Season 1

1955–1956

Oct 3, 1955 · 28m

A hardened criminal, whose personality belies his viciousness, escapes from prison, killing a guard. Dan Mathews swings into action, and as the man commits one ruthless act after another to break through the trap closing in on him, it becomes apparent that there's almost a personal conflict between the two men - that ends only when they meet face to face in the final scene.

E2. Machine Story Copter / Machine Napping Copter

Oct 10, 1955 · 28m

An expensive, giant computer, one of the twentieth century wonders, which does a tremendous amount of administrative work in just hours, is ingeniously 'kidnapped' from an electronics company by two men. The firm's owner is told to get $100,000 from his bank at two o'clock the next day and wait for instructions. A helicopter chase helps Dan stop the men from collecting the ransom or getting away.

E3. Reckless Driving

Oct 17, 1955 · 28m

Systematic traffic checks and increased patrols begin on a high accident freeway. Hoping to determine causes and cures, Dan questions drivers who get too many citations there. One man refuses to accept Dan's safety philosophy. When his license is suspended, his wife drives him to an important business meeting. En route, her eyeglasses break and he takes over at the wheel. Encountering a traffic check, he panics and flees, resulting in a severe accident in which his wife is critically injured. He learns the hard way - and too late - what Dan had earlier tried to impress upon him.

E4. Lookout

Oct 24, 1955 · 28m

An uninvolved man happens to be in the company of two brothers who hold up a diner and kill its owner. Fearing the police and terrified of the vengeance he may expect from the criminals, he flees. As Dan searches for him, one man winds up dead, two critically wounded, and the man who a few short hours ago was an average law-abiding citizen is harried to the point where he is willing to shoot it cut with the police - until Dan manages to show the error of his ways.

E5. Gambling

Oct 31, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews and his officers assist a county sheriff in closing down a club that offers illicit gambling.

E6. Hitchhiker

Nov 7, 1955 · 28m

A series of fraudulent insurance claims is discovered after Dan Mathews and his officers learn that the "accidental" death of a migrant worker was actually a homicide.

E7. Desert Town

Nov 14, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews is determined to find out why the residents of a small town are behaving suspiciously and anxious to see him leave.

E8. Radioactive

Nov 21, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews and his officers race against time to find a stolen oil indicator device that contains potentially lethal radioactive pellets.

E9. Reformed Criminal

Nov 28, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews has reason to suspect the worst when a courier with a criminal record disappears with $31,000 after an automobile accident.

E10. Father Thief

Dec 5, 1955 · 28m

A young man is put in the uncomfortable position of trying to cover up his father's theft of automobile accessories.

E11. Retired Gangster

Dec 12, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews personally takes on the task of protecting a former crime boss who is scheduled to testify before a grand jury.

E12. Phony Insurance

Dec 19, 1955 · 28m

A "transportation maintenance service" provided to trucking companies by an apparently legitimate businessman proves to be little more than a protection racket.

E13. Escort

Dec 26, 1955 · 28m

Dan Mathews escorts a crusading senator to the scene of his hearings after he receives information that a prominent racketeer plans to murder him.

E14. Resort

Jan 2, 1956 · 28m

A recovering addict gives Dan Mathews and a state narcotics agent information that helps them identify an exclusive resort as a front for the distribution of heroin.

E15. Girl Bandit

Jan 9, 1956 · 28m

A scheming woman takes advantage of her husband, her paramour, and a complete stranger in an attempt to flee the U. S. with $53,000 in stolen funds.

E16. Mountain Copter

Jan 16, 1956 · 28m

An injured felon discovered in a mountain cabin leads the Highway Patrol helicopter on a difficult chase in treacherous terrain.

E17. Lie Detector

Jan 23, 1956 · 28m

Dan Mathews utilizes polygraph testing to identify the individuals who are responsible for the violent robbery of an elderly motel owner.

E18. Scared Cop

Jan 30, 1956 · 28m

A highly regarded Highway Patrol officer tenders his resignation after he finds himself unable to subdue and arrest his brother (an escaped prisoner).

E19. Harbor Story

Feb 6, 1956 · 28m

Three men rob a series of banks in coastal towns, then pose as fishermen in order to escape in a boat piloted by their leader.

E20. Hit And Run

Feb 13, 1956 · 28m

Dan Mathews must cope with a family's effort to protect an emotionally fragile young woman who fled after striking a pedestrian with her car.

E21. Car Theft

Feb 20, 1956 · 28m

Car thieves purchase wrecked vehicles and transfer the VIN plates to stolen ones in order to escape detection.

E22. Human Bomb

Feb 27, 1956 · 28m

A distraught engineer sets out on a suicide mission to destroy the chemical plant at which he was formerly employed.

E23. Plane Crash

Mar 5, 1956 · 28m

When a ranger checks the woods where a plane disappeared, it results in his murder and in the discovery of a kidnapped woman.

E24. Desert Copter

Mar 12, 1956 · 28m

The Highway Patrol helicopter pursues a smooth-talking but ruthless murder suspect who is trying to escape with a hostage over little-used desert roads.

E25. Plant Robbery

Mar 19, 1956 · 28m

Three thieves use a counterfeit armored car and stolen uniforms to steal $29,000 from a supermarket. The leader of the group becomes increasingly unpredictable and prone to violence as Dan Mathews and his men close in.

E26. Released Convict

Mar 26, 1956 · 28m

A patient parolee decides the time is finally right to attempt the recovery of $250,000 stolen in an armored car robbery.

E27. Motorcycle A

Apr 2, 1956 · 28m

Two bikers (Clint Eastwood as 'Joe Keeley', John Compton as 'Nick West') ride stripped-down Harleys into town and stop at a cafe. They are shocked when the cafe owner (Jack Edwards as 'Bernie Sills') confronts them with a shotgun and orders them to leave. As his wife calls the Highway Patrol her husband provokes the bikers, until Nick takes the gun from Sills and punches him. The bikers jump on their bikes and roar out of town. When Sills learns his wife has called the law, he hides the gun and lies to the responding motorcycle cop, telling him the cyclists started the trouble. The cop takes off after the bikers, only to be struck and killed by a trucker who runs a red light. Broderick Crawford’s ‘Chief Dan Mathews’ quickly sorts truth from fiction and arrests the café owner for assaulting the bikers. A nice (albeit unlikely) twist on the ‘bad guy bikers’ trope!

E28. Mental Patient

Apr 9, 1956 · 28m

An escapee from a mental hospital is the primary suspect in the violent death of a farmer.

E29. License Plates

Apr 16, 1956 · 28m

An alert boy is able to give Dan Mathews information that provides a critical break in the pursuit of a recidivist thief.

E30. Hitchhiker Dies

Apr 23, 1956 · 28m

A man who picks up a hitchhiker is accused of complicity in an armed robbery when coincidence and circumstantial evidence point strongly toward his guilt.