Product Details

• Actors: Paul Bartel, Lew Brown (II), Barry Cahill, Bill Conklin, Clint Howard
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Elektra Atlan
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 630027201X
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,302 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ron Howard directs and stars in this Roger Corman-produced feature-length car chase, and Grand Theft Auto was made to appeal to the 12-year-old in all of us who likes to see stuff blow up. Poor boy Sam Freeman (Howard) and rich girl Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) are in love, but Daddy disapproves. They steal the Powers family Rolls Royce for a Vegas elopement, Paula's ex-fiancé puts a bounty on her head, and from then on you can just forget about the plot and watch a zillion cars crash into each other, not to mention a couple of helicopters and an ice-cream truck. In many ways this is a quintessential PG-rated '70s movie: plenty of wholesome fun involving the destruction of public and private property, and every now and then someone says the S word to liven things up. And yes, it is surprisingly satisfying to see a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud get smashed all to hell. The 25th-anniversary special-edition DVD includes interviews with Roger Corman and Ron Howard, audio commentary from Corman and Howard, and a reproduction of the original press pack. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun movie!, May 22, 2003

By 

R. Swaleson (Tacoma, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a fun movie! It's a Saturday Matinee "popcorn" type of movie. There's no "academy award-winning" performances here, just good fun watching car chases/crashes.

Note: Why would anyone think a move made in 1977 would be based upon the video/computer game that's popular now? lol

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great review of a movie not based on a video game..., December 9, 2002

By 

David N Adams, III (Garland, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a great movie with a lot of, yes I said it, car crashes. This movie has the most car crashes in one movie. And it was made waaaay before the games were made. If you want this movie thinking its based on the video game, shop elsewhere. If you want a good car crash movie, check this out.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A real CAR-nival, October 30, 2003

By 

Afrin Argon (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Grand Theft Auto (DVD)

This is light-hearted, wholesome fun in which nobody gets hurt other than about 200 tons of Detroit (and at the end of the demolition derby scene) British automobiles. How can people disparage the 70's when they gave us a whole genre of movies that fetishized car wrecks to the point of turning them into a form of ballet?

The acting and music in this are vaguely reminiscent of <..> movies that were coming out at around the same time, but rest assured, this movie has a positive message at its core and that is that true love will conquer all, even meddling parents and dozens of loco mercenaries without any sense of restraint or decency. One guy even throws dynamite at a cop!

Best line of the movie: "Get out of the way, you clown!"