Film

Grand Theft Auto

Name: Grand Theft Auto
Genre: Comedy, Action
Released: 1977
Cast: Ron Howard, Nancy Morgan, Elizabeth Rogers, Barry Cahill, Rance Howard

Screwball comedy
Light-hearted

Ron Howard's directorial debut is a scrappy 1977 chase comedy about a runaway heiress, her stolen Rolls-Royce, and the increasingly absurd parade of pursuers hot on her trail. It's endearingly sloppy—all pratfalls, car chases, and the kind of ramshackle energy that comes from a young director finding his footing. Unambitious but good-natured fun.

TMDb rating

2.7

If you liked this

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World1963

The spiritual ancestor of every chase-comedy ensemble film. A treasure hunt fractures a cast of comedians into competing factions, each pursuing the same prize across America with escalating absurdity and genuine spectacle.

But Nearly three hours long, and the pacing occasionally feels as bloated as the cast. Some of the jokes haven't aged gracefully, and it trades character for sheer comedic volume.

Smokey and the Bandit1977

Released the same year and cut from identical cloth: a cross-country romp built on car chases, regional characters, and the kind of good-humoured anarchism that treats authority as a punchline. Burt Reynolds at his most likeable.

But The Southern-fried sensibility is unrelenting, and if truck jokes and CB radio slang don't land for you, there's not much underneath to catch you.

The Italian Job1969

A heist picture dressed as a romp, with Mini Coopers instead of Rolls-Royces and a heist squad instead of a single runaway. The same DNA of playful criminality and carefully choreographed chaos, but with sharper plotting.

But More interested in mechanics than in character, so the human moments feel perfunctory. Michael Caine carries it more than the script deserves.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Grand Theft Auto

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Vanishing Point1971

Both are built on the romantic freedom of the getaway drive—the road as escape and solution—but Vanishing Point pursues that idea into the existential desert where Grand Theft Auto stops at the punchline.

A getaway driver pursues a pure, hypnotic drive across the American desert with minimal dialogue and a visionary clarity about the road itself. It's essentially a car-chase film that abandoned plot for mood and mythology, and it's magnificent.

But Nothing happens in the conventional sense. If you need narrative momentum or a functional plot, the film's meditative, almost psychedelic approach will feel like sitting still. Some find it profound; others find it tedious.

The Cannonball Run1981

A more expensive, more cynical, and somehow more fun attempt at the same formula—an illegal cross-country race with an enormous ensemble cast and episodic mayhem. Cast chemistry and sheer audacity compensate for the paper-thin plot.

But It's essentially a commercial for imported cars and celebrity cameos. If you need a story, you will be disappointed, and it runs very long on good will.

The Blues Brothers1980

Another chase comedy with reckless economics—a pair of musicians drive a Blues Mobile through Chicago destroying everything in their path. The music is genuinely excellent, and the stunt work is genuinely insane.

But The musical numbers stop the comedy dead if you're not invested in the songs. Some extended passages feel padded, and the property damage fatigue sets in.

Foul Play1978

A lighter, more romantic take on the chase-comedy, with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn tangling with conspirators across San Francisco. Succeeds entirely on the chemistry between its leads and their timing.

But Plot-wise it's contrived even for the genre, and the mystery element is genuinely uninteresting. Chevy Chase's physical comedy is acquired taste.

Hooper1978

Burt Reynolds as a stunt driver pushed into one last elaborate gag, with the genuine affection for stunt work and old Hollywood shining through. Smaller in scope than Grand Theft Auto but warmer in spirit.

But The plot is negligible and the sentiment occasionally cloying. Without genuine curiosity about how stunts were performed in the 1970s, there's not much to hold you.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang1968

A magical-car comedy with the same chase-and-escape DNA but for family audiences. The inventiveness is staggering, the fantasy grounded enough to make the car feel real, and Dick Van Dyke is utterly committed.

But The musical numbers are long and occasionally treacly. It's a children's film operating at Victorian grandeur, which is either delightful or exhausting depending on your tolerance.

The Great Race1965

Blake Edwards directing Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk across continents in an elaborate cross-continental race. A love letter to silent comedy mechanics and Vaudeville timing, with genuine craftsmanship underneath the chaos.

But It's over three hours of relentless, exhausting comedy—not every joke lands, and the pacing occasionally collapses under its own ambition. Feels dated in ways that undermine rather than charm.

Wrinkles2011

Both films understand the chase as an existential statement—the getaway as a way of asserting control over your own story—but Wrinkles uses that frame to examine mortality and friendship where Grand Theft Auto uses it for laughs.

An animated film about two elderly men escaping a nursing home, rendered in watercolour with the texture of a graphic novel. It's a chase comedy stripped to its emotional core—loyalty, dignity, and the refusal to surrender.

But It's animated, which some viewers assume means comedy; this is tender and melancholic. Spanish language, and the escape plot resolves into something far heavier than the setup suggests. Not light.

Two-Lane Blacktop1971

Both films are organized around the car as escape, but Two-Lane Blacktop inverts Grand Theft Auto's comedy—it turns the drive into something meditative and abstract, finding existential weight where the 1977 film finds laughs.

A minimalist road film about a car driver and a mechanic racing across America in a '55 Chevrolet. Barely a plot—just the rhythm of driving, the landscape, and the hypnotic pull of the road itself. Photography is stunning.

But Nothing dramatic happens and the ending deliberately refuses to resolve. If you need forward momentum, character development, or closure, this will feel like watching someone drive. Slow, patient, sometimes boring.