Highway Patrol

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oct 31, 1955

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

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.

Nov 14, 1955

Nov 21, 1955

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.

Dec 5, 1955

Dec 12, 1955

Dec 19, 1955

Dec 26, 1955

Jan 2, 1956

Jan 9, 1956

Jan 16, 1956

Jan 23, 1956

Jan 30, 1956

Feb 6, 1956

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.

Feb 20, 1956

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

Feb 27, 1956

Mar 5, 1956

Mar 12, 1956

Mar 19, 1956

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.

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!

Apr 9, 1956

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.

Apr 23, 1956

Apr 30, 1956

May 7, 1956

May 14, 1956

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

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.

May 28, 1956

Jun 4, 1956

Jun 11, 1956

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.

Jun 25, 1956

Oct 8, 1956

After an elderly couple inadvertently help a murderous bank robber slip through a police road block, a restaurant manager spots the fugitive who uses the old folks to keep from getting caught.

Oct 15, 1956

Jerry Watts is the son of a millionaire and he's just been kidnapped and taken to an old shack high in the mountains. After a tip from a game warden brings the Highway Patrol, Jerry tries to escape to the officers, only to fall into a canyon severely injuring himself. The only way out is straight up.

Oct 22, 1956

Steve Talbot is a jewel thief who likes nice automobiles, and the Highway Patrol knows this. So Talbot flees capture after a job in an old junker. This gets him past the roadblocks but he soon is stranded on the side of the road. He hijacks a newly married couple pulling a trailer and Dan passes the trio through, not wanting harm to come to the civilians. But in passing the blockade, they unknowingly pick up a new rider.

Oct 29, 1956

A car that was involved in an accident is stolen and later found again, and just happens to match the description of one used in a bank holdup. Putting two and two together, Dan speculates that this was the getaway car and it's occupants must have escaped on foot, which is near a posh resort.

Nov 5, 1956

Reporter Sam Dalquist has gone missing. Dan has been looking for him because a two bit hood was found dead after getting a traffic citation driving Dalquist's car. The only lead Mathews has is that Dalquist was working on an exposé about a hood named Matlock and that may be where the writer will be found...dead or alive.

Nov 12, 1956

Hank Dooley's daughter has just died from typhoid fever, and Dooley is now searching for his farm hand Len Frazier who is the one who infected her, complete with rifle in hand.

Nov 19, 1956

Dan enlists the help of the leader of a local hot rod car club to assist in finding two robbers who use a souped-up car to get away from the Highway Patrol after each job.

Nov 26, 1956

Several criminals conspire to stage highway accidents prompting truck drivers to stop and help victims only to be assaulted and have their cargoes stolen. After discovering the hijackers are being tipped off by the owner of a roadside diner favored by truckers, Chief Mathews creates a ruse to force the crime ring into action with the hopes of capturing them.

Dec 3, 1956

An Army bazooka is stolen by two men who use it to capture the payroll from an oil drilling company.

Dec 10, 1956

The life of an ex-con is never easy, especially when cellmates show up expecting favors. Al Baldwin is a reformed criminal but suddenly has unexpected guests who hide out at his house while plotting their next crime. When that holdup goes bad, the cons hold Al's wife hostage until Dan and the Highway Patrol come to the rescue.

Dec 17, 1956

Dec 24, 1956

Jan 1, 1957

Jan 7, 1957

Jan 14, 1957

Jan 21, 1957

A woman suspects her husband is trying to kill her. Iris: Virginia Dale. George: Douglas Henderson. Mathews: Broderick Crawford. Ted: Robert Cavendish.

Jan 28, 1957

Feb 4, 1957

Mathews tries to prove the guilt of three holdup men---before the statute of limitations runs out. Mathews: Broderick Crawford. Eddie: Bing Russell. Wyatt: Mike Regan.

