1976 marked the beginning of Corman's relationship with Ron Howard when Roger sent him the script for Eat My Dust. Ron agreed to star in it with the hopes of eventually getting the opportunity to direct a feature for Corman (which ended up being 1977's Grand Theft Auto), but otherwise thought it sounded "terrible;" and described it as a "zany car chase comedy with weak jokes and cardboard characters." In hindsight, that is the literal premise of the picture, and also an unwaveringly objective review. Ron plays Hoover, the son of the town sheriff, who steals a Chevy Camaro from the town's racetrack to impress superficial floozy Darlene. The two of them lead the town on a two-day car chase full of rural California backroads and hick humor and fiddle music. Most of the car stunts are fun and sometimes impressive, and really that's all we're here for. And while none of the jokes are actually funny, it's a much funner hangout to watch a Chase Film that does everything it can to let you know that it won't end in bloodshed; nothing is spoiled by letting you know that they didn't drive Richie Cunningham off a cliff as an analogy for some sociopolitical commentary. Actually, it has a decidedly happy ending that's almost thought-provoking (and for big bonus points takes place on Halloween).
The point of pairing these movies with frozen pizza was always meant to be an obvious metaphor for high quality in low places. But that parallel kinda fizzles when the pizza tries so hard to be classy, which is clearly the case with Taste of Inspirations Four Meat Brewery Crust Pizza. (You get all that?) Sure the pretentious name is off-putting, but the even more unappetizing thing is the bland box it came in; the mandatory closeup of the pizza texture is excusable, but the diminutive serif typeface looks like nutrition facts. To balance out the froofiness we reached down for the lowbrow Four Meat selection, topped with Italian Sausage, Pepperoni, Hamburger, and Bacon. As usual they're all a bit indiscernible when you mash 'em together like that, but the results were actually quite good - and a lotta that had to do with their fancy ass "malted barley crust" they're pushing. (We couldn't organically work in an "Eat My Crust" pun anywhere so consider this that.) But the most remarkable thing is how the actual cooked pizza is identical to the picture on the box. That's a truth in advertising that was almost nonexistent when it came to posters for Roger Corman movies.
The Movie: C
The Pizza: B
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