one of my absolute favorites!

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The acting in this movie is really good.

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.

Eloping because her parents were not happy of her marrying against their wishes, Nancy Morgan and boyfriend Ron Howard(who also directed)head for Vegas in papa's(Barry Cahill) Rolls Royce with many vehicles damaged along the way. Morgan was supposed to marry a rich prick(Paul Linke, who is hilarious) she doesn't even like because her parents wanted her to be a part of his wealthy family. Set out on the highway, Linke chases after them, with his mom(Marion Ross, Howard's Happy Days co-star)trying to find him. Linke thinks Nancy's been brainwashed and he plans to find her while placing a bond for anyone who will hunt them down and bring her to him. Then Ross is caught driving a stolen car(her chauffeur's!), to be arrested after front ending a tree, flees the scene of the accident, and is followed by a cop whose police car was in turn "borrowed" by a preacher(Hoke Howell who is a hoot, always using the police car intercom as a means of communicating to Linke that he must turn himself over in the name of the Lord!) who sees dollar signs when he learns of a reward for the return of her son! There's nothing quite like vehicle carnage and director Howard lets out all the stops, with a car destroying something(or being destroyed by something)every five minutes it seems. This is also a movie about "evasive action". Howard and Morgan evading those out to catch them, constantly avoiding "reward seekers", hired men paid by her father(using "G-men", or at least they look like them, and a helicopter crew), and nutty Linke who thinks she's under Howard's mind control(in his mind, he's a hero in pursuit of a damsel in distress). The reward seekers come out of the woodwork, too..gas station attendant, two gearheads, the aforementioned preacher, and so on and so forth. I'll just tell the viewer to prepare for plenty of explosions and noise. Like other cross country chase movies, Howard and Morgan's "odyssey" becomes popular news and they reach a form of celebrity. You have a showstopping finale in a demolition derby where the orgy of car violence reaches it's climax. But, Howard doesn't end there..an obnoxious radio personality, who had been following them from a helicopter, decides to continue bugging them, finding instead a suburban house and outside pool awaiting him(there's nothing quite like seeing a station wagon exploding through the living room of a house). Clint Howard shows up as one of the gearheads who chases after our eloping young lovers. Rance Howard, Ron's dad, is hired by Morgan's father to find the kids. GRAND THEFT AUTO is exactly what it was intended to be, an entertaining comedy action drive-in movie. I thought Morgan and Howard has wonderful chemistry as the eloping couple, and the cast really inhibit their roles with a great deal of oomph.

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.

Forget Smokey and the Bandit, check out Grand Theft Auto if you want a car-chase movie in the comedy genre! This was also Ron Howard's directorial debut. And everyone knows him as Opie from The Andy Griffith Show, and Richie from Happy Days. It's about these teenagers who go joyriding in stolen cars, and they get into the most deliriously funny situations anyone could imagine in a car-chase movie!I don't care if this movie didn't get any good reviews or if it wasn't considered 'cool', but hey, after all it was Ron Howard's first movie he ever produced. The movie may have lowbrow humor, but it's still an awesome movie worth watching! I saw this movie for the first time when I was a preteen, and to this day I still find it to be outrageously funny! If you're in the mood for a serious car-chase movie, rent something like Bullitt or The French Connection. If you want to see a funny one, rent this movie! IMHO, I think it's the funniest movie of 1977!