fjalexiii Reviews

Perry Mason Returns (1985 TV Movie)

He's baaaack!

[8/10 · 20 June 2016]

I hesitate to write this, as I am not a huge fan of reviving classics. However, three factors - the chemistry amongst the cast members, the combination of devoted former viewers and their kids who became new viewers, and the age-old American moral story that the good guys always win in the end - ensured that the revival of the Perry Mason franchise in the guise of two-hour TV movies would be a ratings smash.

As with a few other revivals of older franchises - the first Star Trek movie is a prime example - this plodded along at times, but its main purpose was to re-acquaint former viewers with an updated cast and to introduce new viewers to the show and its format. Later Mason TV movies were better than this; but after 19 years off the air, I think die-hard fans would have looked at a filmstrip of old stills from the original series. Just having Mason back in the saddle again, with his old confidential secretary at his side (and on trial for murder, no less) along with the son of his old detective pal was enough to put a grin on my face. The premise was a bit of a stretch, in that a well-respected appellate-court justice will impulsively resign his court to defend his faithful old sidekick but Mason is a stand-up guy.

The plot in a nutshell is that someone has it in for Arthur Gordon, a wealthy businessman. Any number of people want him dead, including everyone in his family and undoubtedly some of his business competitors. Someone goes to extreme lengths to not only do him in, but to frame Della Street for the murder as well. Suffice it to say that by framing her, two birds will be killed with one stone. Mason has his work cut out for him to get to the bottom of the mess.

William Hopper, Bill Talman and Ray Collins all died between 1965 and 1970. It would have been a kick to have seen them, too, but two out of five ain't bad. All things considered, not a bad watch at all.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Nebulous Nephew (1963) Season 7, Episode 1

Not a REAL Imitation, but an Imitation Imitation ~

[9/10 · 7 March 2016]

I loved this episode, after seeing it a few times on reruns and then on DVD. Let's just say that "Arsenic and Old Lace" meets Perry Mason. A young man who pays a visit to two older, delightfully dotty spinsters seems to be pretending to be a family member...put up to it by a scheming relative (Hugh Marlowe) who gets his just desserts in due time. The rest of the show is devoted to family, the law and Perry Mason all trying to figure out just what really happened - and who this young man actually is. Turns out, the dotty old sisters' feminine intuition is right on the money, as Mason eventually divines and proves in court. In the end, he turns out only to be an imitation imitation.

Not sure if my oblique clues are too much of a giveaway, so I am declaring the presence of spoilers for those faint of heart. If, as my kids constantly tell me, my explanations are more confusing than clarifying...then I've done my job. :)

Perry Mason: The Case of the Twice-Told Twist (1966) Season 9, Episode 21

Perry Mason, made 1960s-"relevant" - YUCK

[5/10 · 28 February 2016]

Giving this one two extra stars just for Victor Buono. He once told Johnny Carson that Batman allowed him to do the one thing actors are taught not to do - OVERACT. I'm thankful Buono didn't over-emote here; I am less than thankful that the rest of the cast seemed to be "phoning it in." Even Burr's performance was wooden (I've sen Al Gore look more animated than this) and the attempts to be forgiving and understanding toward juvies really are laughable, 50 years later. Ray Collins would have had a field day with the kid Perry keeps forgiving. Perry Mason á la 1965 doesn't cut it. This series was based on film noir, and the B&W treatment just accentuated that as the years went by and more and more shows went to color. Film noir became passé, and regrettably so Perry Mason had to do so as well. I am grateful Burr had the good judgment to end the series when he did - close to the top and on his own terms - rather than soldier on as a caricature of his earlier shows.

Watching this episode in color made no sense to me the first time around - I was only ten, but I liked the show back then - until I saw Ironside on TV three years later. Burr's increasing body mass over the years looked better in color. (I gotta admit, though, Barbara Hale in real color was a BABE.) This almost looked like a hidden pilot for Ironside. The plot was straight from Dickens's Oliver Twist; Buono played it straight and delightfully despicable. Too bad the rest of the cast thought they were in an episode of Mod Squad.

Three stars for the storyline, two extra stars for the late, lamented Victor Buono.

Bonanza: Caution: Easter Bunny Crossing (1970) Season 11, Episode 25

Flat-out funny episode!

[18 February 2016]

One thing I liked about Bonanza as a kid was, not all the shows were dead-serious or preachy. Sometimes, the writers tossed a comedic episode into the mix. Somehow, this one Easter-themed episode escaped my viewing until just today on MeTV. Seeing a 300lb. man over six foot tall dressed in a bunny costume was hysterical. The HORSE seeing a 300lb. man over six foot tall dressed in a bunny costume and running for its life was fall-down funny. Watching said bunny foil an ill-conceived stagecoach robbery was a bit much, but it worked. Seeing four city slickers try to emulate bandits just added to the mix.

