Show252
Each of the Silent 6 claims they didn't want to get involved so didn't help the screaming woman. In previous seasons we have seen nosy neighbors who went out of their way to get involved. Perhaps the Kennedy assassination was the turning point when Americans became more apathetic? Really depressing. DM
One of the most unlikable, unsympathetic defendants we have seen. It's becoming a trend this season. We are supposeed to excuse Sgt Dave's crass, abusive behavior because he was worried about his siste? The first half of the show keeps eluding to a violent woman beater but the only violent behavior we see is from Dave the defendant. Every time he's on screen, he's barking at Perry and and ordering him around. When he demanded Perry get him out of jail, he claimed it was because he needed to care for his sister even after Perry told him she would be in the hospital another 2 months. It seemed as though Dave's irrational anger was over not having his sister in his direct control. Steve said early on that Dave went ballistic when she got her own apartment. Despite her contrived baby voice, she looked to be in her mid twenties. Definitely old enough to live on her own.
Even though Dave didn't commit murder, he should still be fired. As we have seen in recent years, a cop with that short of a fuse and drunk on his own power is a menace on the street. If he didn't kill this time, he definitely would another time. The fact that Steve considered this guy his best friend was also very telling. Not sure if they had psych exams in 1965 but that guy would never have made it on the force if they did. Submitted by DM
By far my favorite confession. (2nd best: impatient partner). Submitted by GlovatskiInc, 6/25/2008.
Music: During the murder in the opening scene, does anyone know the piano music that was playing on the phonograph? It sounds kind of like a Beethoven sonata, and I gather that the producers of Perry Mason were fond of using Beethoven, but I cannot quite place that particular piece. Submitted by gracenote, 5/20/2011.
+ The stormy piano piece heard under the opening scene is the Etude in C minor, Opus 10 No. 12 by Chopin, the so-called Revolutionary Etude. It was written in 1831 during the unsuccessful revolt of Poland from Russia, and is also sometimes called Etude on the Bombardment of Warsaw. Chopin may have used Beethoven's last piano sonata (in C minor) as a model for certain aspects of the piece, especially the end. Submitted by FredK 30Jan12.
Who would arrange candle holders on the mantel side by side rather than on opposite ends of the mantel like in one apartment scene. The one with three looked even worse. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/11/17.
+ Maybe they were arranged by someone hopped up on goofballs!
++ I don't know, I kind of like the subtly asymmetrical arrangement over Mrs. Oliver's fireplace OLEF641 9/15/21
This happens to be me, in my opinion, one of the most exciting openings I have seen in this series. Submitted by gracenote, 5/20/2011.
Did anyone else notice that the sister and the landlord who-would-be-her-boyfriend were more than three decades apart in age? Chris Noel was born in 1941, and Dale Van Sickle in 1907! Submitted by gracenote, 5/20/2011.
Hampton Fancher, who played Hamp Fisher in this episode, came the closest to playing himself (without actually playing himself) of any actor in the series. Submitted by PaulDrake 33. 23 February 2015.
+ And the perfect Pitkin Principle name! See episode 18 trivia. Submitted by Kilo 1/29/2018.
++ I assumed that (Lionel) Hampton, (Thelonius) Monk, Coleman (Hawkins), and Joe (King) Oliver were all intended as jazz references, since those guys were cool cats with their goofballs and their hep lingo. Submitted by Vladimir Estragon, 8/12/20.
Just for the record, the term "hopped up on goofballs" is spoken three times during the episode. Submitted by Kenmore 08/29/2023
I loved the way Raymond Burr questioned one of the witnesses about who he saw out of the "rear window." In 1954, Raymond Burr played Lars Thorwald, a man who was seen out of the rear window by James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock's classic film "Rear Window." Photography equipment played an important part in that movie, as here. There was a musician in the apartment in "Rear Window" as well as here. In the movie there was someone confined to a wheelchair, and, of course a screaming woman, and a man who shouted, "You don't know the meaning of the word 'neighbors'! Neighbors like each other, speak to each other, care if anybody lives or dies! But none of you do!" And, finally, someone falls to the floor below in both the movie and this episode. I sense that the screen writer was having some fun rearranging these parallels. Submitted by catyron, July 26th, 2018.
At approximately 4:00 on the DVD there is a somewhat awkward attempt to make the office look extremely busy with multiple cases, as if the scene had been specifically written and staged to counter the criticism that Perry in most episodes seems to be working on only one case at a time. Submitted by Dan K, 3 August 2018.
Old Dog Writers perhaps hoping to atone for having marginalized domestic violence over the previous eight seasons, the writers crafted a decent show (I'll skip the cliched "powerful" since the usual formulaic excesses really preclude that term). But when it comes time to wrap things up, apparently they can't help but fall back on bad habits: as Dave and Susan depart for Hawaii - we know it must be at least a couple months later since we'd been told Susan would be in the hospital that long - Della chides Paul for recklessness:
Paul: "Perry, what would I get for inflicting mayhem on a backseat driver?"
Perry (smiling): "Don't worry, no jury would convict you."
They all laugh; we don't.
Notcom 090120.
+ The time elapsed between crime and trial would have been at least the two-month period mentioned, if not longer. And I, for one, don't find the good-natured joshing in the final scene disturbing. Yes, actual violence never solves anything, but there is a clear difference when it's just good friends kidding around. OLEF641 9/15/21.
++ I noticed the harsh contrast between the violent content of the story and the "jovial" mention of justifiable "mayhem", Notcom— it bothered me, too. It reflected deeply engrained habits where some violence, even though verbal, "just having fun", "can’t you take a joke?”, is just part of regular life, esp directed at women. SoCalSis 1 Aug 2023.
+++With all due respect, people need to lighten up. As a woman who has supported friends who experienced domestic violence, I DID find Paul's joke funny. People constantly pointing the finger at men on behalf of women are the reason we have so many men/boys feeling emasculated today. It's the reason why the military has such trouble with recruitment. Men are afraid to act like men. There is a difference between threats of real domestic violence and good-natured ribbing. Equating this joke with REAL domestic violence completely minimizes real threats of domestic violence. Women are not babies. We understand the difference between a joke and a real threat. It's like saying that a comedian joking about race is a racist. It's insulting to those who have actually experienced real racism. Submitted by DellaMason
Don't Stiff Your Bookie - the $2000 that Oliver owed "Professor" Jefferson would be well over $17,000 in 2021 money. OLEF641 9/15/21
Dead Men Tell no Tales It makes for the requisite alliterative title, and there's some symbolism as well - six is both the traditional number of pallbearers and the minimum size of a petit jury - but who are the silent six here? The neighbors (Linda Blakely, Craig Jefferson, Flo Oliver, Ron Peters) are likely candidates; Hamp Fisher and Monk Coleman are presuambly the other two. But were they all "silent"? As we learn by the end, Ron wasn't really silent - i.e. unassisting - with regard to Susan, and his reasons for being silent about the identity of the killer are obvious. Similar claims can be made for Hamp. Linda was with Joe, and he did act. Monk didn't really seem to know much and wasn't actually present. Whether intentional or not, much as with the Kitty Genovese case (that presumably inspired it), a certain amount of over-blaming was at work here.