“Grand Theft Auto” is a typical Chase-n-Crash, made more entertaining than most because of the attractive personalities of Howard (at 23 a veteran of 18 years in show business, including starring roles in “American Graffiti” and TV's Happy Days) and Nancy Morgan, the Hinsdale native who plays his wife. They're fresh-faced, attractive kids, the Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello of this generation, perfect for what the trade calls drive-in pictures (whether they play in a drive-in or not).
Ron and Nancy play a young couple who decide to elope to Las Vegas and get married. This causes great consternation for her parents, who want her to marry wealthy heir Collins Hedgeworth and give a boost to her father's gubernatorial ambitions. The kids drive off in her father's Rolls Royce, and her parents offer a $25,000 reward for her return. Meanwhile, the milquetoast Hedgeworth has gone in pursuit himself, and his protective mother offers $25,000 for his return.
The offers are broadcast on a Top 40 station, inspiring a cross-country bounty hunt from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Setting up the premise for the chase took maybe 15 minutes; the rest of the movie is pure action, interrupted briefly for the obligatory lover's quarrel at the three-quarter mark. The young lovers are chased, at various times, by three private detectives; two hot-rodders in an MG and then a newlyweds' camper truck; a cop who has commandeered a busload of senior citizens; Mrs. Hedgeworth, who has commandeered the cop's car; some people I lost track of, in a stolen ice cream truck; two helicopters rented by the girl's parents and the radio station; Las Vegas gangsters in black limousines, and uncounted highway patrol squads.
The ads promise that we'll see some of the world's most expensive cars destroyed: Rolls Royces, MGs, Porsches, Lincolns, Cadillacs, you name 'em. And we do. The movie's mindless fun, a carnival ride on the screen, with cars on two wheels, cars flying off ramps, cars in demolition derbys, cars on fire, cars piled on other cars -- a Roman circus for the automotive age. It's the sort of thing that, if you like this sort of thing, you'll like it.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46gqZqmlGLBqbHFrWSaraSkenKFlnA%3D