Funniest Bonanza show I remember since the days of Obie (Arthur Hunnicutt) and his wonder dog Walter.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lonely Eloper (1962) Season 5, Episode 30

Great episode, not-so-great reviews...

[26 January 2016]

I rarely criticize other reviewers, let alone their reviews - but as one or two other people have noted, there are some egregious errors heretofore posted which beg correction. The childlike heir to her grandmother's fortune was NOT Margo Stevens (Carol Andreson), but Merle Talford (Jana Taylor). This one error, alone, makes me wonder what show the other reviewers WERE watching. It does matter as the story develops to its conclusion. Matter of fact, the identity of the murderer (or murderess?) wouldn't make a lick of sense, had the Stevens character been the heiress.

Without revealing the true end, let's just consider that the entire climax of the story hinges upon the physical resemblance of two people - neither of whom is the heiress. You all will see that for yourselves, at the climactic scene. The epilogue is typical Perry Mason fare; just tidying up a few loose ends in Perry's office, along with some light patter to close the show.

Not one of this show's best - but, definitely, one of its better episodes. It'll keep you guessing!

Perry Mason: The Case of the Wooden Nickels (1964) Season 8, Episode 12

One of the Best Perry Mason episodes ~

[9/10 · 26 January 2016]

Perhaps it's because I collected coins myself when I was a kid, or having read Sherlock Holmes stories so many times, but this one gave the viewer JUST ENOUGH info to lead him/her to deduce the ending, yet have to solve the puzzle how all the clues fit together. Reminds me more of an Ellery Queen episode from ten years later. (Had Mason broken the fourth wall, turned to the camera and said "Think you got it solved? - let's find out!" I wouldn't have been surprised.) If that's not enough - Berry Kroeger is in it, too! - he of the slimy, lugubrious manner and the face perpetually drenched in sweat. Why he was not in the Indiana Jones movies is beyond me. He's one of the best Perry Mason bad guys ever; whenever he appears, you just KNOW he's in some scheme up to his eyebrows.

I was led away from my original deduction a few times; this show had more twists, turns, and dead ends than an Iowa corn maze. Far from being a disappointment at the end, the way it fell together at the end was quite well done. Let's just say that, had the guilty party not been betrayed by one close to said party, his or her plan would have been airtight.

The only thing that made me laugh was the reference to a gold Fugio cent. No such gold coin exists, now or ever. If you've ever seen a gold dollar coin (about the size of a dime), imagine a coin one-one hundredth of that size..it'd be a waste of time and specie to make them!

Alias Smith and Jones: The Root of It All (1971) Season 1, Episode 11

Everybody's a Thief!

[8/10 · 9 October 2015]

A fun watch. The boys meet three women (two younger, one older) on a stage and end up entangled in their plans to find a buried treasure - the location of which was revealed in a letter. (The letter just didn't happen to be mailed to the woman trying to get it back after the coach is robbed.) Sooner or later, everyone and their brother is after the treasure-hunting party. I doubt even the Treasury agent is who he says he is! There's a nice little twist at the end, from a completely unexpected direction.

Hilary Thompson and Judy Carne are the two young single "ladies," chaperoned by Meg Wyllie as the older spinster. In case you don't recognize her name, you - especially the Star Trek Original Series fans - will recognize her face...vaguely...but she played the Talosian Keeper on Talos IV in the two-part Season One episode, The Menagerie. For years, the original pilot episode (The Cage) was not shown as it had a very different crew, led by Capt. Chris Pike, but the writers found a way to chop it up and splice it into the later two-part episode. Misses Carne and Thompson were all over the place on 1960s sitcoms and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In as well. Here, they act well above common expectations and turn in quite accomplished appearances.

Alias Smith and Jones: A Fistful of Diamonds (1971) Season 1, Episode 8

One of my favorite episodes ~

[9/10 · 8 October 2015]

One of the most prolific character actors of the 1960s - and one of my favorites, John McGiver, graces this episode along with one of the most underrated pieces of eye candy ever, Michelle Carey. (Her little-girl, dumb-bunny voice grates upon one's ears, though. Beware.) Sam Jaffe makes another appearance as Soapy Saunders, a more likable rogue the likes of whom you'll never see (seen two episodes previously, in The Great Shell Game).

The boys are put in a bind when a crooked banker kills his manager for discovering his embezzlement, then feigns innocence by putting the crime on Heyes and Curry. Understandably, they are not happy about this turn of events and cook up a plan to clear their names. He's been being a sugar daddy to Miss Jamison (Carey) and can't resist a sure thing when the boys provide him with one.

Let's just say, Mr. Binford (McGiver) makes this episode entertaining!

