Eat My Dust! (USA, 1976) 89 min color DIR-SCR: Charles B. Griffith. PROD: Roger Corman. MUSIC: David Grisman. DOP: Eric Saarinen. CAST: Ron Howard, Christopher Norris, Dave Madden, Clint Howard, Rance Howard, Paul Bartel, Corbin Bernsen. (New World Pictures)
This slight but enjoyable good old boy yarn, written and directed by Charles B. Griffith, ended up being one of Roger Corman’s biggest hits for New World- he attributes the combination of action and comedy for its success. Well, the movie isn’t that funny, and considering Griffith’s earlier work, the movie is rather light-headed, however amusing.
Much to Corman’s delight and surprise, Happy Days star Ron Howard (their first choice for the lead) agreed to appear in this movie, despite that it was for a fee much less than his usual salary. Perhaps Howard knew of Roger Corman’s tradition in giving a break to up-and-coming directors (from Coppola to Scorsese), and secretly agreed to making this movie in the hope that he would be able to start his directing career under Corman’s banner (and he did, with Grand Theft Auto, next).
Howard plays the amiable dimwit Hoover, who swipes a race car from stock car superstar Bubba Jones (Dave Madden from TV’s The Partridge Family and Alice!) in order to impress good time gal Darlene (Christopher Norris, later of TV’s Trapper John M.D.). By breaking the speed limit and causing mass destruction in their wake, the redneck police are soon on their tails. The county sheriff also happens to be Hoover’s dad! No allowance for a few weeks I guess…
There isn’t a whole lot to say about this one… just one cartoonish chase scene after another. Considering that a restaurant gets demolished, and cars constantly pile on one another (second unit work by Barbara Peeters!), it is a miracle that no character gets killed in this amiable mayhem. Its one surprise is that when it is all over, Hoover isn’t really punished for his acts. (Like Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, the world is a big playground, and adults are powerless to stop or discipline the youngsters for any mischief.) Instead there is an interesting segment where Bubba just lets Hoover drive around the racetrack incessantly, while the surrogate father figure looks on, and David Grisman’s acoustic score plucks merrily on the soundtrack.
Most of the fun in this movie actually comes for all the in-jokes that Griffith has thrown in. A restaurant with a name of “Bucket o Blood”, and a silhouetted figure in the jail uttering: “Feed Me!” are among the quirks woven into the action.
Like Grand Theft Auto, this too is a Howard family affair, as parts are given to father Rance, and brother Clint who still makes Corman movies for a living when not waiting for brother Ron to direct another movie in which he can make a cameo.
Originally published in The Roger Corman Scrapbook.
Greg Woods
Greg Woods has been a film enthusiast since his teens, and began his writing "career" at the same time- prolific in capsule reviews of everything he had watched, first on index cards, then those hardcover dollar store black journals, then an old Mac IIsi. He founded The Eclectic Screening Room in 2001, as a portal to share his film love with the world, and find some like-minded enthusiasts along the way. In addition to having worked in the film industry for over two decades, he has been a co-programmer of films at Trash Palace, and a programmer/co-founder of the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. He has also written for Broken Pencil, CU-Confidential, Micro-Film, and is currently working on his first novel. His secret desire is for someone to interview him for a podcast or a DVD extra.