Author Archives: Dazzling Erin

So, I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin (1989, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Ken (William R, Moses), who is now a lawyer, is representing a hockey player (Jason Beghe) in his contract negotiation with a tyrannical team owner (Pernell Roberts).  When the owner is murdered, the player is arrested and Ken turns to his mentor, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), for help in winning his first murder case.

This was pretty forgettable.  The mystery wasn’t interesting, there weren’t enough suspects to keep me guessing, and even the wrongly accused player was unlikable.  Amy (Alexandra Paul) returned to help out Ken and was annoying as ever.  I don’t understand the Amy/Ken relationship.  They’re in love.  They’re getting married.  But they always act like they hate each other.  Give me sex addict Paul Drake, Jr, any day!  I read that this was Amy’s final appearance in the series and I hope that’s true.

This movie also features some of the worst courtroom dialogue of the series.  Poor Bruce Greenwood plays Pernell Roberts’s son and gets stuck with the worst lines.  Deidre Hall plays Pernell Roberts’s unfaithful wife, which is appropriate because this movie was just a bad soap opera.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Musical Murder (1989, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

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Terry Franken (Dwight Schultz), the arrogant director of a new musical that is playing out of town tryouts on the way to Broadway, is shot and killed at the theater.  Recently fired stage manager Johnny Whitcomb (Jim Metzler) is arrested for the crime but Perry knows that Johnny is innocent.  At the same time that Terry was getting murdered, Perry was in a hospital room recovering from knee surgery.  He looked out the hospital window and saw Johnny across the street.  Despite Perry providing an alibi, Johnny is still charged with murdering Terry.  Broadway legend Amanda Cody (Debbie Reynolds) asks Perry to take Johnny’s case.

This Perry Mason movie featured Perry on the stand, testifying to having seen Johnny.  The District Attorney (Valerie Mahaffey) tried to humiliate Perry by suggesting that he was on too many pain killers to be sure what he saw.  Never try to humiliate Perry Mason!  He’ll not only beat you in court but also make you look like a fool by getting the real murderer to confess while on the stand.

The key to proving Johnny’s innocence was finding the security guard (Rick Aiello) who worked at the theater the night that Terry was killed.  Ken (William R. Moses) and his annoying girlfriend Amy (Alexandra Paul) handled that part of the case.  Ken is still no Paul Drake, Jr. and his bickering with Amy is like nails on a chalkboard.

I actually remember watching this movie with my aunt when it came on Hallmark one weekend.  My aunt enjoyed it.  She liked Debbie Reynolds.  This one was better than the previous movie.  Along with Debbie Reynolds, the cast includes Jerry Orbach and Lori Petty.  Dwight Schultz was great as the victim.  I still miss William Katt and David Ogden Stiers, though.  Perry doesn’t have the same connection to Ken that he had to Paul.  David Ogden Stiers was great because, even though he always lost the case, he still seemed like he was a good enough lawyer that he could have won if things had gone differently.  These new district attorneys never even have a chance against Perry.

So, I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson (1989, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) has spent a semester teaching moot court at a law school.  When one of his students, Frank Wellman Jr. (John Allen Nelson), is murdered, the accused is another student named Ken Malansky (William R. Moses).  Despite being a close friend of the victim’s father (Brian Keith), Perry thinks that Ken is innocent and agrees to defend him.  Ken’s ex-girlfriend, Amy Hastings (Alexandra Paul), pays Ken’s bail and helps him and Perry investigate the crime, even though Ken spends the whole movie talking about how “crazy” she is.

No William Katt.  No David Ogden Stiers.  Barbara Hale’s barely in it.  The Case of the Lethal Lesson was the start of a new era in the Mason movies and I didn’t like it.  Ken and Amy are Perry’s new assistants but I didn’t like either one of them.  Amy was stalkerish but Ken still cried too much about her being the one who paid his bail.  Did Ken just want to stay in jail?  Ken just wasn’t very likable and it bothered me that the movie never explained why Paul wasn’t available to help.  Both Paul and William Katt deserved better.  Meanwhile, the new prosecutor (Marlene Warfield) didn’t have the same friendly rivalry that her predecessor did.  The mystery element was okay until some cartoonish gangsters showed up.  I didn’t buy any of it.

Give it up for my sister, though.  A few minutes into the movie, Lisa said, “I bet that’s the murderer,” and she was right!  If Perry Mason had her helping him instead of Ken and Amy, he could have solved this case a lot quicker.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady In The Lake (1988, Dir. by Ron Satlof)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Fifteen years ago, the sister of Sara Wingate (Doran Clark) was murdered at a lake near the family home.  Traumatized, Sara had a nervous breakdown.  It was only when she married Billy Travis (David Hasselhoff), a former tennis player, that Sara started to get over her fear of the lake.  When Sara disappears while walking along the lake, Billy is arrested and charged with murdering her.  Because Perry’s is an old friend of Sara’s uncle (John Ireland), he takes the case.  If you’re going to get arrested for murder, you better hope one of your relatives knows Perry Mason.

This movie wasn’t bad.  It had a twist at the end, which I saw coming but which was still unique for the Perry Mason movies.  The actual guilty party is pretty obvious but the mystery wasn’t as important as usual in this one.  The supporting cast was pretty good, though David Hasselhoff seemed to be too calm for someone accused of murder.  As Perry, Raymond Burr uses his cane again and leans against something whenever he has to stand up.  Della jokes that Perry won’t be skiing anymore.  Most of the action falls to Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt), who gets beaten up even more than usual but who also gets to be the big hero in the end.

This was the last Perry Mason film for both William Katt and David Ogder Stiers, who played the district attorney.  I’m going to miss both of them.  William Katt’s hair was huge in this one and I was really looking forward to seeing how much bigger it could get.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Avenging Ace (1988, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

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Back when Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) was a judge, he rejected the appeal of Kevin Parks (Larry Wilcox), an Air Force colonel who was accused of stalking and killing Amy Beth Sawyer (Dotty Coloroso).  Even though Perry had his doubts, he did not find any legal grounds for an appeal.  In the present day, when Parks is accused of killing a new witness who could have provided him with an alibi, Perry agrees to represent Parks in court and tries to prove that Parks was not guilty of either murder.

This movie was much more complicated than the typical Perry Mason movie but it was a good change of pace and the mystery itself kept me guessing.  I was sure I knew who the murderer was and I turned out I was wrong.  Perry’s guilt about turning down Kevin Parks’s original appeal added a new dimension to the movie and it was interesting to see Perry doubting himself, even if it was just for a few minutes.

Again, Raymond Burr spent most of this movie either sitting or leaning against something.  Even unwell, he still gave a good performance and his chemistry with Barbara Hale was as charming as ever.  Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt) did the leg work and got involved in a few good chases.  The only thing more interesting than the mystery was Paul’s hair, which gets bigger and bigger each movie.