Alias Smith and Jones: Stagecoach Seven (1971) Season 1, Episode 9

Fourteen Years of Bonanza Didn't Have...

[8/10 · 8 October 2015]

...as many bullets fly as in this one episode of AS&J. Keenan Wynn, Dana Elcar, L.Q. Jones and a young Randolph Mantooth (NBC's Emergency!) amongst others round out the cast here, in a tried-but-true storyline about a stagecoach waylaid en route to its destination. THIS one gets held up TWICE by the same gang, though...the second time while at a way station. It seems the gang leader's memory is a bit slow...

One gets to watch every character on the coach subtly change character, and one gets to change body temperature to room temperature - the one no one will like anyhow, so that's OK. A submissive wife finally tells off her windbag husband, too, which after fifty minute of his bluster makes it the best bit of dialogue in this episode. He ends up redeeming himself in her eyse in the end. Awwww...

Rather sad sometimes, what people will do (or endure) for money.

Alias Smith and Jones: The Man Who Murdered Himself (1971) Season 1, Episode 10

No one is as they seem...

[7/10 · 8 October 2015]

...except for Heyes and Curry. Curry loses a coin-toss with Heyes, as usual, and gets to drive a wagon full of TNT to a mining camp while Heyes contracts with a gent from Australia looking for "seven-foot tall, red-haired Indian" remains INSIDE of Devil's Hole. (The gang actually puts up with the idea, surprisingly enough, now that Big Jim Santana went straight; his "grandy-oose" plans were unsettling to the guys, now led by Kyle. That's all the detail you get!) Heyes actually finds evidence of the Indians - one of them, anyhow - with his former gang's members watching the proceedings from the bluffs.

Well, the gent from Australia is neither a gentleman nor from Australia; his associate is not his friend, but something else; and the third is neither on his honeymoon with Juliet Mills ("Nanny and the Professor") nor from Down Under, either. At least Heyes, Kyle, Lobo and the rest of the gang are who they are.

Thank the Lord for DVD. I had to watch the last several minutes a few times, as the proceedings unravel faster than a long row of dominoes can fall over. Slim Pickens and Patrick Macnee are their usual sterling selves in this episode, although if the story was a bit tighter it would have been more enjoyable. A good watch, nonetheless.

Alias Smith and Jones (1971–1973)

At Long Last...

[8 October 2015]

My wife and I loved this series when we were teenagers. It came out on DVD and we just bought it. It's even better than I remember. One thing that stuns me, is the caliber of the guest stars! - for a show that was a mid-season starter, and only went another year and a half after that, there were top-shelf actors and actresses in this show. Strother Martin, James Drury, Patrick MacNee, Juliet Mills, JD Cannon, just to name a few.

I've watched eight episodes of the first half-season, as well as the pilot, and thanks to DVD can re-play scenes as much as I wish. Given my semi-invalid state the past year, I spend a lot of time watching old shows and on the computer so this is just plain GREAT entertainment.

We're gonna turn our grandkids onto AS&J before we are through!

Alias Smith and Jones: The Great Shell Game (1971) Season 1, Episode 6

Two years BEFORE Newman & Redford in "The Sting..." (possible spoiler)

[9/10 · 6 October 2015]

...Heyes and Curry resort to the (now-obsolete) wire scam - Google it, for details, if you aren't familiar with it - to exact revenge upon a woman who had betrayed Curry to the authorities for the reward out on him. The territorial governor had suggested to our heroes that the return of the reward money would aid greatly in their quest for amnesty; the afore-mentioned woman had helped Curry escape from jail AFTER collecting the reward, and the people who paid the reward were justifiably irritated at being swindled. (It was ten grand, a sizeable sum at the time.)

Heyes "just happens" to encounter the woman and pass her broken carriage on the road...they go out to dinner...and she finds a "lost" wallet with $600 and some cryptic notes on the back of a presentation card. (They also were known in that day as cartes de visite, or calling cards.)

And...we're off to the races!

As I intimated in the title, those of you who have seen the 1973 movie "The Sting" will catch on pretty quickly when the wallet is returned to its owner, and he gratefully extends a favor to Heyes and the lady. The rest of you will figure it out. ALL of you will enjoy it. The end is predictable...how we get there is anything BUT.

Alias Smith and Jones: The Girl in Boxcar #3 (1971) Season 1, Episode 5

More Twists & Turns than the Mississippi River ~

[8/10 · 6 October 2015]

To begin with - neither my wife nor I have seen any episode of this show since it originally aired over 40 years ago when we were teenagers. We both loved it, and bought the complete series last week on DVD.

I just finished watching this episode, and for viewers who also enjoy Perry Mason - this one's not hard to figure out by the 36-minute mark. The fun is in getting there. Our heroes are hired to bring some - well...a LOT of - money from one town to another, for the only consideration of furthering their cause with the territorial governor about their amnesty. They're pursued by a determined gang of disgruntled creditors who lost their monies (the monies the boys agreed to transport) when the local bank failed. Take it from there.

