Trains.com

Highway Patrol starring Broderick Crawford

11275 views
36 replies
1 rating 2 rating 3 rating 4 rating 5 rating
  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 10:26 AM

Must've been a police dog.

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 1,486 posts
Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, January 29, 2014 8:57 AM

The theme music for Highway Patrol had a special fan in my boyhood neighborhood.

Highway Patrol had long been cancelled when a local station picked it up in reruns. Every weekday afternoon at 4:00 P. M., Highway Patrol aired. The biggest fan in the neighborhood was a dog.

The dog's owners tuned in and two legged neighbors would bring visitors to hear the sing along. As soon as the ominous opening four notes played, the dog would howl along. The dog howled along until the theme finished.

The dog never sang along to any other music, only Highway Patrol.

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 7:24 PM

God bless Johnny Horton!  "Sink the Bismarck", "North to Alaska", "Battle of New Orleans",  I could go on.  What a loss.  RIP Johnny.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 1:03 PM

Gene Pitney wasn't the only one, remember Johnny Horton's song, "Sink the Bismarck?" It came out after the movie of the same name. The thing about movies back then, like Liberty Valance, Spartacus and say, The Flight of the Phoenix is that when they opened it was a big deal, lots of newspaper promotions, banners and whatnot.and they played in theatres for months on end. The last movie like that was Star Wars. Can't think of any others since.

The thing about Liberty Valance is that it was directed by John Ford and every one of his westerns was a "big" picture. Stagecoach from 1938 remains one of my favourite movies and there is a worthy remake from 1966 with Bing Crosby playing the Thomas Mitchell part and Ann-Margaret (yow!) playing Claire Trevor's role. Not to ramble on so much but Edmund O'Brien played the Thomas Mitchell role in Liberty Valance.

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Mpls/St.Paul
  • 13,840 posts
Posted by wjstix on Tuesday, January 28, 2014 10:02 AM

54light15

I recall a movie where a man gets off a train in a dusty California town. He goes into the first record shop he sees and asks for a copy of the song, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." He had no luck. Every other record shop he visited did not have a copy. No one would talk to him about it. He got back aboard the train and realized, there truly was a town without Pitney.

 
An interesting point (maybe?) is that the song "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was based on the John Wayne / James Stewart movie of the same name...but the song wasn't used in the movie; it came out after the movie.
 
His hit song "Last Exit to Brooklyn" was also the name of a well-known (and somewhat scandalous) novel, but AFAIK other than the title had no connection to the novel.
Stix
  • Member since
    May 2004
  • 4,115 posts
Posted by tatans on Monday, January 27, 2014 10:06 AM

And who can forget those classic lines in that gravelly warble voice of his: " Punks like you are a dime a dozen!"  CLASSIC !

  • Member since
    March 2016
  • From: Burbank IL (near Clearing)
  • 13,502 posts
Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, January 27, 2014 9:37 AM

henry6

Gene!  What a pitney you guys have to stoop so low.  

It could be verseSmile, Wink & Grin

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,519 posts
Posted by Overmod on Sunday, January 26, 2014 9:11 PM

henry6

Gene!  What a pitney you guys have to stoop so low.  

Just as I was starting to get my appetite back...

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 8,156 posts
Posted by henry6 on Sunday, January 26, 2014 4:33 PM

Gene!  What a pitney you guys have to stoop so low.  

RIDEWITHMEHENRY is the name for our almost monthly day of riding trains and transit in either the NYCity or Philadelphia areas including all commuter lines, Amtrak, subways, light rail and trolleys, bus and ferries when warranted. No fees, just let us know you want to join the ride and pay your fares. Ask to be on our email list or find us on FB as RIDEWITHMEHENRY (all caps) to get descriptions of each outing.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Sunday, January 26, 2014 4:30 PM

Unpunished as well. Stick out tongue

  • Member since
    March 2002
  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
  • 11,434 posts
Posted by dknelson on Sunday, January 26, 2014 2:50 PM

54light15

I recall a movie where a man gets off a train in a dusty California town. He goes into the first record shop he sees and asks for a copy of the song, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." He had no luck. Every other record shop he visited did not have a copy. No one would talk to him about it. He got back aboard the train and realized, there truly was a town without Pitney.

 
Is this astounding pun really to go unremarked and unpraised?
 
Dave Nelson
  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Monday, January 20, 2014 10:41 AM

Overmod, that is the one! One I saw last night, "Revenge," there's scenes at a railroad station, everyone waiting for the ex-con who was away for five years. First, a steam locomotive passes pulling a bunch of box cars and baggage cars and one lone coach. Couldn't make out the wheel arrangement, but it's number was 3735. Then, a passenger train goes by pulled by an Alco PA! The bad guy wasn't on either train. He got off at a different station from another train with lots of baggage and box cars and one coach only this was pulled by an F7 or F3. ( I think, anyway, the A & B units each had 3 portholes down their sides.) Good stuff! 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 5:20 PM

High camp!!  great stuff.  Thx

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,519 posts
Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 5:03 PM

54light15
,,, that wasn't the one I saw with Spock. It was called "Hot Dust."

This isn't the best rendition in the world, and it's missing the beginning, but it captures the flavor...

watch?v=r8WC24u93Wk

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 4:58 PM

Nope, that wasn't the one I saw with Spock. It was called "Hot Dust."

"Clowns in the circus are funny, but on the highway, they're murder!"

  • Member since
    October 2012
  • 8 posts
Posted by bob811 on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 3:01 PM
GROAN ;-)
  • Member since
    September 2003
  • 21,519 posts
Posted by Overmod on Monday, January 13, 2014 5:38 AM

54light15
On HP, the bad guys have all been played so far by a bunch of bindlestiffs that I've never heard of until last night there was an episode with a very young Leonard Nimoy!