Feb 11, 1957

Feb 18, 1957

Feb 25, 1957

Mathews and the Highway Patrol investigate a rash of forged payroll-check cashings affecting merchants in and around Los Angeles.

Mar 5, 1957

Mar 12, 1957

Mar 18, 1957

Mar 25, 1957

Apr 1, 1957

Apr 8, 1957

Apr 15, 1957

Two brothers hijack a new-car carrier, planning to sell the cars to get cash to purchase a farm. When the driver dies from injuries sustained in the hijacking, they make a panic-stricken attempt to dispose of the evidence.

Apr 22, 1957

Apr 29, 1957

An ex-con wants to return money stolen in an armed robbery, but his erstwhile partner has other ideas.

May 6, 1957

Two convicts steal an airplane to escape from prison.

May 13, 1957

May 20, 1957

May 27, 1957

One member of a three-person holdup team impersonates a Highway Patrol officer in order to deceive robbery victims into thinking that they need not notify the Patrol themselves.

Jun 3, 1957

Jun 10, 1957

Jun 17, 1957

Jun 24, 1957

Jul 1, 1957

Oct 7, 1957

Oct 14, 1957

Oct 21, 1957

Oct 28, 1957

Nov 4, 1957

Nov 11, 1957

Nov 18, 1957

Nov 25, 1957

Lab worker Harry Wells flees and aggressively avoids people, after being accidentally exposed to dangerous radioactive material.

Dec 2, 1957

Mathews tries flushing out two gunmen who are holding a farmer and his wife hostage. Mathews: Broderick Crawford. Ruttman: Tom Holland. Collins: Robert Swan. Martin: Ted Lehman. Jane: Gail Gregg.

Dec 9, 1957

Mathews investigates a businessman's accidental death. Mathews: Broderick Crawford. Foster: Joe Haworth. Tom: Pierre Watkins.

Dec 16, 1957

Dec 23, 1957

Dec 30, 1957

Jan 6, 1958

Jan 13, 1958

Jan 20, 1958

Jan 27, 1958

Feb 3, 1958

Feb 10, 1958

Feb 17, 1958

Feb 24, 1958

Mar 3, 1958

Mar 10, 1958

Mar 17, 1958

Mar 24, 1958

Mar 31, 1958

Apr 7, 1958

Apr 14, 1958

Apr 21, 1958

Apr 28, 1958

A mentally disturbed man murders women who seek husbands through "Lonely Hearts" clubs.

May 5, 1958

May 12, 1958

May 19, 1958

May 26, 1958

Jun 2, 1958

Jun 9, 1958

Jun 16, 1958

A stolen helicopter enables a dangerous lifer to escape from a prison work detail.

Jun 23, 1958

Jun 30, 1958

Three farmers are stubbornly determined to risk their lives in order to collect a reward offered for the capture of a wounded fugitive.

Oct 6, 1958

Oct 13, 1958

Oct 20, 1958

Oct 27, 1958

Nov 3, 1958

Nov 10, 1958

Nov 17, 1958

Nov 24, 1958

Dec 1, 1958

Dec 8, 1958

A protection racket results in murder when a railroad yard worker refuses to continue making payments.

Dec 15, 1958

Dec 22, 1958

Dec 29, 1958

Jan 5, 1959

Jan 12, 1959

Jan 19, 1959

Jan 26, 1959

Feb 2, 1959

Feb 9, 1959

Feb 16, 1959

Feb 23, 1959

Mar 2, 1959

Mar 9, 1959

Mar 16, 1959

Mar 23, 1959

Mar 30, 1959

Apr 6, 1959

Apr 13, 1959

Apr 20, 1959

Apr 27, 1959

May 4, 1959

May 11, 1959

May 18, 1959

May 25, 1959

Jun 1, 1959

Jun 8, 1959

Jun 15, 1959

Jun 22, 1959

Jun 29, 1959

A husband and wife team rob couriers with large amounts of cash, then kill them so that there will be no witnesses.