You won't be disappointed!

Sadly Over-hyped

hyped garbage

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Headstrong rich gal Paula Powers (a winningly spunky portrayal by the fetching Nancy Morgan) steals the family Rolls Royce and heads off to Las Vegas to marry her amiable working class boyfriend Sam Freeman (a likable turn by Ron Howard, who also made his directorial debut with this film). A motley slew of folks give chase. Director Howard, who also co-wrote the simple script with his dad Rance, tells the entertaining story at a zippy pace, maintains an engaging light-hearted and good-natured tone throughout, and stages the assorted wild'n'wacky vehicular carnage with considerable go-for-it brio. Moreover, this picture benefits tremendously from being so straightforward and unpretentious: After a few initial minutes of basic plot set-up, the rest is essentially one lengthy car chase that culminates in one hysterical doozy of a demolition derby climax. Better yet, the enthusiastic cast attack the material with infectious aplomb, with especially energetic contributions from Marion Ross as the disapproving Vivian Hedgeworth, Peter Isacksen and Clint Howard as a pair of loony hot-rodders, Rance Howard as no-no0nsense private eye Ned Slinker, Paul Linke as pompous preppy Collins, Don Steele as obnoxious disc jockey Curly Q. Brown, and Barry Cahill as huffy millionaire Bigby Powers. The jaunty score by Peter Ivers hits the stirring spot. The always dependable Gary Graver does his usual ace job with the glossy cinematography. An immensely fun flick.

Grand Theft Auto (1977) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Ron Howard made his directorial debut with this Roger Corman chase picture. In the film Howard plays Sam Freeman, a man who runs off with his rich girlfriend (Paula Powers) who just happened to steal her father's Rolls Royce. Soon her fiancé (Paul Linke) from a pre-arranged marriage is on the chase as is his mother, various cops and countless other people who jump in on the bounty placed on the runaways. This certainly isn't APOLLO 13 or A BEAUTIFUL MIND but even with his first film I think it's clear to see that there was some talent sitting in that director's chair. Howard does a pretty good job with this film as there's really not too much you can ask for in a chase picture except that it be fast and fun. GRAND THEFT AUTO is certainly a lot of fun for fans of the genre because it offers up some non-stop chases, plenty of action and some pretty memorable characters as well. The action in the film pretty much starts at the two-minute mark and never lets up as we get all sorts of wild chases and car crashes. It really does seem as if everyone just sat around trying to come up with the various ways you could crash cars either into one another or into various objects. Not only do we get a Rolls Royce but there's also a redneck truck, an ice cream truck, cop cars, a church bus and just about everything else as well. With the action certainly there, the next important thing was coming up with memorable characters and that's here. I thought the supporting group of "chasers" were a lot of fun and especially Marion Ross as the fiancé's mother who won't back down until she gets her baby back. I thought it was pretty funny watching her go against a cop who is constantly trying to arrest her. The obnoxious fiancé is another good part and it's made quite memorable by actor Paul Linke who does a good job making him someone we can laugh at. We even get a nice bit from Clint Howard playing a dimwitted mechanic. Howard and Nancy Morgan do a nice job together even with their characters being the least interesting in the film. I think some of the biggest credit should go to Joe Dante who edited the picture. Howard was obviously working with a very small budget but the editing really kept the film going, made it rather stylish and also made it look like it was a much bigger picture. GRAND THEFT AUTO isn't a masterpiece but it's a fun piece of drive-in entertainment.

I've always had a soft spot for car chase movies, so naturally this one interested me. I wasn't disappointed. It has the usual elements of a film of it's type, the most prominent being the cast of eccentric characters constantly trying to get the better of each other. SPOILER WARNINGS:In his directorial debut, Ron Howard plays high school kid Sam who is in love with rich girl Paula. Needless to say, Paula's Ma and Pa, rich snobs who care only about their reputations (Her jogging-suit clad dad is running for Governor of California), disapprove. Her dad wants her to marry rich kid Collins Hedgeworth, whom Paula denounces as a 'flake'. Her dad tries to get the better of her by confiscating her car keys, but then she gets the last laugh as she purloins her old man's Rolls-Royce and picks up Sam. The two then set off for Las Vegas to get married.Polo-playing wimp Collins tries to give chase, as does his mother, who is trying to get him back before he hurts himself. Collins calls DJ Don Steele and offers a $25,000 reward for Paula's safe return. His mother then calls up and offers another $25,000 for his return. At this point, the fun begins as a bunch of assorted nutcases join the chase. They include: a pair of horny mechanics, a bunch of bumbling private eyes hired by Paula's dad, a money-hungry preacher, a group of dynamite toting rednecks, a group of Hispanic low-riders and an LA cop looking to bust most of the group for grand theft auto. The pace is frantic, and at times, you forget about certain characters because of the amount of time being focused on certain groups of them. The performances are rather good. Nancy Morgan as Paula seems to be the dominant one in their couple as she does most of the talking. The late Don Steele is great in his role as DJ Curly Q. Brown, which is essentially a reprise of his role of Junior Bruce in DEATH RACE 2000 (also produced by Roger Corman. DEATH RACE director Paul Bartel has a cameo here.). Ron's brother Clint of course appears here as one of the mechanics. He and his partner Pete Isacksen are both great as the sex-mad mechanics. The car wrecks sometimes happen for no real reason, but they are all brilliantly done. Appropriately, the action reaches it's climax at a demolition derby outside Vegas. This film is brilliant and is a must for car chase fans, like me!

I rented this out for the reason stated above, and was disappointed to find that it was nothing to do with its violent video game namesake. Quite funny though, good stunts. Mediocre plum.