1958. the sleepy small southern town of clarksburg . evil sheriff roy childress ( the almighty vic morrow in peak nasty form ) crack down super hard on speeder by force say offender off a cliff to their untimely death on an especially dangerous stretch of road . childress meet his match when cool young hot rod driver michael mccord ( a splendidly smooth and brood portrayal by martin sheen ) show up in town in his soup up automobile with the specific intention of avenge the death of his brother ( sheen real life sibling joe estevez in a brief cameo ) . director richard t. heffron and work from a taut and intriguing script by richard compton ( the same guy who direct the 70 drive in movie gem welcome home and soldier boy and macon county line ) and relate the gripping story at a brisk pace and neatly create a flavorsome 50 period setting and and ably milk plenty of suspense out the tense game of wit and will between childress and mccord . the uniformly fine cast help a lot represent sheen radiate a brash james deanesque rebellious vibe in the lead and morrow make the most out of his meaty bad guy part and plus there be excellent support performance by michelle phillips a sweet diner waitress maggie and stuart margolin a a folksy deputy and nick nolte a amiable gas station attendant buzz stafford and gary morgan a buzz endearingly gawky young brother lyle and janit baldwin a sassy local tart sissy and britt leach a stingy cab driver johnny and and frederic down a the stern judge j. a. hooker . the climactic vehicular confrontation between childress and mccord be a real pulse pound white knuckle thrill doozy . terry k. meade sharp cinematography and the well drawn character ( for example and childress become obsessed with bust speeder after his wife and kid be kill in a fatal hit and run incident ) and the groovy and syncopate score by luchi de jesus and and the beautiful mountainside scenery all further enhance the overall sound quality of this superior make for tv winner .