After a 20 year absence from the small screen Raymond Burr who is now, older, stouter, and grayer and with a beard returns to television in the first of several two hour made for television films. Burr had a legion of fans as Mason and his return was heralded with high ratings every time one of these films was broadcast.
In the interim like many good lawyers and some mediocre ones, Perry Mason became a judge and was now an appellate court jurist. But when a friend's in trouble, Perry quits it all and returns to active combat in the courtroom.
Back in the original series William Hopper as Paul Drake was a defendant in one episode. Here it's the only other living cast member at the time from the old series, Barbara Hale as Della Street.
Della's gone on with her life as well. She became a secretary and later executive assistant to the wealthy Patrick O'Neal. With the kids and second wife O'Neal's got, no wonder he began relying heavily on Della Street to run his business.
When O'Neal is stabbed to death by a killer in drag to make it look like Della broke in, she's arrested and of course she turns to Perry as her attorney. Biggest mistake the perpetrator made, didn't the individual realize just who Della worked for before. Definitely should have found another patsy.
But as the case developed it turns out that not only did O'Neal have to be killed, but that Della had to be framed in order to solve get out of the potential jackpot the killer was in.
This became a family reunion in another way as Barbara Hale's son William Katt came on as Paul Drake, Jr. The script had it written that Paul Drake was now retired and the Drake Detective Agency was in the hands of his son. But it's clear that Katt only considers it a part time gig. In fact when we first meet him he's doing another gig, playing a saxophone at a jazz club.
Perry takes him on, but doesn't quite take him seriously enough. Katt has to earn his respect and that's a running theme throughout the film.
Perry Mason Returns is a good start to eight years of Perry Mason films, all anticipated by the legion of fans Raymond Burr developed for Erle Stanley Gardner's famous defense attorney.
