Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) can’t even go to a wedding without someone getting killed! Kaitlynn Parrish (Heather McAdam) is the daughter of Max (Ronny Cox) and Diane Parrish (Diane Baker). Diane used to work for Perry and it’s implied that they used to be more than just colleagues. (I think that means that it is safe to assume that Kaitlynn is actually Perry’s daughter.) At the wedding, Alonzo Hawkes (Beau Starr), the uncle of the groom, gets into an argument with Max and accuses Max of embezzlement. Kaitlynn says she could kill Alonzo. A few hours later, Alonzo is found dead and Kaitlynn is arrested.
This was the 23rd Perry Mason television movie and it’s very predictable. I didn’t care much for the mystery or the scenes of Ken (William R. Moses) looking for clues. Once again, Ken gets in trouble with organized crime. It’s as if the movies ran out of plot lines for Ken so he just has to keep doing the same thing over and over again. All Ken really has to do is track down Suzy Richards (Merle Kennedy), a wedding crasher who witnessed the murder but it takes him forever to do it. Paul Drake, Jr. would have found her in the time it takes to snap your fingers.
I still recommend this one because of the cast. Along with Ronny Cox, the cast also includes Linda Blair, Paul Dooley, and musician Stephen Stills and they’re all really good. Paul Dooley plays the district attorney in this one. He really has no patience for Perry’s courtroom theatrics and Perry has a lot of them in this movie. It’s a good thing Perry was always able to get people to confess on the stand because otherwise, he probably would have gotten in a lot of trouble.