The basic story is about a young couple named Sam (Ron Howard) and Paula (Nancy Morgan) who drive hard and fast to Vegas - in a Paula's father's stolen Rolls Royce - to get married. Once on the road a major chase ensues when Paula's ex-boyfriend Colin (Paul Linke) calls the local radio station and offers a $10,000 reward for Paula's safe return.

All gets a little more out of hand when Colin's mother (Marion Ross) offers an extra $10,000 reward for his return. Soon over a dozen people including the police, a couple of auto mechanics, a bible salesman, a farmer, some low riding Latinos and the mob are hot in pursuit.

In each situation too a car is stolen multiplying the number of 'grand theft autos'. It's all fast, furious and silly and eventually everything ends up at a demolition derby. But the best thing is that the film never takes itself too seriously. And too like most all of Roger Corman productions everything is done cheap and on the fly but ultimately providing a competent B-movie entertainment. And, in this case, there are plenty of cars that are stolen (8), take flight (10) and/or crash into each other (15) along the way.

Audio:
The audio is presented in Dolby Digital Stereo and sounds very good. Occasionally it seems there is a dated quality to the sound but considering it is a movie made under a million dollars that's quite alright. The car crashes (!!) can be heard pretty clearly – and that's a good thing.

Video:
The print looks very good. The only complaint is that the transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which is not the proper ratio it was shot in of 1.85 to 1 and because of this some of the framing is a little off. Perhaps Roger Corman and New Concorde are aiming at the mainstream or drive-in crowd with this DVD so they decided to make it full screen. It's too bad they didn't offer both. There is some edge enhancement but since it is 1.33:1 it's hard to detect.

Extras:
There are a good amount of extras including An Audio Commentary track with Ron Howard and Roger Corman and A Video Interview with Roger Corman and Ron Howard that is eight minutes long as well as A Video interview by Leonard Maltin with Roger Corman that is five minutes long. The Audio Commentary track tells you all you need to know about the film – the two interviews simply rehash everything that has been said in the commentary track. Of interest is the way that Roger Corman makes movies and cuts deals. He draws a line at 3 week shoots and keeps a tight reign on the budget (For Grand Theft it cost $600,000) but if you stay on schedule he is a hands-off producer. Both Ron and Roger recall what went into the making of the film and they comment upon a good number of the scenes. After the first 30 minutes though they don't seem to have as much to say. Included as an extra are two trailers one for Grand Theft Auto and one for Eat My Dust. Rounding out the extras is an eight page Printed Reproduction of Original Theatrical Presskit on the inside cover, which gives a lot of info on the film and cast and crew biographies.

Overall:
Grand Theft Auto is one of the better car theft-chase-crash comedies of the 1970's. It is a little light on real drama (after all it is directed by Ron Howard) but it is good fun and worth a look. As a movie it is a bit more honest than Ron Howard's latest offerings if only because it doesn't try to foist a moral lesson on us. As a 25th anniversary DVD it is above average. It provides good extras and the sound and picture are fine. The only downside is that the film is presented full screen.