Perry's All Stars in Play
Thatcher Horton (Pernell Roberts) hasn't got to where he is by being nice and so a day doesn't seem to pass with out him dealing with one unhappy sports star from one of the teams he owns. One of those unhappy sports stars is Bobby Spencer (Jason Beghe) a hockey player who Thatcher had promised to take care of financially if he got injured which he reneged on which is why Bobby has called on his old friend Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) to represent him in a legal action against Thatcher. But when Thatcher is murdered and the murder weapon is found in Bobby's car he finds himself under arrest and in need of help. Whilst Ken's girlfriend Amy (Alexandra Paul) wants him to take the murder case Ken knows that Bobby needs Perry Mason (Raymond Burr). Together they discover that Thatcher was not very popular with various people all with motive for murder.
There is not a great deal needed to be said about "Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin" as it is pretty standard case where we have several suspects with motive for murder. As such whilst we have the unhappy hockey player with an angry side charged we also have former tennis players, a basketball player, a handyman as well as family, including a son, all of whom have motive for murder. As such whilst you have Ken doing the physical side of the investigating, with girlfriend Amy also getting involved, we have Perry doing the sizing up of the various subjects with his questions and chats.
But what we get more of in "Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin" is moments of light hearted humour with Perry Mason taking everything in his stride and having that knowledge of how others are going to react, almost becoming a father figure. It isn't that it makes this "Perry Mason" movie a comedy but just adds to the entertainment as does the way Amy tries Ken's patience with the way she does things behind his back. On the subject of which, this turned out to be Alexandra Paul's third and final appearance as Ken's girlfriend Amy.
What this all boils down to is that "Perry Mason: The Case of the All-Star Assassin" is really just a standard, formula driven Perry Mason movie which ticks all the usual boxes of a murder, various suspects and so on. For fans of Perry Mason it will be entertaining but it doesn't stand out as being any better than any other Perry Mason movie.
Tags: Perry Mason
