Sometimes I get a free minute, and I do what I really want to do: I translate old movies about cars. For example, Russian subtitles for the 1974 film The California Kid by my authorship. It was a little difficult to translate, because I had to do it by ear, but there were subtitles in other languages, so at least the timecodes were arranged for me… for the most part.
In general, this is a surprise! – a post about a car. Because California Kid is not really a person and not even so much a movie as a car built in the 70s by Pete Shapouris. A very unremarkable coupe would have gone unnoticed if it weren’t for one thing: at that time, the school of “classic” hot rodding, with minor body alterations and attention to the original appearance of the car was experiencing extreme decline, and almost no such cars were made. At all. Therefore, California Kid attracted attention. They even made a movie. In certain circles, at the words California Kid, they immediately realize that we are talking about a car. And you can also argue which people are more – moviegoers or hot rod lovers. And it was looking at this car that Billy Gibbons built his Eliminator, which we will definitely write about separately.
What’s under the hood? Well, this three-window coupe of 1934 is powered by a real classic – a V-shaped eight from Ford in 302 cubes on the FMX gearbox.
What exactly was changed for the film? Yes, small things – they added non-working exhaust pipes on the sides, and they screwed the other rear bumper. Well, they changed the Halibrands discs to the correct steel red ones with small moons for that time. Oh, and they added the inscription “The California Kid” on the car door, forever tying him to the iconic role in the film of the same name. Now, 42 years later, the car is still intact and the parts in it are changed only if necessary, and there are already almost 100 thousand miles on its odometer!
Наш главный герой после сьёмок фильма - обратите внимание на другой задний бамер, диски и отсутствие боковых выхлопных труб
Well, the movie, suddenly, came out very good. For a TV movie, it’s a masterpiece in general. Martin Sheen in the main roles is, of course, pleasant, but all the actors play well. I especially liked Vic Morrow, the local sheriff: I had never heard of him at all before, but now I think I can see more from his filmography. The director is trying, the editor is also not particularly messing up. The whole action is not much delayed, it’s easy and pleasant to watch. The plot is clear, and cars characteristic of the USA of the mid-sixties are constantly flashing in the background of the entire action. The main antagonist of the film, for example, is Plymouth Belvedere 1957. But, in general, it turned out to be a light thriller with a small amount of action – a good movie that you can safely advise to watch even to those who will not pay attention to cars.
Fortunately or unfortunately, no one needs this movie so much that it has not been blocked on YouTube, so you can watch it right here. And if by some miracle you already have this movie and you just need subtitles, then you can download them from this link:
Watch The California Kid movie online (with hard subs, link to Youtube)
Enjoy watching.
