"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.
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.