One of the most profitable films in the history of Roger Corman's New World Pictures, the light-hearted, car chase drive-in flick Eat My Dust! (1976) basically paid Ron Howard's tuition for Corman's school of quickie, low-budget filmmaking. In exchange for starring in Eat My Dust, Howard got the chance to make his feature film directorial debut on Corman's Grand Theft Auto (1977). Today, Howard sits near the top of the Hollywood food chain, alongside fellow Corman film school honors graduates James Cameron (Piranha II: The Spawning) and Martin Scorsese (Boxcar Bertha), due in part to Eat My Dust, re-released on DVD in a "supercharged edition."

Happily ditching his squeaky-clean, Happy Days image to play the "rebel," Howard takes the wheel as Hoover Niebold, the speed demon son of a rural California sheriff (Warren Kemmerling). Into fast cars and even faster women, Hoover would do anything to win over Darlene (Christopher Norris), a Kewpie doll-faced blonde in hot pants. So he steals "Mabel," the prize stock car of racer Big Bubba Jones (David Madden), to take Darlene on a wild, pedal-to-the-metal ride all over the county, as the slow-poke local cops crash and burn in failed pursuit of the teenagers.

Described by Corman as a "Howard family affair" in his DVD introduction-father Rance Howard and kid brother Clint Howard play supporting roles-Eat My Dust! is a schlock curio from the brief, 1970s-era heyday of car chase films like Gumball Rally (1976) and Smokey and the Bandit (1977). Written and directed by Corman veteran Charles B. Griffith, whose screenwriting credits include such B-movie classics as Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and Death Race 2000 (1975), this formulaic potboiler depicts all the authority figures as buffoons, perpetually outsmarted by Hoover and his teenaged pals (Corman knew his target audience). Ironically, for a film about high-speed chases, Eat My Dust! meanders somewhat aimlessly towards its climax, but it's still enjoyable to watch Howard, barely out of his "Opie" period, revving up to launch his career behind the camera.

DVD DETAILS
Taking Corman's cheap and cheerful approach to filmmaking a bit too closely to heart, the supercharged DVD edition of Eat My Dust! is pretty skimpy in terms of special features. Aside from Corman's introduction and the original trailer, there's just "How to Crash on a Dime," in which Norris, editor Tina Hirsch, and cinematographer Eric Saarinen reminisce fondly about working for Corman (Howard is MIA).