The last of the contracted Perry Mason television movies is The Case Of The Jealous Jokester where Dyan Cannon plays television mom of Harriet Nelson family values with a comic twist and who is one real hellcat off the stage. Mean, manipulative, and vindictive to all around her, Cannon is probably one woman who really did deserve her fate. The problem is that the perpetrator fixed a good alibi by framing the niece of Wild Bill McKenzie played her by Victoria Jackson.
Hal Holbrook's character was an interesting one and I'm sorry the series wasn't continued with his name on it. I believe that the public just didn't accept him as a Perry Mason lite. Probably because of contracts, the films had to be presented as Perry Mason mysteries. It would have been better had they even just dropped that identifiable theme music, used Barbara Hale and William R. Moses in their characters and simply said that Perry had died.
Barbara Hale was going to retire in any event, in fact you can see she's breaking in Holland Taylor to fill her familiar role. Billy Moses would have no doubt continued as lawyer/investigator Ken Malansky with the Wild Bill McKenzie law firm had they continued the series.
It's not a bad film, but the McKenzie character, maybe because of legal problems was sold wrong.
Hal Holbrook's character was an interesting one and I'm sorry the series wasn't continued with his name on it. I believe that the public just didn't accept him as a Perry Mason lite. Probably because of contracts, the films had to be presented as Perry Mason mysteries. It would have been better had they even just dropped that identifiable theme music, used Barbara Hale and William R. Moses in their characters and simply said that Perry had died.
Barbara Hale was going to retire in any event, in fact you can see she's breaking in Holland Taylor to fill her familiar role. Billy Moses would have no doubt continued as lawyer/investigator Ken Malansky with the Wild Bill McKenzie law firm had they continued the series.
It's not a bad film, but the McKenzie character, maybe because of legal problems was sold wrong.