Grand Theft Auto

Grand Theft Auto is a 1977 American road action comedy film starring and directed by, in his feature film directorial debut, Ron Howard, who also wrote the screenplay with his real life father Rance Howard, who also co-starred in the film. As of 2023, this is the only film that Howard has both directed and starred in. The film takes its title from the crime grand theft auto, which is committed a number of times by several different characters. Plot In Los Angeles, Paula Powers (Nancy Morgan) wealthy parents, Bigby (Barry Cahill) and Priscilla Powers (Elizabeth Rogers), want her to marry Collins Hedgeworth (Paul Linke), whom they refer to as her fiance, and also hails from a wealthy family. Paula is really in love with classmate Sam Freeman (Ron Howard), an environmental research major, however, her father dismisses him as a "fortune hunter," which they dispute. Bigby yells at Sam to leave, and while he tries to defend himself, Paula tells him to go wait for her outside. Bigby tells Paula that he is running for governor and wants her to cooperate. However, Paula dismisses Collins as a "flake," and tells her parents that she won't marry him and will elope with Sam to Las Vegas. Bigby threatens to disinherit her and take away her sports car (that she had bought with her own money) if she disobeys him. Paula goes to her room and escapes through the window, stealing her parents, Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and hitting the road with Sam, beginning a wild explosive car chase and race towards Las Vegas. Bigby calls his associate Ned Slinker (played by Ron Howard's real-life father Rance), asking him to bring back Paula and the Rolls-Royce, and to have Sam incarcerated, without involvement of police and news media. Priscilla gets a call from Collins, who is currently in a stable playing polo, and tells him Paula ran off. Enraged, Collins smashes the phone and takes off in his car. After crashing it, he steals another car from a nearby dealership to continue the chase. His mother Vivian (Marion Ross, Ron Howard's co-star on Happy Days), after being informed of it by the police, decides to go after him herself before the police could arrest him. Collins catches up with Paula and Sam on the Interstate, but ends up crashing the car he stole. Before stealing another car, he calls the TenQ radio station to DJ Curly Q. Brown (Don Steele), offering $25,000 to whoever can catch her.