Eat My Dust! is a 1976 American action comedy film written and directed by Charles B. Griffith, and starring Ron Howard.
Plot
When the clean-cut but rebellious son of a small-town sheriff steals the race car of a professional driver, the sheriff forms a motorized posse to recover the car.
Production
Ron Howard had written a comedy with his father called Tis the Season and raised half the budget from Australia. He met with Roger Corman and agreed to star in the film provided the producer agreed to co-finance Tis the Season. Corman was not enthusiastic about the comedy but said if Howard appeared in Eat My Dust! he would let the actor develop a second film which Howard would direct as well as star in. This was Grand Theft Auto (1977).
Charles Griffith directed the movie, which was shot in four weeks, although Howard's scenes were done in only ten days. It was originally titled The Car, and Griffith says he only suggested Eat My Dust! as a joke, but the marketing department at New World loved it.
Cast
Ron Howard as Hoover Niebold
Christopher Norris as Darlene Kurtz
Brad David as Billy B. Westerby
Kathy O'Dare as Miranda Smith
Clint Howard as George Poole Jr. Peter Isacksen as Junior Hale Jessica Potter as Lallie Chandler Warren J. Kemmerling as Sheriff Harry Niebold Charles Howerton as Dep. Jay Beah Kedric Wolfe as Dep. Brookside John Kramer as Dep. Sebastiani W.L. Luckey as Dep. Jerry Gallo Rance Howard as Deputy Clark Dave Madden as Big Bubba Jones Robert Broyles as Bud Paul Bartel as Bruno Smith Corbin Bernsen as Roy Puire Don Brodie as Old Man Lewis
Release
The film premiered on April 7, 1976 in San Antonio. It then opened in 100 theatres in Texas on April 23, 1976.
Reception
TV Guide gave the movie two out of five stars, calling it below par, finding the movie enjoyable but mindless.