Customer Reviews

Highway Patrol Season 1

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The 1950's were the heyday for syndicated programs. In some cases syndicated shows such as "Sea Hunt," "I Led 3 Lives," "26 Men," "Whirlybirds," and "Death Valley Days," among others, were just as popular as their network brethren. Arguably the most popular non-network program of the decade was "Highway Patrol," starring Broderick Crawford. An Oscar-winner for "All the King's Men," Crawford had gone through a period of starring in mostly "B" pictures, and was looking for a regular payday. Here you will find, in PRISTINE condition, the complete season 1 of "Highway Patrol." Unlike bootleg copies of the show, you get the original opening sequence of a car quickly arriving at a highway patrol roadblock, and narrator Art Gilmore's preview of that evening's program. Also, Crawford returns at the end of the show to give sage advice, such as, "Clowns should only be seen at the circus, not on the highway," or "Leave your blood at the Red Cross, not on the highway." I love it! In addition, you get the complete closing credits of HP. Rotating sergeants include future stars Paul Burke ("Naked City," "12 O'clock High"), Stuart Whitman ("Cimarron Strip"), along with character actors William Boyett ("Adam-12") and Terry Frost (countless 50's westerns). And don't miss a pre-"Rawhide" Clint Eastwood as a slick-haired biker in episode 27. The audio on "Highway Patrol" is a 10, the video an easy 9 (only the occasional speck), and this is a one time chance to acquire a 55-year-old TV classic. Snap this one up, and maybe season 2 will be offered later in the year. Thank you for reading my review.

This was a 'blind buy' for me as I was not born when the series premiered and never saw it in reruns. I do remember my father talking about it as he watched it in its original run.

I received my set 1 week after I placed my order (using free shipping option). The audio/video quality is better than I expected a 1955 TV series would be. I've seen other series of the same vintage (mid-1950's) on DVD that did not look as good. All discs play well. (by the way, these DVD-R's will work only in a "play-only" device such as a stand-alone DVD player or a computer with a DVD-ROM drive, not a set top DVD recorder or the usual DVD burner drive).

The outdoor scenes were shot on location, not in a studio backlot and one gets a fascinating look at a mid-century Americana that is long gone, to say nothing of all the vintage autos you will see.

Broderick's Matthews character is gruff, straightforward and no nonsense. No suspects demanding their 'rights' or politically correct sensitivities here.

The list price was a bit too steep for me, but when Amazon put it on sale at 25% off, that clinched the deal. Now we will just hope for seasons 2-4 and maybe some other ZIV shows (such as the Emmy nominated "I Led 3 Lives") in the future.

I've been waiting for years to get this and I'm very happy with the result. They are copies off the 35mm-masters from the vault not the 16mm worn copies. All narrations, intros, original titles are there, many never seen since first broadcast. From more information on this great show go to our website [...] My only request is that they spell Mathews correctly on the package. 10-4, Gary Goltz the #1 Fan

The long wait for "Highway Patrol" on DVD finally paid off with the release of an exceptional product. I received my copy of the MGM TV MOD release of Season 1 from Amazon on August 18 and have watched fifteen episodes thus far. The quality is excellent and I would recommend the set enthusiastically to any fan of the series. It includes all 39 Season 1 episodes on 10 discs in three boxes. Audio and video are both exceptionally good. The episodes I've watched so far are all uncut, all feature the famous end-of-show safety messages by Broderick Crawford, and the transitions between segments of each episode are very smooth. The discs include easy-to-use menus that list each episode. A terrific set, and I hope Season 2 will follow shortly!

Watched this show weekday afternoons after school when I was ten and really didn't appreciate the adult storylines. Fury, Gene Autry and the Three Stooges were more my level. Now, some fifty years later I was remembering the opening theme and it drew my attention back to the series. I popped the first disc into the DVD player and on a sixty-inch screen was catapaulted back. The producers chose automobiles that would become classics and seeing them now in their prime is pure enjoyment. The quality of the picture is better than any bootleg copies and immensely better than I remember seeing on our 19 inch Zenith. Screen writers must have had to write 35 minutes worth of dialog for each 25 minute episode because Broderick Crawford's machine-gun paced deliveries leave Sergeant Joe Friday sounding like Forrest Gump. As enjoyable as a ride with Peabody and Serman on the Wayback Machine.
Oh, go ahead and get it!
Follow Up Weeks Later....Okay,just saw Guy Williams (Disney's Zorro) play in a couple of episodes before his Caped Crusader days with Walt. Without a mustache and without many lines, he still looked like Zorro until he ran down a hill in one scene. Hate to say it but he ran like a girl. Broke my heart. The cape must have hidden his gait in Zorro. Clint Eastwood was in one episode as a motorcycle gang member. He made Crawford's Day.

I just received my copy of Highway Patrol Season 1. Excellent audio and video, especially considering it was broadcast in 1955. Now we need Seasons 2 through 5 released! I can't wait!

