MovieChat Forums > Highway Patrol Discussion > Trivia and goofs

Trivia and goofs

posted 15 years ago by SealordJohn
22 replies | jump to latest

I vaguely remember watching this program when it was originally on the air back in the late 1950's. Dan Mathews was such a hero to me that I chose Matthew for my middle name when I got confirmed in the Catholic Church.

Thanks to Hulu.com, I've been able to watch these episodes again 50 years later! And I'm starting to notice some differences. That is why I'm creating this so that we can list them. You folks that have the entire series on DVD's have an advantage over me.

In the pilot episode, Dan Mathews did not use the 21-50 ID over the radio. One time, he says "Attention all units, this is Dan Mathews...". And another time, he answered a radio call to car 22-10, which was the marked unit that he was driving. A uniformed highway patrolman named Pete in this episode used the 21-50 ID. But beginning with episode 1, Dan Mathews uses the 21-50 ID.

In the pilot episode, I noticed the decals on marked units indicated STATE PATROL even though the program was named HIGHWAY PATROL. Even when the secretary answered the telephone, she began with "STATE PATROL ..."
Then beginning with episode 1, the decals changed to HIGHWAY PATROL to match the show's title.

[–] lrcdmnhd72 15 years ago

In watching the episode, "Resort," (Episode 1:14), a female crime witness was shot with a high-powered rifle. The slug was analyized as a 30-30, yet the rifle appeared to be a bolt-action. I think the 30-30 caliber round is used only in lever action rifles.

[–] WhitSterling 9 years ago

Generally speaking you are correct. The 30-30 was almost always a lever gun. There were however a few bolts chambered with it. I believe both Remnington and Savage made them. Definitely a strange choice for the writers to come up with though.

[–] ScotchRox 14 years ago

I just watched "Hitchiker" season 1, ep#7. The killer picked up
the migrant farm worker in a 1938 convertible, which
had many curves. When the killer dumped the body and
car over the cliff it was stock footage of a 1920's
very rectangular shaped convertible.

[–] jgs1935 14 years ago

It seems that footage of cars going over cliffs and/or bursting into flames rarely match well. On a Hawaii Five-O episode for example, a car with a much shorter wheelbase is seen from underneath catching fire as it rolls over.

[–] pacshld 14 years ago

I noticed that right away also! I think there was a time tunnel the car went thru, A three decade time tunnel. Also, if you look close enough there's no driver because he wasn't born yet.

[–] csimpkins53 14 years ago

Yes, this kind of thing happens all the time in tv shows and movies. I remember a particularly glaring incident in the movie "In Harm's Way" starring John Wayne. Fairly early in the movie, during the attack on Pearl Harbor, a Lincoln convertible is shown running off a road and bursting into flames. The car that actually goes over the cliff and catches fire is very obviously an entirely different type of car.

[–] Jaybegood 13 years ago

I'm really very tired, as a professional, of all you people picking movies apart for insignifigant "goofs."

You have absolutely no concept of the logistics of getting a movie on screen!

Have you ever shot a movie?
Tried to stay within the budget?

If you haven't ever been behind a camera professionally, then shut up about "mistakes" that can only be seen on a DVD that has been "paused" and inspected with a microscope!

If if doesn't affect the plot, then it's NOT, I say again, NOT important.

Shoot a "movie" for me and let me "critique" it.

[–] ScotchRox 13 years ago

Jaybeana$$hole,
The thread is TRIVIA & GOOFS
It's entertaining & informative for fans of the series...

[–] capttheo1 13 years ago

As a Key Grip, I know from whence you speak.

[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 5 years ago

I always thought a key grip was someone who held part of the camera. Someone who "grips" something. Hah-hah. So I looked it up and the key grip has a lot of responsibilities. Anyway.

[–] wrlord2001 12 years ago

I've always agreed with this. However, we shouldn't be sloppy, either.

[–] csxmonsub 14 years ago

I watched a season one episode and the ID was pronounced as two-one-five-oh instead of twenty one fifty. They must have changed it to speed up as it would be easier to say 21-50 instead of 2-1-5-0.

[–] ScotchRox 14 years ago

In late season 1 "Runaway Boy", Mathews enters Jimmy's friends house to question him. The houses on the street are clearly stucco homes.
When Mathews sits on the sofa, the view out of the large window behind him is a neighbors brick house.
When he exits the house you can see the stucco homes again.

"You can't go wrong drowning politicians Henry." The Black Swan (1942)

[–] retpo 13 years ago

I was watching "Hostage Copter" a few days ago and officer 3280 was talking into the microphone and his lips never moved. I can only guess for some reason it was read off screen.

Then he was in pursuit shooting out the window of the cruiser and there were no bullets in the cylinder!

Also, when the bad guys captured Barbara Eden's character outside the diner, one of them grabbed her left breast and she pushes his hand away.

[–] ScotchRox 14 years ago

In the gun battle at the end of season 2's 'Convicts Wife',
we see on screen Mathews fire his snub-nose .38 a minimum of 8 times.
There were more shots heard as the camera panned to his back-up officer, then
back to Mathews.
All of the shots heard while the camera was not on Mathews, could've been from the convict, as he had a rifle, but I doubt it...Mathews was blastin' away.

"You can't go wrong drowning politicians Henry." The Black Swan (1942)

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] capnken-212-587776 13 years ago

As kids, my brother and I were addicted to this show, we thought it was just great! We were used to those magical six shooters that could fire all day without reloading from watching all those B westerns. A lot of tv cop shows and low budget westerns never let an empty gun get in the way of action, ha ha! When the show was over we would run outside to play cops and robbers, shooting our finger pistols and yelling into imaginary microphones, we never had to reload either!

[–] johnnm58 (545) 6 years ago

Like he had a banana clip.

[–] retpo 14 years ago

Just got to wondering, 50 years later, how many times did Broderick Crawford adjust his hat in an episode?

[–] madman58 13 years ago

i just watched one the other day. patrol car goes around a tight curve and looses hub cap. a couple seconds later we see the car again with the cap back on. i always look for this kind of thing in car chases. the rockford files had many of these.

[–] seashellz 13 years ago

huh i saw that episode in dec, 2011

[–] retpo 12 years ago

Just saw the last episode of the series a couple of days ago.
A guy and his wife (girl friend?) are going around in a motorcycle with a sidecar robbing couriers.
The robber is wearing a leather jacket. Look closely and you will see the place where a police badge goes on the left front of the jacket.
Just thought it was interesting that the bad guy was wearing a police issue jacket.