Perry Mason - McKenzie und die toten Gouverneure

It's sad that Hal Holbrook's character of Wild Bill McKenzie was a rush creation job to fulfill the commitment of NBC for Perry Mason stories after Raymond Burr died. He could have been successful had he been launched on his own, might have been given a fair chance to succeed.

Barbara Hale and William R. Moses, vacationing on lawyer/rancher Hal Holbrook's spread get drafted into helping with another case. This one involves no less than political assassination and I'm betting would have been on the front page of every paper in the country.

Kim Johnston Ulrich is the daughter of former McKenzie colleague, Ken Kercheval whom she believes was murdered and the man who is now governor of the state, James Brolin, is responsible. When she goes to visit him, one evening, the governor is found stabbed to death with a letter opener. Naturally she's looking good for it and naturally comes she gets Holbrook and the team for her day in court.

A couple of things struck me about this episode which you know had to have been written for Raymond Burr and would have made more sense given the Erle Stanley Gardner parameters he had to operate under and which the audience here would have been expecting for Wild Bill McKenzie. At one point Brolin's wife Deborah Raffin asks him how he could defend such an evil woman as Ulrich and he replies something on the order that since he's now rich enough, he defends only whom he wants and whom he believes are innocent.

That was certainly true of Perry Mason. I'm betting neither Mason or McKenzie ever got a mob hit man off on a homicide. At least once they could pick and choose clients. Still it does violate at least one canon of legal ethics that EVERYONE is entitled to a defense.

The Case of the Grimacing Governor had many generations of performers from old to new Hollywood in the cast. The old Hollywood was represented by movie legend Tony Curtis who has a small role as a very rich hoodlum with fingers in lots of pies. In an even smaller role is Ryan Phillippe as a banquet waiter whose testimony discredits so called eye witness testimony for the prosecution. This was before Phillippe hit movie star status.

With all that though I do have to wonder where was the governor's security during all this. On second thought we in New York lost a governor because he managed to ditch his trappings of security for a little indiscretion that cost him his office. By the way I'm still not convinced Elliott Spitzer ought to have resigned.

But that's the plot of another film.

When a candidate for governor is killed, the incumbent is pleased. Then the governor is killed, and the candidate's daughter is on trial for murder. It's a good thing this is a Perry Mason Mystery. Even if Perry is unavailable (because Raymond Burr is dead), there's Barbara Hale as Della Street, William Moses as the investigator and Hal Holbrook, sporting a country accent and Stetson to deal with the matter. Will a random witness confess on the stand? Don't be surprised if one does.

The characters involved (including turns by Tony Curtis, Bonnie Bartlett and James Brolin) keeps things interesting. Given the information that comes out at the end, revealing the actual murderer, it's not as good as the others.

Maverick lawyer Bill McKenzie returns to action defending the daughter of a disgraced politician. The politico was murdered, but his death was successfully made to appear as suicide. Several years later, his daughter finds herself suspected of murdering the Governor of the state, who she held responsible for her father's suicide through a political smear campaign.

Hal Holbrook is great in this role and the mystery, while engaging is rather disturbing as McKenzie probes layer upon layer of political corruption during his investigation. One can't help but wonder about the political repercussions after the smoke cleared. It might have made an interesting film on it's own. The final revelation, while not surprising, is clever and ironic.

A treat, this late in the game.

On a side note, reflecting a new courtroom era, cameras can be clearly seen in the background, televising the courtroom proceedings to a large cable audience no doubt.

"The only question I have is why they felt they needed to keep shoe-horning Ken and Della into it - surely they could keep the brand and just start with new characters, or at least only use them without forcing it?" This is a quote from "boo moo's" review. It's unlikely that this person will ever see my answer, being written in 2017, but maybe someone else will wonder the same thing. The answer is that Raymond Burr wanted it that way. Barbara Hale and William R. Moses were contracted for all those movies, and if their contracts were canceled because of his death, they would been out a lot of money. So as a favor to them, Raymond Burr insisted that they be retained (pun intended) for all the movies. My comment re Ken Melansky is that after getting roughed up as many times as he does, if I were him, I'd start looking for a different line of work!

Harlan Richards is running for Governor when he is accused by a young lady of having an affair. This ruins his campaigns even though he claims innocence. He commits suicide although his daughter, Karen and friend Wild Bill Mackenzie suspect he was murdered. Months later Karen finds the girl who accused him of the affair and confronts her - demanding to know who set her father up. She goes to see the man she suspects - the other candidate for Governor but finds him murdered, with herself as the main suspect. Bill agrees to defend her and asks Ken and Della (house guests at his ranch) to help. Ken starts searching for the woman who first set Richards up as she has vanished since then.

Anyone `lucky' enough to see the debacle that was `Wicked Wives' will know that the Mason Mystery series looked to be about as alive and well as the sadly passed star, Raymond Burr. So this film just looked like it would be worse - however they seemed to learn from the last film. The signs aren't good when even the usual director (Nyby II) has skipped on this one but actually it stands out as a good part of the series - only lacking Mason himself to complete the formula.

The plot is quite complex and a little unlikely but is engaging none the less. Ken's investigation has more of a twist to it than usual and demands you pay more attention than he usually requires. As usual it has all the weakness of the usual formula but if you enjoy that formula (and I do) then it works fine. The film's main flaw for me is the way it wants to be a mason movie no matter how tenuous the link. Wicked Wives made an iffy link but this one is even worse - Ken and Della happen to be house guests of Mackenzie at the time! Ken gets to do stuff but Della is lumbered with nothing to do at all - cook and that's it!

Holbrook is much better in the lead than Sorvino was in WW. He is a completely different character than Mason and the film wants us to know this by having him ride a motorbike and visit a strip bar. He is a really good character and that's why the series stuck with him for the rest of the movies. Moses is OK as Ken and has a decent haircut this time but Hale just looks like a woman bound by contract and knowing she'll only ever be known for one role. The support cast is deep and that helps - John Spencer is good and a few other recognisable (but not easily nameable to this reviewer!) faces add character. Tony Curtis is a crazy bit of casting but works OK in small doses (which is all he has happily). An amusing side note for the Mason fan is that Kercheval has his second role in a Mason movie having first had a role as a suspect in the Defiant Daughter.

Overall this is surprisingly good. The Mystery movie before this one was pretty awful whereas this replaces Mason with a strong character, has a good story and sticks to formula for the rest. The only question I have is why they felt they needed to keep shoe-horning Ken and Della into it - surely they could keep the brand and just start with new characters, or at least only use them without forcing it?