These discs are the holy grail of early police tv shows. I grew up watching Highway Patrol, along with Sky King and Superman on Saturday morning TV. These shows are as good as I remember, and a nostalgic look into the early 50s. Great shots of California scenery and the iconic Highway Patrol Buicks(and Oldsmobiles, and Fords). Hard to believe that Crawford was 44 when the series was shot; he looks a good ten years older. I guess 50 is really the new 40 these days. There are a few oddities; when a car crashes down a hillside, the car going down the hillside was clearly not the one that was at the top of the hill. Occasionally you'll see different cars in pursuit of the bad guys and so on. Chalk them up to a time when audiences weren't quite so sharp eyed for such continuity errors. The video quality is excellent, and I had no problem playing the discs on two different computer DVD recording drives as well as my usual DVD player. I wish the price wasn't so spendy, but I have been jonesing for these shows for a long time, and I'm not disappointed!

I have tried to locate this series since VHS was invented with no luck. I did find VHS tapes that were recorded off of a cable tv channel but they were horrible. These DVDs are absolutely excellent. The audio and the video are impeccable. The quality is so much better than what I remember from television in the early 60s. I highly recommend these DVDs to anyone who likes the Highway Patrol series. Each DVD has 4 episodes and there are 3 cases with 4 DVDs in each.

I have watched Amazon for many months hoping Highway Patrol would become available. I remember this program when it first came out on TV back in the 1950'sand it is one of my most memorable programs.

The Amazon description of this item indicates that the DVD's are duplicated ( individually burned ) on DVD R discs. Any blank or recorded DVD R Discs I have ever bought or have seen usually have a light purple color on the recorded side. The ones I recieved with this set do not have that but instead are silver color which indicates to me they may very well be factory " replicated " ( professionally manufactured ) Discs just like the ones you get with most popular DVD's.

I have watched several of the discs so far and I am very impressed with the picture and sound quality. It is possible that some enhancement technique has been applied when the transfer from the archived films to the digital mastering of these programs. You might be surprised that it is more than possible the picture quality you get from these discs could be better than the picture quality of the original broadcasts of these appeared on your TV back in the 1950's ! There have been a lot of improvements in TV's since then and those improvements come through even when watching original programs like this that were made in " Glorious Monochrome " ( Black & White ).

Although you can not expect full range stereo sound from these DVD's as you would with todays movie DVD's, the sound quality is quite good and faithful to the original. There is no noticable squelching of silent spots in these programs as you may have heard on digital reproductions of early films and poorly stored original movies and tv programs.

Speaking of silent spots, the primary thing I remember about Dan Matthews was " 10 - 4 " LOL. I did not remember his fast talking and rapid fire telephone calls, I guess they had to squeeze as much information and dialog into the time alloted for the program. I never noticed it back then but of course I was much younger.

Concerning the playability of these DVD's, I have tried them on a budget $29.95 DVD player and a $179.95 DVD player that I must have bought about 10 years ago. They both play these DVD's just fine. Out of curiousity I also tried these discs on 2 different PC's and they play just fine there too !

For anyone having the desire to have this set of Highway Patrol DVD's I would not hesitate to recommend them.

I seldom spend this amount of money for a DVD set of old TV Programs but this is one that I was waiting for so it is well worth the price to me.

I don't have to go into the story plots, etc. as I feel anyone reading this or the many other favorable reviews here can well remember Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford. The Original " 10 - 4 " guy !

Many thanks to MGM and Amazon for making these available.

I'll give this item a " Big 10 - 4 "

Released in 1955, Highway Patrol is a crime/police drama known to audiences of all ages through heavy syndication. Broderick Crawford was the star of the show playing burly Dan Matthews, the tough-as-nails chief of the otherwise un-named Highway Patrol. Seeing and hearing Dan Matthews, you knew he was in complete control and would have the bad guys apprehended by the end of the half hour show.

The show had realistic story lines and equipment, courtesy of the California Highway Patrol. One interesting thing about the show involved the Buick coupe patrol cars, which were actual CHP vehicles. Buick had actually produced a custom patrol car for the CHP using the the more powerful 236 horsepower V8 from its more upscale models in the entry level 2 door Special coupe. The big V8 in the light couple produced a real high performance police car for that era. Minus the CHP lettering, those cars and uniforms were the real thing.

Tight realistic stories, police jargon, real police cars and props kept the attention of young boys who one day dreamed of being law enforcement officers. Times have changed and so has police equipment, but these stories are still entertaining and a neat bit of nostalgia for those of us growing up in the late 1950's and early 60's.

Filmed in black and white, the video and sound quality of the disks are very good considering the age of the material. About the only thing I would dock the overall package for is a lack of extras. The package is remarkably sparse without so much as episode or air-date information.

Overall, a fine but spartan release of a fine golden Age police show. Hopefully MGM will see fit to include some extra's for those of us interested in those old TV shows that played while we were growing up.