A NEW FAVORITE RERUN

 

In the previous post, I mentioned that as one of our first dates, Mike and I attended the Spokane World’s Fair. Another first date was to watch a movie, All the King’s Men, a free presentation at the Lewiston Community Center. This movie was released in 1949, and its star, Broderick Crawford, won an Oscar for his portrayal of the main character, Willie Stark. The storyline is loosely based on the life of Huey P. Long. It’s not like “Brod” Crawford is our favorite actor or anything, but we still fondly remember that date, the movie, -- and Brod.

A while back, we discovered reruns of Highway Patrol (1955-59), the central character of which is Dan Matthews, played by Broderick Crawford. We both enjoy these programs for the old cars and the comic (yes, comic) value. Naturally, it wasn’t meant to be a comedy. It's actually billed as a drama. But production was sloppy in those early days of television. Each episode is worth at least two good laughs.

·      Matthews (aka Crawford) talks so fast that he’s barely understandable. I would hate to be his support staff. “Say what? I didn’t quite catch that,” I would be saying as he runs from the room. And he hangs up the phone before he’s finished talking.

·      The cars are big and heavy, and the suspension systems leave a lot to be desired. 

·      The cars have bench seats, and the driver often slides in or out through the passenger side (or the passenger slides through from the driver’s side). I remember doing that in the age before bucket seats. I can hear my mother saying, “Let me slide through.”

·      The police cars are two-door, so those arrested have to crawl into the backseat while handcuffed. In what world does that really work?

·      And how about three big guys riding in those tiny helicopters? Will they make it off the ground?

Well, you get the idea. Perhaps it's fun for us because of our memories. "Those were the days," as we say. KW