Tag Archives: Michael K. Osborn

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Reckless Romeo (1992, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Sleazy talk show host Ted Mayne (Geraldo Rivera) writes a tell-all book about all of the famous women with whom he has had affairs.  One of the women, Roxanne Shields (Amy Steel), is filmed threatening to kill him with a knife.  When Ted is later found stabbed to death, Roxanne is arrested.  Luckily, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is willing to take the case and reveal the true killer of the reckless Romeo.

This was one of the last of the Perry Mason movies.  (Burr only did four more after this before he died.)  The plot is okay, even if this is the third movie to feature Ken (William R. Moses) getting in trouble with the mob while investigating the the murder.  It didn’t take me long to guess who the murderer was but the scene where Perry got his courtroom confession was still really well-done.  Not surprisingly, the main pleasure of this film was seeing Geraldo Rivera as the victim.  Geraldo may have been a terrible actor but he was still totally believable as a sleazy talk show host who went out of his way to embarrass every woman that he had ever had sex with.  Geraldo is in the film long enough for you to get sick of him and then he goes away and isn’t seen again.  That’s the way it should always be with Geraldo Rivera.

Perry does a few more courtroom tricks than usual in this movie.  As the hapless district attorney, Kenneth Kimmins is no David Ogden Stiers.  He’s not even Scott Baio.  It’s really enjoyable to watch him get continually outsmarted by Perry.  Raymond Burr was obviously not doing well physically when he made this movie but it’s still fun to watch him trick witness after witness into identifying the wrong woman.

 

So, I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Fateful Framing (1992, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Truman York (David Soul), a painter who faked his death in a motorcycle accident five years earlier, reemerges because someone is selling forgeries of his work.  When York turns up dead, a photographer (Mark Moses) is arrested for the crime.  Luckily, the photographer went to college with Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) and Ken is able to convince Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to take the case.  (If you’re going to get arrested for murder, it helps to be a friend of Ken or Perry’s.)

I was disappointed with this entry in the Perry Mason series.  It had potential but it never really reached it.  I was more interested in how the artist faked his death for five years instead of figuring out who killed him.  Raymond Burr was obviously unwell when he shot this movie and there were times when it was painful to watch him as he had to learn against a wall just to be able to stay standing while delivering his lines.  I felt bad for Burr watching this because, even though he was great in the role of Perry Mason, it was obvious that he was in pain.

Maybe because Raymond Burr couldn’t do as much as usual, Ken got to do more than usual  in this installment.  What’s strange is that the accused photographer was also interrogating people and looking for clues.  He had just been released on bail and he was on trial for murder.  He should have been laying low instead of tracking down witnesses.

I love the Perry Mason films and I have so many good memories of watching them with my aunt.  This one didn’t do it for me.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Murdered Madam (1987, Dir. by Ron Satlof)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Former madam Suzanne Domenico (Ann Jillian) attempts to blackmail four rich men who are planning on embezzling money from a bank and is found dead by her husband, Tony, shortly afterwards.  Tony (Vincent Baggetta) is arrested and charged with murdering his wife.  Tony’s older brother used to run around with Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Della is able to get Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to defend him in court.  Paul Drake, Jr. (William Katt) is brought in to do the investigative legwork.  Once again, Paul falls for a younger woman (Daphne Ashbrook) who will probably never be mentioned again in any of the other movies.

This movie was a little sad because it was obvious that Raymond Burr was not in good health.  He spends most of the movie sitting or moving with crutches.  In the movie, they say that Perry is using crutches because of a skiing accident but looking at Raymond Burr, there’s no way to imagine him skiing.  Burr is still as sharp as ever when asking questions in the courtroom but it’s still clear that he was in pain when he did this movie.  Perry being sidelined does mean that Barbara Hale and William Katt get to do more than usual.  After spending the last few movies constantly getting outrun and smacked around, Katt finally gets to beat someone up in the movie.

The mystery isn’t bad, even though I guessed who the murderer was long before the trial started.  The entire embezzlement scheme comes down to embezzling a few cents a day so that no one will notice.  That’s the same thing they tried to do in Office Space!  Luckily, no one got murdered that time.

Overall, this was a good entry in the Parry Mason movies, especially for those of us who like watching Paul Drake, Jr.  I’m starting to wonder if all of Perry and Della’s friends are going to end up getting accused of murder at some point.  My aunt and I always used to joke about how often Jessica Fletcher’s nephew was accused of murdering someone.  It might be just as dangerous to be a friend of Perry Mason’s!

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.