Eat My Dust (1976) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Hoover (Ron Howard) loves hot rods and when he finds out that the girl of his dreams (Christopher Norris) likes them as well, he steals a professional racing car and the two head off with just about every cop in town chasing them. EAT MY DUST, as the title would suggest, is a chase picture from the drive-in days and as long as you don't take it too serious you should find yourself having a pretty good time. I think a lot of credit has to go to director Charles B. Griffith who keeps the action moving from start to finish and there's really not any dry spots. We get all sorts of wild chases and the director manages to make several of them quite memorable. This includes one scene where a cop car crashes and takes out the front of a store but the memorable thing is that the entire front falls down and we can see what the people inside are doing. Another good sequence deals with a bunch of shopping carts getting hit and this leads to all sorts of trouble for people in the same area as them. Even better are the car's point-of-view shots. These here certainly aren't ground-breaking but they're so interesting and they put you right in the middle of the action. Another major plus is that Howard and Norris are just so charming together that they keep you into the story even when there aren't any crashes going on. The supporting cast is charming as well and that includes Clint Howard playing yet another weirdo. EAT MY DUST isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination but fans of chase pictures should be entertained.

"Eat My Dust" was one of producer Roger Corman's biggest hits. Seeing the movie today, most likely you will wonder why. To be sure, top-billed star Ron Howard is a likable actor, but he doesn't get that much of a chance to shine in a movie that's basically centered around one big chase. Speaking of characters, the lead female character is so stuck up and snotty you will wonder why Howard's character is attracted to her. And I'm sure even younger viewers will question how the youths in the movie think that all the destruction they cause is hilarious. I am sure some viewers will dismiss these charges, thinking that they will still get plenty of entertainment from the many, many car chase sequences. Think again. Most of the time, the cars involved in the chase don't seem to be travelling at top speed, and the movie keeps cutting to the idiot sheriff and his dim-witted helpers in sequences that contain no laughs. This movie isn't aggressively bad, but it's flat and unmemorable.

Filmed in and around Piru, California. Every time I watch it, I tell my wife, "Look! There's the Fillmore bridge!" (the long bridge) Or, "I've been down that road" etc. Nice to see all my old stomping grounds. I'm from Thousand Oaks, so Piru is pretty close. At any rate, anyone catch the blooper where Ron Howard is in the barn with the car? He drives out the back wall, but before he reaches it, the made-to-breakaway wall falls before he touches it. It is a nice, clean movie and enjoyable to watch time and time again. Worth watching, folks. An early car chase and wreck 'em up movie. A ground breaker. Some of it even appears to have been filmed in or around Thousand Oaks.

.....one of the best movies ever made. Period. I saw this film as a young teen and it inspired me to make movies which I have done for the past 20+ years. Eat My Dust is a hilarious action packed comedy that has to be seen to be believed. Roger Corman and Ron Howard have captured lightning in a bottle with this one. Charles B. Griffith had NEVER been given the credit he deserved. I have seen this film a few dozen times and it gets better with each viewing. Dave Grisman's score is unforgettable. Dave Madden is screamingly funny as "big Bubba Jones". Sh*t on a twisty stick EAT MY DUST is the perfect car action comedy of the 70s