Topic: Highway Patrol, Season 4

[GSyren]

Title	Highway Patrol: Complete Season 4 (011891-211178)
Director	Various
Actors	Broderick Crawford, William Boyett
Produced	1958 in United States
Runtime	975 minutes
Audio	English Dolby Digital Mono
Subtitles	None
Overview	Packed with motorcycles, powerful patrol cars, helicopters and two-way radios, Highway Patrol screamed onto the scene destined to be one of the most popular syndicated television series of all time. This action packed show filled with harrowing roadway adventures sped its way from the TV screen into pop culture with he catch phrase "10-4".
My thoughts	39 half hour b/w episodes made up the fourth and last season of Highway Patrol starring the ruggedly not-handsome, fast speaking Broderick Crawford as Chief Dan Mathews, with William Boyett as his sidekick, Sgt. Ken Williams. If you have watched Adam-12 you'll recognize Boyett as their Sgt. MacDonald, but of course Boyett has been in countless TV shows. The shows are generally quite good. Two things strikes me when I watch them, though. First, whatever the crime, people always call the Highway Patrol. There never seems to be any local police force. Secondly, most episodes seem to end in a gunfight where one or more of the crooks get killed. The half hour format means that the shows get right to the point, so ther is very little characterization. You get to know squat about the cops private life. And not much more about the villains'. But whenever you just want to wind down and relax for half an hour (or more like 25 minutes w/o the commercials), that's just perfect. There are no story arcs through the seasons, so you can sit down and watch any episode without needing to know what's been going on before. There is no “Red John” here (ignore this comment if you haven't watched The Mentalist). In fact, I ordered Season 3 and Season 4 from different retailers, and Season 4 got here first. Doesn't matter. You can watch the seasons in any order. So, a good old cop show. Personally I liked State Trooper (that ran pretty much at the same time as Highway Patrol) a little better, because I liked Rod Cameron better than Broderick Crawford, but these shows are very similar, so if you like one you probably like the other.
My rating	3,5 out of 5

[DSig]

Is it as good as you remember it to be ... really?  I have thought a couple of times getting it as *remember* really liking the series.  I am a Broderick Crawfordfan so that might be part of it.  I have picked up other pieces from my earlier life but many times have been disappointed.  I'll keep trying but sometimes I wonder if those early years were really as good as I remember them to be

[GSyren]

Well, I don't remember it, because I haven't seen it before. It was never shown in Sweden.

But if I may speculate I would say that if I had seen it I probably would have liked it more back then than I like it now. In the fifties there would have been nothing like todays TV shows to compare it to. I don't think it's the kind of show that grows on you as time goes by.

But it still has a certain charm, and the lead actors are great. I have absolutely nothing against Crawford. It's just that when I compare him to Cameron (or rather when I compare their characters) I prefer the latter. I only remember seeing Cameron in State Trooper and Coronado 9 (both on recent DVD purchases), so Crawford was probably the more versatile actor.

Check out an episode or two on Youtube to see how you feel about it today.