Highway Patrol

Highway Patrol is a 156-episode action crime drama series produced for syndication from 1955 to 1959. It was "one of the most popular syndicated series in television history", and it was the first American series broadcast in West Germany on that country's commercial TV channel. Overview Highway Patrol stars Broderick Crawford as Dan Mathews, the gruff and dedicated head of a police force in an unidentified Western state. Mathews had "no particular title — just the boss," Crawford said. The program was "based on authentic stories from the files of highway patrol headquarters throughout the country." Episodes dealt with pursuing and arresting criminals such as smugglers, hijackers, and robbers. Two technical advisors (one a patrolman on active service and one retired) read scripts before scenes were shot and were present during filming "to speak up whenever a technical violation, however slight, occurred." A signature shot of the series is fedora-wearing Matthews barking rapid-fire dialogues into a radio microphone as he leans against the door of his black and white patrol car. Crawford's acting style in the series was one of studied rudeness.