Ever amiable Ron Howard stars in this typical enough entry into the chase-and-car-crash genre. He plays Sam Freeman, the young man whom rich girl Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) intends to marry, against the wishes of her snooty, judgmental father Bigby (Barry Cahill). Bigby, who's running for governor, would rather she marry another rich person, the *really* schmucky Collins Hedgeworth (Paul Linke). So what Paula does is appropriate her fathers' Rolls Royce and take off with Sam for Las Vegas. The story escalates into a circus as Collins takes off after Sam & Paula, Collins's mother Vivian (Howards' 'Happy Days' mom Marion Ross) takes off after *him*, and other assorted greedy individuals join in the pursuit hoping to obtain the awards offered for the return of both Paula and Collins.Howard had already starred in the thematically similar "Eat My Dust" for Roger Corman, with the proviso that he get to direct their next joint effort. Howard and his dad, character actor Rance Howard, devised this story, in which Ron could technically be billed as the star but not have to be in every scene so that Ron could focus on the direction. Of course, despite the game efforts of this cast (also including Rance, Rons' brother Clint, The Real Don Steele, Hoke Howell, Ken Lerner, and Leo Rossi, with Paul Bartel and Garry Marshall in cameos), the real "star" of course is the intense action; Allan Arkush (who has an uncredited bit as the clown) handled the second unit direction and the vehicle stunts are absolutely first rate. The script by Jr. and Sr. Howard does have some good laughs going for it, to be sure; it's a hoot to see Ross actually flip off a cop!The music by Peter Ivers is quite catchy, Gary Graver handles the cinematography, and the editor was Joe Dante. Overall the movie is quite noisy and senseless, but that still proves to be a big part of the attraction in movies like this. At least it does have two appealing performances at the core, by Howard and Morgan, and does have a fitting wrap-up as super obnoxious DJ Curly Q. Brown (Steele) finally gets his comeuppance.Seven out of 10.

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.

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.

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.