Truckers stop for a meal at a small café unsuspecting the information they provide with small talk yields cargo to be hijacked and the drivers are injured. A familiar ploy used with independents throughout the area, with men working in tandem to gather information, disseminate that data, steal, store and fence later. Enough success eventually allowed for a slip up with identification of at least one or more of the perpetrators. Such was the case as Dan, Sgt. Walters and Officer Garvey teamed for the showdown, as leads grew into tricking the initial criminal to the final storage spot. Well done by all for this episode when the clues, evidence, and deductive reasoning prove to be too much for the criminals. Worth watching as Dan, with the help of his men, conquer the bad guys and put them away; out of business, out of circulation Dan says.
3 Reviews
Truckers Beware
dougdoepke25 October 2018
Lots of running around as HP tracks down truck hi-jackers. The crooks use a clever gimmick to set up target trucks that involves natural sympathy people have for accident victims. Once the crooks have got the truck, clever evasion tactics are used to cover their tracks. But, of course, trying to outwit Mathews' dogged pursuit is thankless.
Pretty good entry. Lots of action and a good twist with Pop's Café. Note how Mathews doesn't need a moment of thought before barking out orders. But then they've only got a half-hour to wrap things up. Series dedication to location filming also engages here, particularly the warehouse scenes. Note too presence of Oscar-nominee Stuart Whitman (The Mark {1961}) as a handsome patrolman. All in all, it's a solid 30-minutes for series fans.
Pretty good entry. Lots of action and a good twist with Pop's Café. Note how Mathews doesn't need a moment of thought before barking out orders. But then they've only got a half-hour to wrap things up. Series dedication to location filming also engages here, particularly the warehouse scenes. Note too presence of Oscar-nominee Stuart Whitman (The Mark {1961}) as a handsome patrolman. All in all, it's a solid 30-minutes for series fans.
Really hard-working thieves
FlushingCaps6 August 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Two men operate a truck hijacking operation. They of them lay in wait, one posing as an injured car driver hurt in a one-car accident, luring truckers to stop to help. When they do, the other man jumps him, KOs him, and they take the truck some distance away, and unload it. We learn early on that they rely on tips from a diner operator known as Pop, to know which trucks have particularly valuable cargo.
We see one hijacking go down with the crooks never knowing there was a hitchhiker sleeping in back of the truck, who awakened when the truck stopped-quite natural for anyone to do-who ran away as they were attacking the driver. Dan and his men spend some of this episode trying to locate the hitchhiker, who, when he does show up, is only able to report a name he heard one of the men being called-Bemis.
With that plus a common car tire track, Dan is able to catch one of the men at the chicken ranch were stolen goods were unloaded. The man won't talk, but after the injured driver is able to relate who knew about his alternate route, he now suspects Pop. He tricks Pop into heading to the warehouse where the goods are stored, trailing him to the place.
Pop goes in and talks to the other man. Dan is hiding around the corner. He sees the other man come outside briefly, look around and go back in. He starts to creep toward that door when it begins to open again. Just as the still-mostly-closed door has Pop peeking out, Dan calls out, "Hold it Pop!." Of course, Pop retreats and slams the door and heads for hiding in the warehouse.
Dan charges inside and even though he can't see the men, calls out for them to surrender. The other man panics and starts to do so. Pop shoots him in the back. Seconds later, he drops his gun and surrenders.
It made no sense for Dan to say "Hold it Pop" before he fully exited the door where he'd have no ready escape spot. He appeared just about to come out when Dan called, giving him an easy opportunity to slam the door shut from the inside and temporarily escape. Two more seconds, and Dan would have had him immediately.
What really seemed ludicrous was Pop's actions inside this warehouse. His partner wants to surrender. There seems to be only one cop to overcome. Pop sees his partner going to surrender. He shoots him and drops his gun and surrenders. Why give them a murder charge to add to the assault and theft charges? If you are about to surrender yourself, why bother to shoot the guy just before?
