Tag Archives: William R. Moses

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 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.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990, Dir. by Ran Satlof)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

When singer Terri Knight (Vanessa Williams) is shot and murdered, her husband and manager, Jack (Tim Reid), is arrested.  It’s a good thing that Jack’s professor in law school was Perry Mason (Raymond Burr)!  Perry and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) take the case and investigate to see who silenced the singer.  (Does Perry know anyone who hasn’t been accused of murder?  Someone even tried to fame Della!)

This Perry Mason movie was slightly different than those that came before it.  It was full of flashbacks, showing how Terri became a star and went from being nice and innocent to being a diva.  Every time that Perry or Ken would interrogate someone, it would lead to scene of Vanessa Williams wearing a wig and playing Terri at a different time in her life and career.  There was also a lot singing and the movie actually seemed to be more focused on the music and showing Terri’s rise to fame than it did on solving the actual mystery.  It was was if Perry Mason got dropped into the middle of a production of Dreamgirls.  It didn’t really work for me because Terri wasn’t an interesting enough character to carry the flashbacks but it was still interesting to see a Perry Mason movie trying to do something different.

The most memorable thing about this movie was Angela Bassett, playing a fellow singer and a former friend of Terri’s. She even told off Perry Mason at one point!  It was early in her career but it was easy to see that, from the start, Angela Bassett was obviously going to be a star.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case Of The Desperate Deception (1990, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Marine Captain David Berman (Tim Ryan, who looked a lot like Bruce Willis) gets a transfer to Paris so that he can track down Dieter Krugman, a Nazi war criminal who killed his grandparents and crippled his mother (Teresa Wright).  He is told that Krugman is now living under the name of Felix Altmann.  David confronts Altmann at a health spa but, when someone else shoots Altmann, David is framed for the crime.  Luckily, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is an old friend of the family’s.  He and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) hop on the first plane to Paris and Perry starts to read up on the Uniform Code of Military Justice so that he can defend David.  Della (Barbara Hale) stays behind in Denver but Perry calls her a few times.

This was a good entry in the Perry Mason film series.  The mystery was intriguing and the acting — from Ian Bannen, Ian McShane, Terry O’Quinn, Yvette Mimieux, and Paul Freeman — was excellent all around.  Especially good was Teresa Wright as David’s mother.  Some of her scenes were chilling and she gets a great moment at the end of the movie.  Raymond Burr is as good as always but, for the first time, William R. Moses really feels like he belongs in the movie.  This is the first time that I’ve seen Ken without wishing he was Paul.

It’s too bad Della had to stay back in America.  I bet she would have enjoyed seeing Paris with Perry.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

When an arrogant true crime writer named Bradley Thompson (David Warner) is poisoned while attending a writers conference, his ex-wife (Barbara Babcock) is arrested and charged with his murder.  Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses), who had their own run-in with Thompson, defend her in court and try to track down the real murderer.

This was a good whodunit.  The mystery was pretty easy to solve but all of the suspects were memorable and the supporting cast, which included Cindy Williams, Tony Lo Bianco, and Earl Boen, were entertaining to watch.  My favorite character was Max Mulgrew, a tough-guy crime writer who was played by Kiel Martin.  When Mulgrew was asked if he hated Thompson enough to murder him, Mulgrew says yes but he would have shot him instead of poisoning him!

Amy Hastings, who Alexandra Paul played in the previous three movies, is not in this movie and nobody says anything about her so, hopefully, her character has moved on.  Without Amy around, that means that Della (Barbara Hale) gets to help out with the investigation for once.  It was nice to see Della showing why she was the best assistant that Perry could have ever hoped for.

I remember enjoying this movie when I watched it with my aunt a few years ago.  I enjoyed it again when I watched it last night.

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)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

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.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 6.18 and 6.19 “Isaac’s Aegean Affair/The Captain and The Kid/Poor Rich Man/ The Dean and the Flunkee”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, we have a special two-hour episode!

Episodes 6.18 and 6.19 “Isaac’s Aegean Affair/The Captain and The Kid/Poor Rich Man/ The Dean and the Flunkee”

(Dir by Alan Rafkin, originally aired on February 5th, 1983)

The Love Boat is going to Greece!

This is another one of those two-hour Love Boat episodes.  The crew is assigned to work a Greek cruise.  Love and sight-seeing follow.  Isaac, for instance, falls in love with a passenger named Reesa (Debbie Allen) and even resigns from the crew so that he can spend the rest of his life in Greece with her.  Unfortunately, Isaac forgets to ask Reesa ahead of time and, when Isaac returns to Reesa’s Greek flat, he discovers that she had reconciled with her husband (James A. Watson, Jr.).  It’s back to the Love Boat for Isaac!

