Beefy,
gravel-voiced Broderick Crawford was the no-nonsense Chief of the Highway Patrol
in this action series, which was one of the most popular syndicated programs in
television history (156 episodes were made, run and rerun endlessly for years).
The stories were
straight crime dramas, with the Chief and his uniformed officers nailing
hijackers, smugglers, and robbers. In a typical episode, a young newlywed couple
were witnesses to a café holdup in which the proprietor was murdered. The
Highway Patrol was at first stymied by their chief suspect's airtight alibi, but
Matthews managed to get him in the end in suspenseful chase, when the crook went
after the couple who were the only witnesses to the crime. In another episode, a
bank messenger absconded with $50,000 and took it home to his wife, only to have
her slug him and make off with the loot herself. Chief Matthews put on out an
all-points bulletin and eventually nabbed them both.
Most of Highway
Patrol's action took place outdoors, on the sprawling highway system of an
unidentified Western state (those official-looking emblems on the police cars
read simply: "Highway Patrol"). There was lots of hardware - patrol cars,
motorcycles, and occasional helicopters - and Chief Matthews was always leaning
on the side of a car, microphone in hand, bellowing orders (“Ten-four,
ten-four!”).
There were no
regular characters in this long-running series, although actor William Boyett,
later a regular on Adam-12, was seen frequently in various supporting
roles.
