James Reviews The Ron Howard Action Pack With Eat My Dust And Grand Theft Auto [DVD Review]

I hear you, pappy. But I can’t quite reach you.

When you hear the name Ron Howard, I would assume most would think either Opie, Richie Cunningham or one of the top directors in Hollywood today. But if one was to say action star, badass or driver extraordinaire, most would either scoff or think I was a bit nutty. But at one time, Ron Howard was making a splash on the big screen, behind the wheels of a race car in one film (Eat My Dust) and his future father-in-law’s Rolls Royce in the other (Grand Theft Auto). Both films are car centric, with a constant car chase going on throughout the running time of the film. Something the Fast and the Furious films wouldn’t dare today because of attention spans going the way of the Dodo, which is why I’ve held these films in such high regard since I was a child.

But do the films hold up all these years later? First up is 1976’s Eat My Dust, written and directed by Charles B. Griffith, a fun and fast paced chase film, starring Howard as Hoover Niebold, son of the town sheriff and according to him a no good punk kid. He wants to get with the hottest girl in town so he does the unthinkable: he steals the race car that just won and speeds off with the girl and friends in tow. What’s great about the film is it doesn’t waste any time at all with the action. Corman and Griffith know exactly what the youth market wanted in a film. Rebellious kids who were going against the man, all while having a blast and going as fast as possible on the road.

The way the film is shot, especially in the beginning, has been adopted time and time again (such as Quentin Tarantino in his film Death Proof, which he thanked Griffith for, citing him an influence) which is shown from the perspective of the driver, we as an audience feeling as if we’re in the front seat of the car, going as fast as possible. It’s something I look for in car chase movies and the good ones always showcase it in their films. Besides Howard’s character, everyone else is a cartoon cut-out of a person, which isn’t a knock on the film but instead is my embracing of the popcorn factor. It’s a film that does what it intended to do, which is to entertain. What was forgotten was that there is a sense of heartbreak toward the back end, something any young person has gone through when trying to impress someone who is just after material things.

Grand Theft Auto was the following year in 1977, with Howard starring, writing (with his father Rance Howard) and directing the film this time around after making a deal with Roger Corman when he agreed to do Eat My Dust. Corman of course told him he’d think about him directing a feature film, and when the time came he didn’t go back on his word, even telling Howard he ‘looked like a director’. Of course it’s another continuous chase movie, but this time around it has more in common with It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World instead of Vanishing Point.

Sam Freeman (Howard) and Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) are in love and her parents are not for their relationship. So they run off to elope in Las Vegas in her father’s Rolls Royce and what happens next is a chase like you’ve never seen before. A non-stop barrage of Wacky Races-esque cars going after the couple, with any type of car crash and explosion you could think of occurring in this film, at a frantic pace and this is because of a comedic script and Howard’s directorial prowess, even at this debut for him. What’s better is that about an hour into the film, we have a conflict between the happy couple, about why they’re running to get married. It’s an emotional scene, which is not expected in a film like this, but that’s what separates it from others in its genre. It has a heart to it, and thankfully for Howard and Morgan, we have a couple we can root for throughout the 84 minutes.

These films were a proving ground for Howard, showcasing a charisma he had since he was a little boy up until now, still, when conducting interviews. We get the usually cast of characters within these films, such as Ron’s brother Clint Howard and even Don Steele himself, as a radio host who is a bit too intrusive for his story about the couple in Grand Theft Auto, perhaps showing how far media will go to get that scoop. It might be delving too deep into a Corman film, but it is there, and shows why Howard would become a force to be reckoned with for decades to come.

Shout! Factory, with their recent output of Roger Corman’s catalog of produced films from his various distribution companies, has been a wonderful thing for drive-in and cult film aficionados everywhere. This time they give us two of Corman’s biggest hits that many were waiting for in one convenient package. Tons of extras are also included, such as two fun and informative commentaries on Grand Theft Auto (one with Roger Corman and Ron Howard; the other with Rance Howard, Joe Dante, Alan Arkush and Ben Haller), an older interview with Howard and Corman, a newer interview with Howard on Eat My Dust, a fantastic interview with John Solie (who was a poster artist and worked with Corman’s studio for years), a making of Eat My Dust and a cute interview with Rance and Clint Howard. A well packed set for two deserving films. Shout! Factory hits it out of the park again.

They’re both a blast, especially watching them back to back, Eat My Dust being a great appetizer (with its reality bending scenes. If you’ve never seen it, you’ll see what I mean) and Grand Theft Auto a nice meal afterward. There’s nothing like seeing cars t-bone each other, dynamite blowing up random cars and some of the best stunt drivers and stuntmen in general just putting their bodies on the line, which makes some still wonder how they do it. Watch that last slow motion stunt in Grand Theft Auto. That alone is breathtaking.

9/10