Simply Perfect

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

For some reason, Broderick Crawford spent a considerable amount of time on most if not all episodes of "Highway Patrol" walking around half of the patrol car and then getting into it. If the camera showed him standing by the passenger door, he'd walk around the front or back to enter the driver's seat. If he was standing just outside the driver's door, he'd first make sure that a uniformed officer was in or approaching the driver's seat, and then walk around the front or back and get into the passenger seat. Other observers have pointed this and similar issues out, independently of myself, over the years."Highway Patrol" is now newly available on a local station I can pick up. It's so obvious that all the filming was in California -- and in at least one episode the scenes were clearly in a residential, hilly section of the city of Los Angeles, with LA street signage, and City Hall not far away at all in a background scene. Yet when I saw the show as a kid I knew nothing of such issues. Hence, just as Beaver Cleaver's "Mayfield" was never definitely linked to one state, it was fun to pretend that Crawford and crew provided law enforcement in an unnamed and unnameable state, in a rural area where people knew to call the "highway patrol" for first response. There were and still are areas like that in the U. S.And, yes, Broderick Crawford still has to walk around the car before he gets in and drives away, usually to the familiar music.

I remember watching reruns of Highway Patrol with my mother back in 1973 that aired from Philadelphia, PA on a syndicated station at 9:00 every morning. I loved seeing Broderick Crawford (who was from Philadelphia) and his gravely voice and those lovely jet black patrol cars, in glorious black and white. Right after this show was over we switched the channel to the Senate Watergate hearings which were fascinating, to say the least.

Even when this series made it's first run, I laughed at it. The stories had the Highway Patrol doing EVERYTHING except what the Department's charter called for. I don't think I EVER saw a CHP in the show write a simple ticket-but they DID solve bank robberies, murders, kid-nappings and sundry other crimes, normally assigned to other law enforcement agencies. It is also obvious that Crawford had a serious drinking problem during the show's filming-he often would flub or mumble his lines, or deliver them with little or no conviction, sometimes he even appeared to be stumbling. I once met a CHP Officer that claimed he arrested Crawford for DUI, said it was the toughest thing he ever had to do...he claimed the actor sat in the backseat of the patrol car hollering "TEN FOUR!!" all the way to the station.

The music. Do you remember the starting theme? It defined action, and a warning. Too bad the series isn't run more often. Very hard to find anywhere. It used to be on a local private station KOFY-TV 20 out of San Francisco, but our local service provider didn't want to use channel 20 anymore, so we lost out. I remember watching the series as a child in Seattle, and never missed a show. I now live next door to a CHP Officer and it's strange. A very nice family man, couldn't ask for better neighbors. My 2 nephews are now enrolled in the CHP Cadet Explorer program and I help them study the 10 codes. I'll never forget that opening music to "Highway Patrol". Those of you who have heard it, know what I mean.