Grand Theft Auto (1997)

Starring Ron Howard, Clint Howard.  Cinematography by Gary Graver.  Edited by Joe Dante.  Produced by Jon Davison. Written by Ron Howard and Rance Howard.  Directed by Ron Howard.

Paula Powers and her high school sweetheart, Sam Freeman, have stolen her parent’s expensive automobile and are high tailing it to Las Vegas for an impromptu wedding.  Her mother and father, who are local celebrities of sorts, strongly disapprove of the relationship and have offered a twenty five thousand dollar reward to anyone who can put a end to their escapades.  So every yahoo this side of the state line jumps in their car and speeds off in hot pursuit, hoping for their piece of the pie.

Other than being among the some of the most well known and well respected craftsmen in the art of cinema, what do Martin Scorsese, James Cameron, Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme, and Peter Bogdanovich all have in common? They, along with dozens of other actors and filmmakers, all got their start in the filmmaking business working for the “King of B’s” himself, Roger Corman.  This was also the case for famed director Ron Howard. 

Though he was already a well established as an actor in the late 1970’s, Howard was becoming eager to jump behind the camera and expand his resume.  In 1976 Howard had starred in the Corman flick, Eat My Dust! The cheesy carploitation romp was a financial hit (which, at Corman’s budgets, is not overly difficult), and soon a sequel was proposed.  But Howard came back to Corman with an interesting counterproposal.

Howard would agree to star in the film if he could also direct it, and to sweeten the pot Howard would do it for free.  Corman, being the shrewd businessman that he has always been, said that if he could come up with a script about young people on the run that they would have a deal. So along with his father Rance Howard, Ron pumped out a script and Grand Theft Auto was born.

Howard wrote the script for Grand Theft Auto in such a way that he could act as the star, but be absent from the screen enough that he could truly focus on his filmmaking responsibilities. He fully committed himself to the project and ended up pulling it off on time and on budget.  Corman has since commented that Howard was the “calmest and coolest” first time director that he has ever seen.

The finished product was your typical Corman fare; an orgy of automobile violence and destruction. Howard was even able to use a forty thousand dollar Rolls-Royce… and destroy it (think about that after thirty-some years of inflation). Grand Theft Auto ended up being exactly what it wanted to be and for that, it’s probably worth a watch.

Budget: $602,000

Total US Gross: $???

Genre: Action

Runtime: 84 Minutes

US Release Date: 6/16/77

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Awards: none

Tagline: See The Greatest Cars In The World Destroyed:  Rolls Royce, Cadillac, Lincoln, Mercedes, Porsche, And 43 Screaming Street Machines!

Quote: “Wanna pull over and fool around a little?”