Tag Archives: Ron Pinkard

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 Defiant Daughter (1990, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) are in Las Vegas for a boxing match but you know how it is when you’re the world’s most famous defense attorney.  Perry can’t even go to Nevada without getting drawn into a court case.  This time, David Benson (John Posey) is accused of shooting a blackmailer named Richard Stuart (Robert Culp).  David’s teenage daughter, Melanie (Jenny Lewis), convinces Perry to take the case.  She also tries to investigate on her own.  It turns out that Richard Stuart was blackmailing several people.  The suspects include Robert Vaughn, Jere Burns, Ken Kercheval, and Kevin Tighe.

I went back and forth on this entry.  The best thing about this movie were the other suspects, who were all flamboyant Las Vegas characters.  However, Melanie was sometimes annoying, even though it was understandable that she would be upset about her father being accused of murder.  But I do think it was interesting to see how Perry related to Melanie.  There’s a really sad subtext to the movie because Perry’s entire life is about his work.  His friends are other attorneys.  He doesn’t seem to have a family.  While defending David, Perry became a surrogate father for Melanie but, at the end of the movie, Perry was once again alone.

In the end, The Case of the Desperate Daughter won me over.  It was entertaining to see Perry in a different setting and dealing with characters who were more memorable than the usual cast of suspects.  Even Perry Mason needed an occasional change of scenery.