Throw in a 17-year-old girl riding the rails who can tell a yarn as well as Hannibal Heyes, and a minor appearance from Alan Hale (Gilligan's Island's "Skipper") and this makes for an entertaining hour.

As Jim Hutton's Ellery Queen would say - "Think you got it figured out, yet? - let's find out!"

Perry Mason: The Case of the Shapely Shadow (1962) Season 5, Episode 16

Mason Plays Burger like a Fiddle!

[9/10 · 30 September 2015]

I found myself doing something during the courtroom scenes in this episode that I haven't done to date - laugh out loud at Mr. Burger's absolute apoplexia realizing he's been played by his nemesis (Mason). In a rare episode in which the case had gone to jury, and in which the DA's office had a solid but circumstantial case against Mason's defendant, Mason realized Burger was holding his ace-in-the-hole for the jury summation. He therefore decided to rest his case with no defense presentation, knowing that would shut down the prosecution's ability to introduce new evidence.

Burger starts to lose it, at this gambit. He sputters, "WHAT??" and decides to play Mason's chess game by deferring the prosecution's privilege to present closing arguments first. Mason presents a perfectly plausible rationale for the series of events which led to the death of the decedent and rests his case.

Burger now walks into Mason's trap, by presenting the closing argument he had planned to give but including information not hitherto introduced as evidence by either side - therefore polluting the entire testimony the jury has to consider in order to render their verdict. Mason catches Burger doing so, objects claiming prosecutorial misconduct and demanding a mistrial! The judge is inclined to agree with Mason, and for good reason - Burger played loose with proper jurisprudence to make this circumstantial evidence stick in the first place, and he sees his case unraveling thanks to Mason's masterful court procedure.

Burger is so angry he can't even see straight by now. He protests to the judge that he can have a witness on the stand within the hour who will prove Mason's been bluffing; the judge (Willis Bouchey, who over the previous four seasons has come to realize Mason is no ambulance-chaser and usually gives him slack to flesh out his arguments) seems to stifle a laugh as Mason smoothly agrees to the admission of the new witness and offers to withdraw his motion for mistrial. Of course, by the introduction of a new witness by the prosecution Mason will get to introduce exculpatory evidence through Burger's OWN witness (asking Burger's witness a question Burger never thought to ask as he'd never considered an alternative series of events) thanks to Burger's blind stumbling through Mason's mine field.

Thoroughly enjoyable. I loved it!

Follow Me, Boys! (1966)

Societal Values have Degenerated - Thank God the Boy Scouts Haven't!

[27 September 2015]

I've seen a couple of reviews decry this movie, 50 years after the fact, for poor values or "teaching the kids wrong things." That is the silliest thing I have seen. This movie was a good movie in 1966, and remains so fifty years later. The Scouts NEVER have changed their mission to help boys grow into upright men; America has decided for some reason that upright men are bad and that good values are bad.

Too bad. In what remains of the real USA, men still are men, not women. The Scouts taught generations of boys how to be upright, forthright men. If that is bad, call this former Scout a bad man...and my sons...and my grandson.

We are what holds this country together while the critics try to tear it apart. By the grace of God, that shall never happen.

Perry Mason: The Case of the Lame Canary (1959) Season 2, Episode 30

Only in Hollywood....

[9/10 · 24 June 2015]

Neat twists and turns mark this episode as one of the better series offerings. The one glaring flight of Hollywood make-believe was immediately apparent to this mechanic, though. (As its departure from fact has no bearing on the storyline, I don't consider it a spoiler - just an amusing goof!) When Mason and Drake are interviewing the truck driver whose vehicle crashed into a parked car early in the episode, the driver claims his air brakes failed because of a hose that appeared to have been cut with a knife blade. He also stated he was able to drive the vehicle despite the broken hose, by using the hand brake.

As any auto mechanic can tell you, - unlike hydraulic brakes which are off unless the brake pedal is applied - air brakes work on the dead-man principle for safety of the general public. An air compressor powered by the engine has to build up enough air pressure to RELEASE the brakes before a vehicle equipped as such can move. (This explains that loud HISSSSS one hears when a tractor-trailer rig is ready to move out.) Pressing the brake pedal opens a dump valve, lowering air pressure and letting the brakes engage.

A cut brake hose in such a system would never allow the pressure to reach the brake-release point, rendering the vehicle virtually impossible to drive without extensive brake damage and strain on the engine and transmission, too. I kept waiting for Drake to catch the driver in this tall tale, but not to be.

Once the story begins to come together, it moves quickly. Don't go to the fridge for that cold drink, until the show's over!