About this season
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.
Episodes (39)
1. The Search
Aired 8 October 1956 • 28 min
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.
2. Kidnap Copter
Aired 15 October 1956 • 28 min
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.
3. Trailer Story
Aired 22 October 1956 • 28 min
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.
4. Fisherman's Luck
Aired 29 October 1956 • 28 min
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.
5. Magazine Writer
Aired 5 November 1956 • 28 min
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.
6. Typhoid Carrier
Aired 12 November 1956 • 28 min
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.
7. Hot Rod
Aired 19 November 1956 • 28 min
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.
8. Hot Cargo
Aired 26 November 1956 • 28 min
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.
9. Oil Lease
Aired 3 December 1956 • 28 min
An Army bazooka is stolen by two men who use it to capture the payroll from an oil drilling company.
10. Ex Con
Aired 10 December 1956 • 28 min
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.
11. Motel Robbery
Aired 17 December 1956 • 28 min
12. Stolen Car Ring
Aired 24 December 1956 • 28 min
13. Escaped Mental Patient
Aired 1 January 1957 • 28 min
14. Armored Car
Aired 7 January 1957 • 28 min
15. Migrant Workers
Aired 14 January 1957 • 28 min
16. Ranch Copter
Aired 21 January 1957 • 28 min
A woman suspects her husband is trying to kill her. Iris: Virginia Dale. George: Douglas Henderson. Mathews: Broderick Crawford. Ted: Robert Cavendish.
17. Amnesia
Aired 28 January 1957 • 28 min
18. Statute of Limitations
Aired 4 February 1957 • 28 min
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.
19. Resident Officer
Aired 11 February 1957 • 28 min
20. Psycho
Aired 18 February 1957 • 28 min
21. Counterfeit
Aired 25 February 1957 • 28 min
Mathews and the Highway Patrol investigate a rash of forged payroll-check cashings affecting merchants in and around Los Angeles.
22. Suspected Cop
Aired 5 March 1957 • 28 min
23. Trojan Horse
Aired 12 March 1957 • 28 min
24. Female Hitchhiker
Aired 18 March 1957 • 28 min
25. Nitro
Aired 25 March 1957 • 28 min
26. Motorcycle B
Aired 1 April 1957 • 28 min
27. Officer's Wife
Aired 8 April 1957 • 28 min
28. Stripped Cars
Aired 15 April 1957 • 28 min
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.
29. Convict's Wife
Aired 22 April 1957 • 28 min
30. Reformation
Aired 29 April 1957 • 28 min
An ex-con wants to return money stolen in an armed robbery, but his erstwhile partner has other ideas.
31. Stolen Plane Copter
Aired 6 May 1957 • 28 min
Two convicts steal an airplane to escape from prison.
32. Gem Robbery
Aired 13 May 1957 • 28 min
33. Wounded
Aired 20 May 1957 • 28 min
34. Fake Cop
Aired 27 May 1957 • 28 min
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.
35. Double Cross
Aired 3 June 1957 • 28 min
36. Narcotics
Aired 10 June 1957 • 28 min
37. Hired Killer
Aired 17 June 1957 • 28 min
38. Hostage Copter
Aired 24 June 1957 • 28 min
39. Rabies
Aired 1 July 1957 • 28 min