The California Kid

Martin Sheen, Michelle Phillips, Stuart Margolin and the late Vic Morrow are the human stars of this movie about a young man looking for answers about his brother's death. Mr. Sheen, Mr. Margolin and Mr. Morrow all turn in first rate performances in their respective roles; Ms. Phillips has the slightly less than enviable task of trying to spice up a made-for-TV movie (twenty-five years ago), by supplying the "sex interest" in an otherwise sexless film. The real star, however, is the "California Kid"; a 1934 Ford coupe, borrowed from "Jake" Jacobs, put before a camera and given a workout that'll leave the viewer panting, gasping and holding the edge of the seat with breathless anticipation.

The action scenes are spectacular, (although some of the dialog is a bit lame) making for a fine evening's diversion. This is how all "car movies" should be made.

Try to catch this one on the late movie channel; it's well worth the missed sleep.

To be honest it's not really a classic, even as the acting is above mediocre it is too slow to stand up nowadays. On the other hand for those out there who love old American cars it's a must see because the '34 Ford that's been driven by Martin Sheen became a classic in the custom world.

The story itself is easy piecy. Two marines die in a car crash, and suddenly in the small town with a dominating sherriff (Vic Morrow) Michael McCord (Martin Sheen) arrib-ves to investigate what happened. You can see from miles what is happening.

There's also a young Nick Nolte to see as a wrecking yard holder. This flick was a pure TV movie back then. If you can stand the slow moving story then it's worth picking uo for the '34 Ford and the '57 Plymouth police cruiser.

Worth noting is that Laurie Bird has a main lead, she was the girlfriend of Art Garfunkel but made suicide in '79.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0/5

I caught this movie about 8 years ago, and have never had it of my mind. surely someone out there will release it on Video, or hey why not DVD! The ford coupe is the star.......if you have any head for cars WATCH THIS and be blown away.

Prior to THE CALIFORNIA KID, the only work I had seen from Director Richard Heffron was the ST LOUIS BANK ROBBERY, which I found less than impressive.

Although of a completely different context, I found THE CALIFORNIA KID a far better film. Very tight script, focusing expressly on the actions of a backwater town sheriff who lost his wife and child to a hit and run driver, and proceeds to wreak revenge on all those he spots speeding through town and around a bend that has claimed some seven lives in the recent past.

There is also a suggestion of official corruption by the town mayor, who wants to keep the system going to not pay taxes.

Martin Sheen plays McCord, arriving in town in a souped up classic car with CALIFORNIA KID printed on the painted flames.

Vic Morrow plays the vindictive sheriff with a professional approach to duty, and he wastes no time giving McCord a ticket for doing 38 miles/hour in a 35 miles/hour zone.

Inevitably, McCord is less than pleased and ever more determined to learn more about his brother's demise in one of the aforesaid fatal bend accidents, and finds evidence that his car may have been pushed out of the road from behind.

He also wastes no time establishing that the sheriff's car has big metal bars on his front bumper that might well be used to push cars off the road.

A very young Nick Nolte plays a local mechanic who gets paid for towing vehicles involved in accidents.

Good production values, strong script and cinematography, make this a top notch TV film.

One detail I did not understand: why McCord did not want to leave his boot prints on the sand by the point where his brother's car flew off the road.

I also found the death of Nolte's brother a bit contrived, but it does not damage the film.

Well worth watching. 7/10.

"The California Kid" is the 200th installment of "The ABC Movie of the Week" and as such you would have thought that they would have shown one of their very best movies. Instead, it was a film with a few exciting moments...and a lot of padding. In essence, the film could have been condensed to half an hour!

The story begins with Michael McCord (Martin Sheen) going through a crappy little town near the state line. The cops here lie in wait and the town is just a gigantic speed trap. But with one cop (Vic Morrow) it's more. He LIKES it when a speeder tries to outrun him and cross the state line...as he gives chase and runs them off the road to their death. He gets off on doing this. But despite ticketing McCord, McCord doesn't even try going full bore towards the state line...until the sadistic cop kills once again.

This DOES sound exciting, doesn't it. Well, it isn't. The pace is the problem...it's just too slow, too padded and never really delivers.