The California Kid

The executive producer Paul Mason was very fortunate to have acquired such a talented group of actors for this made for TV movie back in 1974. You won't get any better than Nick Nolte, Martin Sheen and Vic Morrow joining forces in this low budget movie. I quite enjoyed the drama and the action that The California Kid presented using the small town of Clarksberg as the back drop for the movie in 1958.

The Sheriff Roy Childress is played by Vic Morrow whose salary is drawn by how much the judge can fine the unsuspecting visitors who go over the posted speed limit even by 5 miles per hour. And if the speedsters try and avoid capture, well Vic Morrow just runs them off the cliff as they attempt to allude capture and make the state border.

A lot of the interaction takes place at the local town restaurant where the waitress Maggie played by Michelle Phillips serves the best hot coffee in town. Then one day a hot rodder named Michael McCord played by Martin Sheen comes driving in to town. We soon find out that Mr. McCord is not in town by accident, but seeking answers as to how is brother died falling over a cliff outside of town while driving with a friend.

Martin Sheen is such a super star that he can take a basic script and elevate the movie from a 2 star to a 4 star rating by himself. Adding to the star quality you have Nick Nolte as the local mechanic Buzz Stafford whose younger brother also recently died at the hands of the mean Sheriff Roy Childress.

The movie will keep you wishing for revenge for the young murder victims and that Sheriff Roy Childress will get his comeuppance. The late model 1950's circa cars ridden by Sheriff Roy and by Michael McCord are awesome to look at and watch during the speed racing scenes.

The epilogue leaves the fans with the feeling that justice has been served. How? Well you will just have to watch the movie for yourself. You won't be disappointed in this 1970's made for TV movie. Keep in mind that both Nick Nolte and Martin Sheen went on to the big screen and starred in some of the biggest box office movies over the next three decades. We were lucky to have them both on our television sets starring in The California Kid.

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

For those of us Baby Boomers who arrived too late on the scene to appreciate James Dean et. al., Martin Sheen showed us The Way in this great feature.

The premise is easy enough: cool hood meets small town sheriff and All-Hell ensues, but the nuts and bolts of this movie enthrall the car nut in all of us.

No, this isn't Casablanca, nor is it great Literature, but it IS a serious movie about cars, rebellion, and the genius that is Martin Sheen.

Enjoy this and appreciate it for what it is, and for what Martin will become. I loved this movie growing up as a teen in the 70's, and you will too.

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.

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.