Meanwhile, the graduating class of Captain Stubing’s old college is holding their graduation ceremony at the ruins of a Greek temple.  The class  valedictorian (Jameson Parker) give a speech in which he shows appreciation to his Greek aunt (Eva Marie Saint), even though he’s discovered that she’s not as a wealthy as he originally assumed she was.  The Dean (Eddie Albert) is finally convinced to give a makeup exam to a student (Leigh McCloskey) who missed his history final.  A teacher (Shirley Jones) finally agrees to marry the dean.  And Vicki briefly falls in love with a 16 year-old prodigy (Jimmy McNichol) and she gets engaged to him for about an hour or two.  Captain Stubing wonders how Vicki would be able to continue her education if she got married.  I’m wondering how she’s continuing her education while living and working on a cruise ship.

There was a lot going on in this episode but the true star of the show was the Greek scenery.  This episode was filmed on location and, as such, it’s basically a travelogue.  Fortunately, Greece looks beautiful!  Seriously, the 2-hour, on-location episodes of The Love Boat must have been a blast to shoot.

This week?  This week was probably a 10 out of 10 on the How Coked Up Was Julie Scale but hey, she was in Greece.  She had every right to live a little.

Now, I want to take a cruise!

Retro Television Review: Fantasy Island 6.2 “Dancing Lady/The Final Round”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing the original Fantasy Island, which ran on ABC from 1977 to 1984.  Unfortunately, the show has been removed from most streaming sites.  Fortunately, I’ve got nearly every episode on my DVR.

This week, Fantasy Island feels familiar.

Episode 6.2 “Dancing Lady/The Final Round”

(Dir by Cliff Bole, originally aired on October 23rd, 1982)

It’s another dancing and boxing episode!

I have lost track of how many Fantasy Island stories have centered around either dancing or boxing but I know that they’ve been the subject of multiple episodes every season.  The fantasies always seem to play out the same as well.  A young boxer has a shot at the championship but taking one wrong blow could end their career or even their life.  And a woman with a boring job — usually, she’s a receptionist — wants to be the world’s greatest dancer but, in the end, discovers that love is the most important thing.  Usually, the familiarity of the stories is a part of Fantasy Island‘s charm but I have to admit that I spent this entire episode wondering if I had seen it before.  The fantasies felt so familiar that, ultimately, everyone just seemed to be going through the motions.

The dancer was Kristy Lee (Lynda Goodfriend), who was given a special powder that would give her the ability to be the world’s greatest dancer.  I know what you’re thinking and no, it was not cocaine.  Instead, it was dust that had been gathered from the world’s greatest theaters and which had magical powers only when used on Fantasy Island.  Using the dust, Kristy auditioned for a spot in a musical showcase starring Ray Tucker (Ken Berry), a down-on-his-luck dancer looking to make a comeback.  Unfortunately, Kristy was so good that Ray feared she would overshadow him.  Ray had to find his confidence and Kristy had to learn that she could dance beautifully even without the magic dust because, according to Roarke, the power of love is all one needs.  (That laughter you hear is coming from every dance teacher I’ve ever had.)  The highlight of this fantasy was Ray Bolger, playing a Broadway producer who happened to be an old friend of Roarke’s.  Bolger and Ricardo Montalban, two old show business pros, seemed to really enjoy working together.  As well, Bolger’s producer had a nice scene where he and Tattoo spoke in French to each other.  It was a fun little moment and, if nothing else, it indicated that both Roarke and Tattoo have lives outside of greeting people on Fantasy Island.

The boxing story featured Al Molinaro as Max, a trainer who wanted to train someone for an exhibition match against the world champion.  Max got his chance to train the enthusiastic Tommy Rudolph (William R. Moses) but, when Max’s ex-girlfriend (Rue McClanahan) warned him that one more concussion could possibly kill Tommy, Max had to make a decision.  Would he push Tommy to keep fighting or would he thrown in the towel after Tommy took a few shots to the head?  Max, of course, did the right thing.

As I said, it was all pretty predictable and familiar.  At least Tattoo got to have some fun.  Along with speaking French, he also got to put on a bookie outfit and then take bets on the outcome of the fight.  When Roarke told Tattoo to cancel all the bets, Tattoo replied that being a bookie was his fantasy!

Hey, it made me laugh,