Well, what do you know...

watch?v=2F7Ib0S COM

watch?v=kXvDNQEgKyE

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Mpls/St.Paul
  • 13,840 posts
Posted by wjstix on Sunday, January 12, 2014 11:02 PM

schlimm

 Once he appeared on SNL as Chief Matthews in a satirical sketch.

 
He actually hosted Saturday Night (as it was then known) in it's second season (03/19/1977 - musical guests were Levon Helm, Dr.John, and the Meters). I remember him playing J.Edgar Hoover in a sketch with Dan Ackroyd playing Pres. Nixon and John Belushi as Henry Kissinger. He also was the original Lenny in the Broadway version of "Of Mice and Men" in the 1930's, and during WW2 was the announcer for Glenn Miller's Army Air Corps big band.
 
p.s. a lot of the Highway Patrol episodes are available online if you do search for videos. If you recall the episode name, we could maybe find it online and take a look....
Stix
  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 1,486 posts
Posted by Victrola1 on Thursday, January 9, 2014 2:12 PM

Highway Patrol and all the rest, how often when the writer called for a train to be seen did they simply splice in some stock footage. The sound man could get wrong as well. The name of the late 1960's show I do not remember. Of course, Southern California was the location.

I do remember a scene beside a railroad yard. No locomotives were shown. Beside a  box car advertising Hydra-Cushion was a '68 Dodge squad car. Behind the dialouge could be heard the sound of a steam locomotive starting to move.

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Thursday, January 9, 2014 11:06 AM

Another thing I found interesting about HP- in one episode, a crop duster pilot picks up several bags of DDT and later on the chief cuts one open, dust is flying everywhere. Nasty!

On the show "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" I recall seeing a very old Claude Rains and very young Robert Redford and Peter Fonda. On "Naked City" I've seen a young Robert Duvall, Eli Wallach and Peter Falk. On HP, the bad guys have all been played so far by a bunch of bindlestiffs that I've never heard of until last night there was an episode with a very young Leonard Nimoy! It involved some kind of radioactive powder in a leaking drum. He gets it on his hands, then wipes his hands on his pants. Not logical! No wonder he grew those ears that led him to being cast in Star Trek!

"Harbor Command?" I've never heard of it!

  • Member since
    November 2008
  • 1,870 posts
Posted by Leo_Ames on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 1:57 PM

I watched this show on This TV a few years ago. Fell in love with Sea Hunt, Combat, and rewatched the Patty Duke Show for the first time in years but Highway Patrol sadly didn't do much for me. 

Nice to see the ZIV catalog getting some attention on retro tv stations and DVD in the past few years (They did Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt, and several other tv series in the late 50's and early 60's). Need to track down a DVD set of Harbor Command soon. Was about the Coast Guard and I've never seen an episode of it. 

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 1:12 PM

Acccording to Wiki, the following anecdotes: " Crawford was known with considerable embarrassment by the CHP as "Old 502" due to his habit of driving under the influence of alcohol ("Code 502" was the CHP police radio code for drunken driving). According to the show's creator, Guy Daniels, "We got all the dialogue in by noon, or else we wouldn't get it done at all. He [Crawford] would bribe people to bring him booze on the set." The show used their CHP technical advisor, Officer Frank Runyon, to keep the actor sober: "I was told to keep that son of a female dog away from a bottle. I think his license was suspended. Some scenes had to be shot on private roads so that Brod could drive." Eventually the drinking strained the show's relationship with the CHP as well as Crawford's relationship with ZIV.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:46 PM

According to IMDB, he had a hard time keeping a drivers license due to his drinking and they would often film on private roads since he wasn't allowed on public highways.

  • Member since
    July 2006
  • 9,610 posts
Posted by schlimm on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 11:24 AM

 Broderick Crawford's performance as the blustering Governor Stark, a character based on Huey Long,, won him the Oscar for Best Actor in All the King's Men, in 1949.  Crawford struggled with alcoholism most of his life.  Once he appeared on SNL as Chief Matthews in a satirical sketch.

C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • 1,486 posts
Posted by Victrola1 on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 11:01 AM

Highway Patrol was filmed when radio was coming into wide use by railroads. When trains are shown, is there any indication the trains are equipped with radios? If Chief Mathew's car radio ever died, could he organize a line of patrolmen to rely hand signals back to headquarters?

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 8, 2014 10:50 AM

There's the same 57 Ford 4-door used in a lot of episodes, sometimes driven by the cops, sometimes by the bad guys, sometimes by an innocent user of the highways. Same license number, too.

  • Member since
    February 2010
  • 384 posts
Posted by Redore on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 8:03 PM

That same episode that had the SP local that stopped had a similar Santa Fe local behind steam and an SP streamliner pass through scenes, all supposedly the same train.  What's real interesting is how the featured cars stay the same in each episode.

Remember, it's not what you drive, it's how you drive.

  • Member since
    August 2010
  • From: Henrico, VA
  • 8,955 posts
Posted by Firelock76 on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 5:16 PM

You know, if they took out all the scenes where ol' Broderick says "10-4"  you'd be down to 30 episodes!

"Whenever the laws of any state are broken..."

  • Member since
    December 2008
  • From: Toronto, Canada
  • 2,557 posts
Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, January 7, 2014 1:21 PM

Well, it does pre-date radial tires. When I look at cars like the Mercury used in the series, I wonder what they were thinking in Detroit back then. Hideous!

Join our Community!

Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.

Search the Community

Newsletter Sign-Up

By signing up you may also receive occasional reader surveys and special offers from Trains magazine.Please view our privacy policy