Desert Town (14 Nov. 1955)

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

Director:

Eddie Davis

Writer:

Stuart Jerome (screenplay)

Stars:

Broderick Crawford, Clark Howat, Kay Faylen

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Broderick Crawford	...	Chief Dan Mathews
Clark Howat	...	Hank - Officer 1730
Kay Faylen	...	Jenny Crane
Don C. Harvey	...	Rollie Sanders
Francis McDonald	...	Charlie Barrett (as Francis J. McDonald)
Bert Holland	...	Eddie - Gravedigger
Everett Glass	...	Doc Taylor
Paul Hahn	...	(as Pual Hahn)

Storyline

Dan Mathews stops for breakfast in the small, isolated town of Larchmont. He finds that the residents are unwilling to do any business with him (or even talk to him) and that they are obviously anxious to see him leave. Even the county medical officer is behaving secretively and gives evasive answers to Dan's routine questions. Dan decides to investigate further when an inquiry to headquarters reveals that local farmer Charlie Barrett was attempting to drive away in a stolen convertible. Relentless questioning of Barrett, diner owner Jenny Crane, and other local residents finally results in an admission that general store owner Frank Wilkins had killed a man in self defense the previous evening. Dan interrupts a hastily arranged funeral service for the dead man and learns that he had been wanted for robbery and murder. He also learns that there was a valid reason for the townspeople's attempts to conceal Wilkins' actions.

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Plot Keywords:

diner | general store | convertible | self defense | doctor | 

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 November 1955 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ZIV Television Programs

Technical Specs

Runtime:

26 min 26 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Chief Dan Mathews: You broke the law - there's gonna have to be a hearing. But the laws are made and administered by people like yourselves. They're human beings!

User Reviews

Desert Mystery

Not quite highway noir, Desert Town is a tense, compact, very human focused entry of the Highway Patrol series. It feels at times like a small screen version of the feature film Bad Day At Black Rock, only it's shorter and doesn't have the time for much character development, so relies mostly on its plot, which is an intriguing one.

Chief Dan Mathews arrives in a desert town looking for breakfast in a small diner. The behavior of the woman who works at he counter and of the various other people he meets suggests that something is being concealed. The town-folk would rather Mr. Mathews mind his own business: not stick around, not ask questions, not look at license plates.

But Mathews is a law enforcement officer, and when he sees something that looks or feels not quite normal, not right, he becomes suspicious. This is his job. The only reason he drove into the town in the first place was to find a place that served breakfast; and before long, as the saying goes, one thing leads to another. While I wouldn't go so far as to say all hell breaks, as a result of Matthews' investigation of the town things will never be quite the same again.

A strong, slightly offbeat episode, it ramps up the tension nicely, and in the end it plays fair with the viewer. Written, acted and directed with admirable professionalism, Desert Town is about as good a TV half-hour of its era could be short of brilliance and inspiration. Just because it's of high journeyman quality doesn't make it a less than first rate effort for what it is.