off. Apparently shot in just 15 days, which would explain the frantic chaos throughout the movie. It's surprisingly well put together, Ron Howard knocking his first feature-length directing effort out the park. The crashes arent really that special, but there sure are a lot of them.

This would definitely be it. The only point of the film is to show car chase after one another, on highways and in the desert. Oh yes, they are a few helicopters too. So if you take it for what it is, the film is rather good. Lots of gags, irony, ... And a number of stunts amazing considering it's a Corman-produced movie.. how did they find the money ?

I did buy the DVD of this film because it was a Ron Howard's first movie. Since the film he has made a few good films and few really bad Hollywood entertaining films.

With Roger Corman producing this has always been considered as an "B" film. Well, it certainly isn't that. It is a funny action comedy with good cast, good director and good writers. And what a name for the film!

If you're looking for fun, non-boring, happy and even romantic film, you should definitely get this.

7 of 10

You really don't get a whole lot of story in this one. The basic premise is that Sam (Ron Howard) and Paula (Nancy Morgan) are trying to elope to Las Vegas with Paula' daddy's hijacked Rolls Royce. This is basically just a plot to enable the director (also Ron Howard) to throw a bunch of stolen cars and crashes of said stolen cars on the screen. But it's a hoot. I think one of the highlights is a DJ (played by real DJ The Real Don Steele) who appears ever so often to direct the crowd of would be "heroes" trying to collect the $25,000 reward for their capture. Don't go into it expecting anything more than chaos and mayhem.

Grand Theft Auto (1977) is a road action comedy movie written and directed by Ron Howard in his directorial debut and it tells the story of a couple heading to Las Vegas to get married while being on the run from a bunch of reward-seekers hired by the girl's father to stop them from getting married. This movie was a first time watch for me, I watched it on YouTube and the movie was pretty good.

Positives for Grand Theft Auto (1977): The premise of this movie is fun and I got a lot of entertainment value from it. I like the simplicity of the plot and it is easy for the audience to follow. You have a fun cast including Ron Howard himself, Nancy Morgan, Marion Ross, Peter Isacksen, Don Steele and even Ron's father Rance as well as his younger brother Clint. I like the insanity of these characters and they act like freaking cartoons in the best way possible. The chase sequences are very entertaining and hilarious to watch. There is a lot of food comedy that had me smiling throughout this movie. And finally, this is one of these older low budget movies that you can turn your brain off and enjoy it for the pure insanity on screen.

Negatives for Grand Theft Auto (1977): The image quality of the movie is pretty crappy as I did watch it on YouTube. I also didn't find any of the reward-seekers to be interested and they were really easy for our main characters to defeat and get away from. And finally, the girl's father is one of the dumbest and most unreasonable people that I've seen in a movie and he literally given no reason for his hatred towards Ron Howard's character.

Overall, Grand Theft Auto (1977) is a good action comedy movie from the 1970s and a good start for Ron Howard as a filmmaker.

Review In A Nutshell: Ron Howard is a director that I have barely scratched the surface of; having seen only three of his films, and was viewed at a time where films were barely a priority of mine. Those films were "How the Grinch Stole Chirstmas", "The DaVinci Code", and "Angels and Demons". Those certainly are his most well-known works, but they aren't the ones that convinced the world that he is one of Hollywood's top directors. I didn't know what to expect out of Grand Theft Auto, as my lack of experience of the director may lead me to disliking the film and the fact that this is his first film, it may come off as predictably amateurish and lacking that distinctive quality that would stand him out as a filmmaker. Fortunately the film holds up quite well, and shows that Ron Howard's destiny in life is to be more than just an actor, he is a quality filmmaker. Grand Theft Auto contains a simple plot, detailing the story of a young boy and girl driving towards Las Vegas to elope while being chased by particular individuals due to the reward that comes with their capture. The film wastes no time in pushing its plot forward, as within the first couple of minutes, the complication sinks in. From then on, the film delivers an adrenaline pumping and exhilarating ride, filled with stunts and characters that constantly maintain the audience's attention. During the film's first 30-40 minutes, I was with it. I.