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.
Review of Grand Theft Auto
