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Grand Theft Auto (1977)

★★★ — Grand Theft Auto (1977)

Ron Howard was still best known as Richie Cunningham on Happy Days when Roger Corman handed him the directing chair for this low-budget comedy, made under Corman's New World Pictures banner with a modest $602,000 to spend. Howard co-wrote the script with his father Rance, who also appears in the film, and the whole production was shot quickly in California, very much in the Corman tradition of fast, cheap, and commercially minded. It arrived in 1977, the same year Star Wars reshuffled Hollywood's priorities, though car chase comedies were still a reliable draw in the drive-in circuit. Howard would follow this with television work before eventually graduating to studio features in the early 1980s, making Grand Theft Auto a genuinely interesting footnote in the career of a director who went on to win an Academy Award.

Grand Theft Auto (1977), Ron Howard’s directorial debut, is a gloriously cheesy, no-frills car chase comedy that absolutely belongs in the same garage as Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball Run, and those other wild, rubber-burning romps of the late 70s. It’s got that same family-friendly, tongue-in-cheek energy, fast cars, dumb cops, last-minute escapes, and a whole lot of slapstick. It’s not deep, it’s not smart, and it definitely doesn’t take itself seriously, and honestly, that’s the point. The stunts are practical, the crashes are loud, and the humour is broad enough to make kids laugh and adults smirk. There’s a wholesome, small-town charm to it all, like a live-action cartoon with engines. You can tell everyone on screen is having a blast, and that energy is contagious. Of course, by modern standards, it’s pretty thin, paper-thin plot, flat characters, and jokes that haven’t aged perfectly. But as an early example of the car chase craze and a snapshot of 70s drive-in cinema? It’s a solid time capsule. Forgettable as art, but totally enjoyable as junk food fun. Roll up, rev the engine, and enjoy the ride.

Rating: ★★★ | Year: 1977 | Watched: 2025-09-12

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