Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Garrulous Gambler (1959) User Reviews

A card game goes terribly wrong

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 27 May 2013]

Unlike the another reviewer I was actually caught off guard till near the end of who was the actual guilty party in this tale of mischief.

It begins at a card game when Larry Benton accuses Mike Granger of cheating. Well, Mike does not take to kind about being called a cheater and pulls a revolver on Larry. A shoving match breaks out and Larry believes that he has killed Mr Granger.

The next day Larry is confronted by another person at the card game named Ben Wallace that is set on blackmailing Larry about the murder. Larry has to steal money from his brother Steve Benton to pay the blackmail money.

It is not long before another person at the card game, Johnny Clay, is murdered. And it just so happens that Steve Benton is wiping off a fire poker when Ben Wallace enters the room. It is not long before Lt Tragg has a murder warrant on Ben and Perry agrees to defend him in court.

This is a unique mystery as you will find that a trick was being played but soon backfires when someone wants more than their cut of the prize. The writers do an great job of giving us many suspects but it will come down, not to a confession, but Perry making sense of the situation. Good watch!

There are some great twists in this one

[AlsExGal · 8/10 · 18 December 2022]

A wealthy young man. Larry Benton, is playing poker with three other men. Suddenly, one of the men accuses Larry of cheating at cards and pulls a gun. There is a struggle, the gun goes off, and the man with the gun is dead. One of the other men left before the struggle, but the one who is still there agrees to dispose of the dead man's body. The dead man had no family and will not be missed.

The next day the man who left before the shooting, Wallace, begins blackmailing Larry Benton over this killing. But Larry has no money of his own, so he forges four five thousand dollar checks that belong to his much older brother, self made industrialist Steve Benton. When Steve catches on but his brother will not tell him why he forged the checks, he goes to Perry for help. When all of this leads to murder, Perry is there to help some more. As usual, his client is innocent but does lie about some important things. And one thing I have said about all of this is not true. But you'll need to watch and find out what that is.

What makes this easy on Perry is that everybody who is involved is about as sincere on the stand as a used car salesman, and they are none too bright. Perry shows his street smarts in this one by conning the con men at a couple of junctures. He even has Hamilton Burger agreeing that justice is more important than his conviction rate! A most unusual and entertaining episode.

Doris, you naughty girl.

[darbski · 10/10 · 17 July 2017]

**SPOILERS** If you haven't seen this episode, go no further. Instead, wait for it to re-run, or buy it from Amazon; like I did. First, ANY time a girlfriend of anybody is up and wandering around in a poker game, you KNOW it's rigged. It doesn't matter how; just KNOW it's crooked. Next, if you've seen someone shot fatally, or if they've just been wounded, there is gonna be a lot of blood. There are a couple of red herrings of note in his show; first, the jealous, petty, cowardly younger brother, and then the wife of the second vic, Johnny Clay, who's name is actually Bradley. She filed for his insurance as soon as it was announced that he was croaked. I actually thought SHE did it - at least the second one.

Tragg was very friendly to Perry in this one, and I think he had a secret crush on Della, so he was cordial to Perry. Now, Paula Raymond plays Doris Shackley. She's one of those actresses who smokes, but not really; Also she is better looking in these shows than she was when she was young. She is believable when she says that she's had a lot of boyfriends. More later. In court, Perry proves that the younger brother didn't kill Grainger, but the second one, Well, that's a little stickier, isn't it? THAT one was never really explained, was it?

You know, a gun was Wallace's favorite weapon; why use a poker? He conveniently calls the police, and thereby re-introduces the gun that Paul later takes away from him. I mean he pulled it out and threatened Paul and Perry with it when he didn't have to; stupid, but it shows a willingness to use it. Why not on Clay? Perry has to turn over the gun to Tragg, (I was surprised that he didn't do it before), so it was in evidence. A murder weapon. He was licensed to own it, but WHAT was Grainger doing with it when they said the younger brother killed him? Grainger was later killed with the same weapon, and it was proved that Wallace did that one, but why the poker?

Nope, I think it was Doris who iced Clay; she was shocked that he had a wife, hurt that he didn't tell her, she probably figured that he'd take all the dough and leave her too. Perry's own client wiped away her fingerprints when he tried to cover up the crime scene. Later, in court, Wallace (Steve Brodie; great name for a cowboy or a con), may have figured that he was gonna take a fall for one killing, why not two; let Doris get away. Maybe because he liked her, maybe because he hated authority and wanted to fix them up somehow, maybe because he KNEW that she'd absolutely get in more trouble on her own, later.... who knows? Great episode, strong actors, settings were good, Della was beautiful, great end without any happily ever after drivel.

Too Many Cooks

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 4 January 2022]

A young former convict with a chip on his shoulder, uses his brother to pay off blackmail. He, himself, has been set up in a con game, but the brother is a good businessman. HIs willingness to go to bat for the younger guy gets him in the defendant's chair. The whole conceived plot is beyond belief.

I always like surprises

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 28 August 2012]

Dick Foran is Perry Mason's client in this episode, an oilman who is forever bailing his brother Wynn Pearce out of trouble. In this case Pearce is rather nicely set up as the culprit of a murder that didn't ever happen. This all arose out of a dispute over cheating at a poker game. When one of the plotters against Pearce winds up really dead than Foran is arrested for his murder.

A few attempts at red herrings really don't work here since the culprit is all, but advertising it on the six o'clock news that he did it. No suspense in this particular episode.

With Perry Mason I always like surprises.