The theft operation seems a bit far-fetched. How many of these truck drivers are going to stop at Pop's, AND report to him about the value of their cargo? Seems like a lot of the best loads will slip by without them knowing. We see them steal a truck full of tires. Is that really that valuable? They drive these big trucks to the chicken ranch-isolated I guess-with nobody noticing, then it must take them a couple of hours to unload the thing. Then they drive the trucks to some other location and dump them. Back at the chicken ranch, they use a small panel truck to move small portions of their stolen goods to take them to the warehouse.
So these two men just to steal one truckload of goods, after lying in wait, knocking out the driver, driving away in the car and stolen truck, have to unload an entire semi truck at one location, drive the truck far away and return. Then they load a smaller truck with, maybe one-fifth the goods just stolen, drive to another spot, unload it again, then return and make four more trips to finish that part of the operation.
Whenever it comes time to sell the stuff, they have to go through all that loading and unloading again. I think they deserve the title, "The hardest-working hijackers in the business." The literally unload one truckful of goods three times, and load it twice to earn their pay. It seems to me there has to be an easier way to make a dishonest living.
I liked the deductive reasoning used for a change instead of just spotting the crook and going after him. Not a bad show, worthy of a 6.
We see one hijacking go down with the crooks never knowing there was a hitchhiker sleeping in back of the truck, who awakened when the truck stopped-quite natural for anyone to do-who ran away as they were attacking the driver. Dan and his men spend some of this episode trying to locate the hitchhiker, who, when he does show up, is only able to report a name he heard one of the men being called-Bemis.
With that plus a common car tire track, Dan is able to catch one of the men at the chicken ranch were stolen goods were unloaded. The man won't talk, but after the injured driver is able to relate who knew about his alternate route, he now suspects Pop. He tricks Pop into heading to the warehouse where the goods are stored, trailing him to the place.
Pop goes in and talks to the other man. Dan is hiding around the corner. He sees the other man come outside briefly, look around and go back in. He starts to creep toward that door when it begins to open again. Just as the still-mostly-closed door has Pop peeking out, Dan calls out, "Hold it Pop!." Of course, Pop retreats and slams the door and heads for hiding in the warehouse.
Dan charges inside and even though he can't see the men, calls out for them to surrender. The other man panics and starts to do so. Pop shoots him in the back. Seconds later, he drops his gun and surrenders.
It made no sense for Dan to say "Hold it Pop" before he fully exited the door where he'd have no ready escape spot. He appeared just about to come out when Dan called, giving him an easy opportunity to slam the door shut from the inside and temporarily escape. Two more seconds, and Dan would have had him immediately.
What really seemed ludicrous was Pop's actions inside this warehouse. His partner wants to surrender. There seems to be only one cop to overcome. Pop sees his partner going to surrender. He shoots him and drops his gun and surrenders. Why give them a murder charge to add to the assault and theft charges? If you are about to surrender yourself, why bother to shoot the guy just before?
The theft operation seems a bit far-fetched. How many of these truck drivers are going to stop at Pop's, AND report to him about the value of their cargo? Seems like a lot of the best loads will slip by without them knowing. We see them steal a truck full of tires. Is that really that valuable? They drive these big trucks to the chicken ranch-isolated I guess-with nobody noticing, then it must take them a couple of hours to unload the thing. Then they drive the trucks to some other location and dump them. Back at the chicken ranch, they use a small panel truck to move small portions of their stolen goods to take them to the warehouse.
So these two men just to steal one truckload of goods, after lying in wait, knocking out the driver, driving away in the car and stolen truck, have to unload an entire semi truck at one location, drive the truck far away and return. Then they load a smaller truck with, maybe one-fifth the goods just stolen, drive to another spot, unload it again, then return and make four more trips to finish that part of the operation.
Whenever it comes time to sell the stuff, they have to go through all that loading and unloading again. I think they deserve the title, "The hardest-working hijackers in the business." The literally unload one truckful of goods three times, and load it twice to earn their pay. It seems to me there has to be an easier way to make a dishonest living.
I liked the deductive reasoning used for a change instead of just spotting the crook and going after him. Not a bad show, worthy of a 6.
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