Cheap Eat My Dust! (DVD) (Ron Howard, Christopher Norris) (Charles B. Griffith) Price

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Customer Reviews of Eat My Dust!

Misses the boat
One thing you will always get when you watch a Roger Corman film, whether the man produced or directed it, is a healthy helping of cheese. It doesn't matter who stars in the film or what sort of genre film it is, you just know what you're about to see will exude that instantly recognizable low budget fragrance. "Eat My Dust!" probably ranks in the top ten of Corman classics, not because it is better than any of the other schlock productions carrying the Corman tag but because Ron Howard stars in it. In case you just arrived on the planet, Howard played Opie Taylor in the rural themed series "Andy Griffith" before moving on to an even more successful stint as Richie Cunningham on "Happy Days." Nowadays, he's a big shot director and producer in Hollywood. Ron Howard's film career may never have gotten off the ground if it weren't for Roger Corman casting the young man in "Eat My Dust!" Moreover, the actor used his success in this picture to pressure Corman into letting him direct his first film, the quasi-sequel "Grand Theft Auto" a year or two after this picture. The rest, as they say, is history. Regrettably, although I've had some enjoyable experiences with a few other Corman films-"Humanoids From the Deep," as an example-I found "Eat My Dust!" an exercise in extreme boredom. The only reason to watch the film in the first place is to see Ron Howard in an early role, and even then it is barely enough of a reason.

Howard plays Hoover Niebold, a rip roaring young man just aching to stir up trouble in his hometown. Unfortunately, Hoover has several problems in his life. He's the son of Sheriff Harry Niebold (William J. Kemmerling), which is a bad thing to be when you're looking to date town cutie Darlene (Christopher Norris-yes, a girl). Harry Niebold is always riding Hoover about speeding around town or not working at his job delivering toilet paper to local businesses. Things come to a head when Hoover turns up at the local stock car track only to endure a withering rebuke from his father. Annoyed, Niebold the Younger spots Darlene sitting with her parents. He once again attempts to set up a date with the pretty gal, but she brushes him off with a statement to the effect that Hoover doesn't have a nice set of wheels with which to ferry her around town. Well, Howard's character spies a very nice car just a few feet away on the track, a car that just won the race. For some reason never adequately explained in the script, Hoover hijacks the car from under the nose of its incredulous driver (Dave Madden of "The Partridge Family" fame) and roars off with Darlene and a few friends.

Hoover and company never go anywhere except through the streets of this small town, endlessly pursued by his father and a passel of inept deputies. The kids destroy property, wreck cars, and generally terrorize the town over the next few hours. In one series of scenes, Niebold and his friends level a small farm while trying to escape from a deputy sheriff. So many townspeople fall prey to this group of hellions that the police station fills up with screaming citizens demanding action. Harry Niebold doesn't have a clue about what to do with his out of control boy, so he generally sits around the station pushing his hat up on his head, sighing, yelling at people, and watching tow trucks haul in the shattered hulks of his deputies' cruisers. After an interminable amount of time goes by, Niebold the Elder and a few of the stock car drivers finally formulate a plan of attack. What follows is about what you would expect from a crash 'em dash 'em derby movie: lots of over the top chase scenes, dumb good old boy dialogue, and the requisite feel good conclusion. A subplot concerning Hoover's unrequited love for Darlene has not only been done better a billion times before, but ultimately goes nowhere here.

The opening credit sequence of the film, where we see a car tearing up a country road from the point of view of the driver of the automobile, and Ron Howard's performance constitute the only two worthwhile things in this movie. Well, Christopher Norris's character, who looks a lot like a young Nancy Allen, strutting around in short shorts helps a bit too. But a movie cannot subsist on two or three small points if it wishes to succeed. The main problem in "Eat My Dust!" is the script: a tired, decrepit old dishrag of a thing dripping with so many clichés that it bored me to the point of exhaustion. The editing was sloppy, too, as was some of the acting. Too, for a movie that relied on car chases and crashes, "Eat My Dust!" is almost chaste in crunching metal and squealing tires. I guess I expected too much. At least we get to see several familiar faces: Clint Howard turns up in a small role, as does Ron Howard's father Rance. Paul Bartel and Corbin Bernsen also turn up in bit parts. It's unfortunate in the extreme the film fails to make adequate use of its talent.

Extras on the DVD consist of a short Roger Corman interview conducted by Leonard Maltin and a bunch of trailers. A movie full of unfunny gags, barely competent car chases, and pedestrian production values, "Eat My Dust!" is a film that only Ron Howard or Roger Corman completists need bother with. Looking back on the experience now, I am sure I spent more time looking at my watch than I did at the screen. 'Tis a pity, I say.

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A boy and his car.
One fun thing to do with movies under the Roger Corman banner is to try to notice all the film school-y things in them. *Eat My Dust!* turns out to be an American B-movie hommage to Godard's *Breathless*, which itself was a French B-movie hommage to American B-movies. In this movie we're given the Godard-brand of existential, rebellious hero who's main aim is the pursuit of kicks. Granted, Ron Howard ain't no Jean-Paul Belmondo, but he'll do in a pinch. We're also given the exact-same type of Grade-A American b---h/goddess that Jean Seberg perfected in Godard's movie: but here, she has the added virtues of hot yellow short-shorts accompanied by thigh-high white boots. She can be counted on to take a powder when things start to become a drag. But director Charles B. Griffith adds a number of elements missing from *Breathless*, such as the insistence on creating an interesting cast of supporting characters (goofballs and wackos every one), as well as consummately executed scenes of slapstick action that's reminiscent of silent-film chase comedies. Although Griffith never really accomplished anything else as a director, he's brilliant here, starting with the hypnotic opening credits: the camera is atop a car's hood, giving us an unseen driver's POV as the car eats up the country miles in revved-up fast-motion. There are also some well-executed smash-em-ups: police cruisers sailing through the air; muscle cars barreling down a 500-foot hill with a 45-degree grade. The ending strikes a surprisingly bittersweet note. It turns out that Opie's afternoon of playing hide-and-seek from the cops will serve as an apprenticeship: awaiting him is the lonely, dangerous, but exciting life of the professional racer. But regardless of all that, the bitchin Camaro rolls on with the final credits, and that's the important thing. Altogether, *Eat My Dust* is yet another dim-witted masterpiece from the Corman Factory.

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Another good car chase movie.
Ron Howard stealing a racing style 1967 Camaro and running away from the cops led by his own dad. Very funny and original, cool car. Hot chicks + fast cars + good casting = good buy.