The Case of the Bouncing Boomerang

"Poor little thing, not her fault"?!!?!? Oh dear, hubby remains in the dark--even after the revelation of all his wife did! Perhaps ignorance is indeed bliss after all.

I liked this episode. The villains played their roles well. There was a twist at the end I hadn't expected. This one's worth the watch.

Old time western star Rod Cameron is Perry Mason's client in this episode which makes him out to be one naive fool. This is a man who should keep Raymond Burr on permanent retainer as he's liable to do something stupid again.

He's got himself a young wife in Diana Millay and she's a frisky thing, running off to San Francisco and poor Cameron can't figure it out. What she's cooking up besides some monkey business is an insurance scam and also possibly to have Cameron sell some land of their's.

When the future skipper of the Minow Alan Hale shows up with a Texas twang and oodles of money he says he has and willing to pay way over what the land is worth, it all sounds too good to be true. But then Hale is killed in a car and then Millay is strangled and Cameron is found over the body.

It's not only Cameron's naiveté that's a problem with this episode, but it is fairly obvious who is the best one to be involved in an insurance scam if it isn't Cameron.

One of the lamer Perry Mason's.

Here, a nifty plot on paper, with a hot "Eula" (Dianna Millay), meets the reality of a one-hour time-slot, and we never get a chance to see how they're all related, much less, Eula, who always seems to have a headache, fighting her way off camera. Some of it is just a trick on the viewer--where you believe one character will be important, until replaced by discovering someone of seemingly little importance is at the center of it all. I blame this on MeTV. The defendant? Who cares? Today, this sloppy assemblage of scenes/actors would be a "lost episode."

Actually I think my 5 rating is a bit generous for this one, but it DOES include Diana Millay, although I think she's out of her element in this grand excuse for a mess. The whole storyline is convoluted from beginning to end. Somehow there's worthless real estate, insurance fraud, dental work, a fake Texan, a clueless husband and an unhappy wife that leads to not just one, but two separate murder victims. I just could not get into the plot, not that there really is much of one. One of the victims is so scheming that their death is actually a relief. Unfortunately, like many later-season entries, this one is pretty rudderless. Good cast, but poorly played.

In this episode you have land, a mortgage and a get rich scheme which always lands someone in hot water. And the script is written where everyone could be a suspect. Heck, even Perry had some interest in the shenanigans going on outside of LA county.

Alan Hale Jr does a good job making his role larger than life and comes across more believable than any one in the cast. You also have character actor, Parley Baer, (Mayor Roy Stoner from "The Andy Griffith Show") who appears in more shows in the 60's and 70's than most appear in a life time. He is actually a good fit for the role that he has been cast.

The script seem to be a little confusing near the end when we are asked to keep up with teeth and dentist visits. But it true "Perry Mason" flavor it all comes together in the end.

Rated the show a 7 - more for the ending than anything else. Because the crime was nearly fail proof. Then along comes Perry.