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Martin Sheen, Michelle Phillips, Vic Morrow, Nick Nolte
It’s a little known fact that pint sized lothario Martin Sheen made some of his best movies for the small screen. Amid the groundbreaking That Certain Summer to the trashy classic Sweet Hostage, he became a well-recognized face to shut-ins all over the country. The California Kid falls somewhere in between.

Sheen plays Michael McCord, a James Dean type who travels the desert in his hotrod aptly titled “The California Kid”. He makes a pit stop in a fleapit, small-town-speed-trap ruled under the iron fist of Sheriff Roy Childress (Vic Morrow as deadpan as ever). Michael gets in good with the impressionable high school kids, including gas station attendant Nick Nolte, and even lets one lucky couple make out in his car! Turns out this Rebel Without a Seatbelt is searching for the man who dun killed his brother, who was run off the road (brother brought to you courtesy of Joe Estevez in what is probably his best role – mostly because he has no dialog). Against Roy’s threats, Michael romances an uber-melodramatic waitress played by Michelle Phillips (her “woe is me” monologues are priceless). All of this turns out to be a cleverly calculated move to catch the sheriff at his own game.

The California Kid may not the high-octane thriller you’d expect from a movie all about fast cars, but it is a pretty engrossing murder mystery and as a movie set in the 50s, it does aptly re-create that desperate small town feel. Plus, I really enjoy watching Martin Sheen walking around in a tight pair of 501s. So sue me.

Reviewed by Amanda by Night