Show261
When Baylor backhands Hobart in the police station, it was hilarious how bad it looked. He clearly didn't make contact and Hobart reacted like Baylor had hit him with a crowbar. LOL The phony look of that smack made the 3 Stooges look realistic! LOL
Interesting spin in this show. Don Hobart is the first suspect - but Perry makes it clear that he's going to get to the truth .. and boy, does he. So ... and this show is the first time I can think of that Perry is not only speechless, but pretty darn ticked off, as well, when it ends. Posted by MikeReese, 5/17/2013
+ The "spin" used in this episode is similar to the one used in #215, TCOT Sleepy Slayer. Submitted by Bill-W2XOY on 08/17/13..I don't recall any other episode with so many comments implying the murderer's innocence. Joe B. 01/18/24
If only Cynthia Perkins had noticed a gun missing in the gun case when she left to follow Hobart, it would have been a quick show but she should have known all a long. A little bit of police brutality and letting a non-law enforcement officer slap someone in the sheriff's office. Alas, just 10 more episodes from the DVD collection to watch. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/18/14.
OK people. How did the gun get back in the case? PerryFan Steve 4/5/20
Just watched this again, paying very close attention, and there is no explanation. Odd, because it is a major plot point. And if, as Perry says, Elaine knew Don was her ‘blackmailer’, why go through that charade about hiding the money? With some tighter plotting, this could have been one of the better episodes. DOD 04/30/20
RE: Gun. When Perry sees Cynthia in jail, she asks why the police wouldn't believe her. Perry rattles off a list of things and buried in the middle is the fact that she returned the murder weapon to the gun case, after finding it at the scene of the crime. Crunchy 12 Sep 2020
"Deputy" comes from an Old French word meaning "to assign authority, a function, etc. to" (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary). Mike Bedard 3.4.15.
This CLASSIC combines the ECLECTIC features that made PM a 9-Year Phenomenon: a Country setting, a Small-town Sheriff's Dept. "Lab technician/Fingerprint expert/Ballistics man" & a high-Powered client Perry takes on. "Ballistics" comes from a Greek word, "to throw"/"an ancient machine for throwing stones or other missiles" (Webster's Unabridged Dictionary). The Tyrannical client reminds PM of his $10K Annual Retainer; Perry counters with his duties as "an Officer of the court, a Citizen & a Human Being" and upholds the "Benefit of Counsel," Amendment 6: "In all Criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy THE RIGHT...TO HAVE THE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL FOR HIS DEFENSE." With Only 10 left to go, the series was Still HIGH QUALITY in its 261st episode! Mike Bedard 3.6.15.
There's also an explicit on-screen murder, a shot to the head of the victim through the windshield of her convertible. jfh 07Mar2023
There is a certain look and pacing to PM episodes, which most directors try to adhere to. The direction here is stilted, unimaginative and lackluster. Disappointing, and the extreme close-ups used do nothing to help.
cgraul 6.25.16
+ I couldn't agree more: although (as Mike notes above) every imaginable cliché was squeezed in, apparently they had to cut things out to compensate, and what they cut out was continuity, plot, logic...it plays more like a Peyton Place highlights reel than a Perry Mason episode. Notcom, 062516.
The shooting range seems to be in a poor location. People that approach on the path end up being behind the targets as in the case when Howard Baylor makes one last shot with the pistol after being summoned his father - one errant shot and the butler would have got it. As I write this, we learn that Barbara Hale (Della) passed away yesterday. May she rest in peace. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/29/17
+ The butler was pretty meek for someone who was almost used for target practice!. Submitted by catyron, August 9th, 2018\\ I can't believe a .22 rimfire would penetrate angled windshield safety glass and still be lethal or on target two feet beyond. Joe B. 01/18/24
Perry tells Richard Bayler that Hobart was assaulted while in custody, not mentioning that Bayler himself was the assailant. jfh 07Mar2023
Don mentions that Elaine came in, "screaming like Lucia". Not being well-versed in saints, I had to look it up. jfh 07Mar2023.
Interesting that when Aaron Chambers shines his flashlight on Perry, Paul and Della it's not turned on! In that same shot it also appears that the room lights are already on. (Thus negating the need for the flashlight.) In the next shot the lights are off and the flashlight is on. Kilo 11/10/2018.
Natasha's has an odd mix of customers. Tables of old men and women watching young people dance the Monkey, the Jerk and the Frug. Kilo 5/12/2020.
In the court scenes there were several close ups of Howard Bayler. For a young person he seemed to have the haircut of a man twice his age. Quite hideous! The hair that is!
Submitted by Hamilton Burger for Governor 07/03/2020
++ In mentioning "hideous" people, I've always thought Richard Devon (Ed Kesko), was a very strange looking actor, an aged man with very obviously dyed black hair and very bushy dyed black eyebrows. Submitted by Tragg, 1st August 2022
I love the way the judge uses a pencil as a gavel! It really gives the feel of a small-town courtroom. And then the sound effects make it sound much louder than it would have been. Submitted by IncompetentIrrelavantandImmaterial 05/20/2021
+ Actually, judges on Perry Mason almost always use the top end of a pencil to rap their desks instead of a gavel. In fact, I can't remember a gavel being used at all in I don't know how long. Has anybody done a study on which episodes a gavel was used? OLEF641 9/28/21
In the first scene at the Bayler mansion, after Richard Bayler describes what he thinks happened, Paul says, "...the Badger Game?" Bayler agrees. The Badger Game is a con in which a wealthy person is lured into an affair. They are then blackmailed. It always turns out that the seducer and the blackmailer are in cahoots. It worked best in earlier times when a sexual scandal could ruin a career, marriage, or life. The name comes from the way badgers were baited for capture. One of the earliest victims of a Badger Game con was Alexander Hamilton. Submitted by Paul's Operative. 1/5/24.