Tag Archives: Ed O’Brien

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Ruthless Reporter (1991, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

When arrogant news anchor Brett Huston (John James) is shot and killed, his co-anchor Gillian Pope (Kerrie Keane) is arrested and charged with the crime.  It looks like an open-and-shut case because Brett was shot with Gillian’s gun.  Luckily, Gillian is friends with Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and soon Perry is on the case with Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses).

Now this is how you do a Perry Mason movie!  Brett’s murder is linked to a memo that he wrote in which he criticized the other members of the news team and argued that they should all be fired.  All of the suspects are enjoyably eccentric.  There’s a weatherman (Peter Jurasik) who wants to be a stand-up comedian.  There’s the sports reporter (Philip Michael Thomas) who used and sold steroids.  There’s the producer (Susan Sullivan), who was also Brett’s ex-wife.  Brett even insulted the station manager (Jerry Orbach, who previously appeared as a different suspect in The Musical Murder).  Ken, as usual, finds time for romance, this time with reporter Cassie Woodfield (Mary Page Keller) who appears to have someone trying to kill her as well.  Along with a great cast of characters, this mystery had a solution that took me by surprise but which also made sense when I looked back on it.  The final courtroom reveal was perfect.  This is also probably the only Perry Mason film where the hours of a hamburger restaurant proved to be instrumental to the case.

The Case of the Ruthless Reporter was a good one!

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Scandalous Scoundrel (1987, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Sleazy magazine publisher Harlan Wade (Robert Guillaume) has made a lot of enemies through his scandal sheet.  He just published a story suggesting that Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Della Street (Barbara Hale) are more than just friends.  Well, duh!  Everyone knows Perry and Della are in love!  Perry still wants to sue him but then Harlan turns up dead in his swimming pool.  It would have been interesting if Perry had been a suspect but instead the police arrest Michelle Benti (Susan Wilder), a reporter who was recently fired by Wade.  Because Michelle is the ex-girlfriend of Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt), Perry defends her in court.

This is another case of someone close to the Mason crew being accused of murder.  The D.A. should know better than to arrest anyone who knows Perry, Della, or Paul.  Michelle first appeared in The Case of the Shooting Star but she was played by a different actress.  It’s still good that, for once, the series actually acknowledged one of Paul’s ex-girlfriends.  I worry about Paul and the way he falls in and out of love.

This one had a good mystery and a really memorable supporting cast.  Morgan Brittany, Yaphet Kotto, Wings Hauser, and George Grizzard all played potential suspects.  I liked that this was one of those mysteries where the victim went to a party before he died and everyone there threatened to kill him at some point.  This movie also featured one of the better courtroom confessions.  Raymond Burr uses a cane in this episode and is usually filmed either sitting down or leaning against something for support.  Even though Burr obviously wasn’t feeling well, it’s nice to see him and Barbara Hale share some sweet scenes together.

Who sent Della flowers, champagne, and perfume?  Watch to find out!

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Sinister Spirit (1987, Dir. by Richard Lang)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

David Hall (Matthew Faison) is an obnoxious horror writer who invites a group of associates and former friends to spend the night at a “haunted” hotel.  He’s invited them because all of them are on the verge of suing him for writing about them in his latest book, The Resort.  Over the course of the night, he plays cruel practical jokes on all of them.  Finally, someone gets fed up and tosses him over a railing.  The police arrest publisher Jordan White (Robert Stack) and charge him with the murder.  It’s a good thing that Jordan’s best friend is Perry Mason (Raymond Burr).

Perry uses a cane in this movie and is not that active outside of the courtroom.  That means that it’s up to Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt) to do most of the investigating.  As usual, Paul falls for an attractive, younger woman, in this case the hotel’s owner, Susan Warrenfield (Kim Delaney).  Every movie features Paul falling for someone and then we never hear about them again.  Does Paul have commitment issues?

I enjoyed this Perry Mason mystery.  The hotel was a great location and I appreciated that the movie tried to add some horror elements to the story.  The Perry Mason movies can be predictable so I always like it when they at least try to do something a little bit different.  This was a fun entry in Perry Mason’s career.