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Series · 1955–1959Ended

Highway Patrol

6.2·4 seasons·156 episodes·28 min avg.·United States of America

Highway Patrol was a syndicated, fictional police action series produced from 1955 to 1959, concerning the activities of the highway patrol and their leader, Dan Matthews (who held no rank). Although filmed in and around the Los Angeles area, the state setting for the stories was never identified, and city and street names were fictionalized.

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01
Prison Break / Road Block
Prison Break / Road BlockUp next
Oct 3, 1955

A hardened criminal, whose personality belies his viciousness, escapes from prison, killing a guard. Dan Mathews swings into action, and as the man commits one ruthless act after another to break through the trap closing in on him, it becomes apparent that there's almost a personal conflict between the two men - that ends only when they meet face to face in the final scene.

02
Machine Story Copter / Machine Napping Copter
Machine Story Copter / Machine Napping Copter
Oct 10, 1955

An expensive, giant computer, one of the twentieth century wonders, which does a tremendous amount of administrative work in just hours, is ingeniously 'kidnapped' from an electronics company by two men. The firm's owner is told to get $100,000 from his bank at two o'clock the next day and wait for instructions. A helicopter chase helps Dan stop the men from collecting the ransom or getting away.

03
Reckless Driving
Reckless Driving
Oct 17, 1955

Systematic traffic checks and increased patrols begin on a high accident freeway. Hoping to determine causes and cures, Dan questions drivers who get too many citations there. One man refuses to accept Dan's safety philosophy. When his license is suspended, his wife drives him to an important business meeting. En route, her eyeglasses break and he takes over at the wheel. Encountering a traffic check, he panics and flees, resulting in a severe accident in which his wife is critically injured. He learns the hard way - and too late - what Dan had earlier tried to impress upon him.

04
Lookout
Lookout
Oct 24, 1955

An uninvolved man happens to be in the company of two brothers who hold up a diner and kill its owner. Fearing the police and terrified of the vengeance he may expect from the criminals, he flees. As Dan searches for him, one man winds up dead, two critically wounded, and the man who a few short hours ago was an average law-abiding citizen is harried to the point where he is willing to shoot it cut with the police - until Dan manages to show the error of his ways.

05
Gambling
Gambling
Oct 31, 1955

Dan Mathews and his officers assist a county sheriff in closing down a club that offers illicit gambling.

06
Hitchhiker
Hitchhiker
Nov 7, 1955

A series of fraudulent insurance claims is discovered after Dan Mathews and his officers learn that the "accidental" death of a migrant worker was actually a homicide.

07
Desert Town
Desert Town
Nov 14, 1955
08
Radioactive
Radioactive
Nov 21, 1955
09
Reformed Criminal
Reformed Criminal
Nov 28, 1955

Dan Mathews has reason to suspect the worst when a courier with a criminal record disappears with $31,000 after an automobile accident.

10
Father Thief
Father Thief
Dec 5, 1955
11
Retired Gangster
Retired Gangster
Dec 12, 1955
12
Phony Insurance
Phony Insurance
Dec 19, 1955
13
Escort
Escort
Dec 26, 1955
14
Resort
Resort
Jan 2, 1956
15
Girl Bandit
Girl Bandit
Jan 9, 1956
16
Mountain Copter
Mountain Copter
Jan 16, 1956
17
Lie Detector
Lie Detector
Jan 23, 1956
18
Scared Cop
Scared Cop
Jan 30, 1956
19
Harbor Story
Harbor Story
Feb 6, 1956
20
Hit And Run
Hit And Run
Feb 13, 1956

Dan Mathews must cope with a family's effort to protect an emotionally fragile young woman who fled after striking a pedestrian with her car.

21
Car Theft
Car Theft
Feb 20, 1956

Car thieves purchase wrecked vehicles and transfer the VIN plates to stolen ones in order to escape detection.

22
Human Bomb
Human Bomb
Feb 27, 1956
23
Plane Crash
Plane Crash
Mar 5, 1956
24
Desert Copter
Desert Copter
Mar 12, 1956
25
Plant Robbery
Plant Robbery
Mar 19, 1956
26
Released Convict
Released Convict
Mar 26, 1956

A patient parolee decides the time is finally right to attempt the recovery of $250,000 stolen in an armored car robbery.

27
Motorcycle A
Apr 2, 1956

Two bikers (Clint Eastwood as 'Joe Keeley', John Compton as 'Nick West') ride stripped-down Harleys into town and stop at a cafe. They are shocked when the cafe owner (Jack Edwards as 'Bernie Sills') confronts them with a shotgun and orders them to leave. As his wife calls the Highway Patrol her husband provokes the bikers, until Nick takes the gun from Sills and punches him. The bikers jump on their bikes and roar out of town. When Sills learns his wife has called the law, he hides the gun and lies to the responding motorcycle cop, telling him the cyclists started the trouble. The cop takes off after the bikers, only to be struck and killed by a trucker who runs a red light. Broderick Crawford’s ‘Chief Dan Mathews’ quickly sorts truth from fiction and arrests the café owner for assaulting the bikers. A nice (albeit unlikely) twist on the ‘bad guy bikers’ trope!

28
Mental Patient
Mental Patient
Apr 9, 1956
29
License Plates
License Plates
Apr 16, 1956

An alert boy is able to give Dan Mathews information that provides a critical break in the pursuit of a recidivist thief.

30
Hitchhiker Dies
Hitchhiker Dies
Apr 23, 1956
31
Blast Area Copter
Blast Area Copter
Apr 30, 1956
32
Anti-toxin
Anti-toxin
May 7, 1956
33
Dead Patrolman
Dead Patrolman
May 14, 1956

A Highway Patrol officer is murdered while pursuing a car stolen from a lonely bookstore owner.

34
Art Robbery
Art Robbery
May 21, 1956

Two thieves attempt to steal valuable paintings and demand ransom of $500,000. but they are forced to commit murder when the plan goes awry.

35
Runaway Boy
Runaway Boy
May 28, 1956
36
Taxi
Taxi
Jun 4, 1956
37
Missing Witness
Missing Witness
Jun 11, 1956
38
Prospector
Prospector
Jun 18, 1956

A poor prospector arouses suspicion when he suddenly begins paying off long-standing debts from a large roll of new $100 bills.

39
Christmas Story
Christmas Story
Jun 25, 1956

Cast

2 credited
Broderick Crawford
Dan Mathews
Art Gilmore
Narrator (voice)

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