California Highway (1978)

California Highway: Directed by Matthew Robbins. With Mark Hamill, Annie Potts, Eugene Roche, William Bryant. A high school grad and a hooker-in-training try to track down his stolen Corvette.

“About the only thing about this minor film that anybody seems to remember is that it was Mark Hamillu0026#39;s first starring role after the monumental success of the original STAR WARS. It was not an auspicious beginning towards Hamill having a major career outside of Lucasu0026#39; universe. To be fair, Hamill does show a bit of his shaggy haired charms as another impetuous if callow hero.nHamill plays Kenneth, an L.A. high school student (he was 27 at the time) who creates a souped up Corvette in shop class. Before he can really enjoy it, itu0026#39;s stolen and he traces it to Las Vegas. Along the way he hooks up with Vanessa (Annie Potts) – a wannabe prostitute.nAt its most basic CORVETTE SUMMER is a typical cars and girls Drive-In flick, and on that minor level its enjoyable enough. Whatu0026#39;s unusual is that MGM gave Hal Barwood and Matthew Robbins (SUGARLAND EXPRESS, *batteries not included) $9M to write this throwaway little flick (Robbins also Directs). That budget translates to something like $36M in todayu0026#39;s money! Roger Corman and Crown International were churning out similar features for far less than a tenth of that at the time. Barwood and Robbins occasionally attempt something a tad deeper, but, they pale in comparison to all the low level hi jinks in the screenplay.nThe one reason to stick out a watch of this film is Annie Potts. She completely steals the film from its supposed star with her energetic kooky charm. It was her big screen debut and she is incredibly winning (she even garnered a Golden Globe nomination). It truly set up her career, which still blossoms. For Hamill, it was a bad omen, and within a few short years, his leading man days were over outside the galaxy far far away. Along with Potts, the film does give long-time second banana Eugene Roche a nice supporting bit and consummate scene stealer Dick Miller does just that in his two scenes. Oh, and thereu0026#39;s a Danny Bonaduce sighting!nCORVETTE SUMMER is harmless. Now long-separated from the hype of Hamillu0026#39;s next big thing, it has a certain 70s road trip vibe, but, really, Potts is only real reason to seek it out.”