****SPOILERS**** With Laura Robertson, Jean Simmons, about to becomes a shoo-in in being picked by Colorado Governor O'Neil to serve out the last three years on the term of the just deceased Senator Hyland her dark past starts to revel itself. Not by Laura but someone who wants to destroy her political career unless he's paid off to shut up. It's private investigator Luke Dickerson, John Banks, who's dug up the fact that Laura had suffered a nervous breakdown some seven years ago and was given shock treatment for it. Dickerson wants a cool $50,000.00 to keep that quite or else he'll go public and destroy Laura's political career before it even gets off the ground.
As things turn out Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, just happens to be in town and was once involved, when he was 30 years younger and some 50 to 75 pounds lighter, in a wild and hot love affair with Laura before he became the world famous defense attorney Perry Mason and his rekindling his friendship, not love affair, with her has Laura's husband Glenn, Gene Barry,a bit worried. It's later when after a shocked Glenn gets a phone call from Dickerson to bring the $50,000.00 in pay off money to his motel room Glenn without as much as a second thought compiles with his demand in order to keep the truth about his wife's mental illness for becoming public. At the pay off the drop zone, Dickerson's motel room, Glenn is even more shocked to find Dickerson dead from a cracked skull when he arrives with the money! As things soon turn out Glenn who was anything but happy to see Perry Mason, his wife's former lover, is now dependent on him to keep him out of prison in being convicted in Luke Dickerson's murder!
In the movie we get to see the sleaze and back-stabbing that goes on behind the scenes in the world of politics and how people caught up with it end up getting corrupted by it like a dope addict and alcoholic gets hooked on and destroyed by heroin or booze. It was the fact that Laura was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, with the right connections, that made her a target not only for Luke Dickerson but of one of the many so-called friends, whom Dickerson was hired by, of her who was jealous of her success which he felt was at his expense!
****MAJOR SPOILERS**** This turned out to be one of the most difficult case for Perry Mason to handle in the fact that Laura's husband Glenn turned out to be the luckless fall-guy not in being suspected in murdering Luke Dickerson but in taking the rap for the person who actually killed him! Someone that both Glenn and Perry if they knew who the person was would never in a million years want that person to pay for the crime that he committed!
As things turn out Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, just happens to be in town and was once involved, when he was 30 years younger and some 50 to 75 pounds lighter, in a wild and hot love affair with Laura before he became the world famous defense attorney Perry Mason and his rekindling his friendship, not love affair, with her has Laura's husband Glenn, Gene Barry,a bit worried. It's later when after a shocked Glenn gets a phone call from Dickerson to bring the $50,000.00 in pay off money to his motel room Glenn without as much as a second thought compiles with his demand in order to keep the truth about his wife's mental illness for becoming public. At the pay off the drop zone, Dickerson's motel room, Glenn is even more shocked to find Dickerson dead from a cracked skull when he arrives with the money! As things soon turn out Glenn who was anything but happy to see Perry Mason, his wife's former lover, is now dependent on him to keep him out of prison in being convicted in Luke Dickerson's murder!
In the movie we get to see the sleaze and back-stabbing that goes on behind the scenes in the world of politics and how people caught up with it end up getting corrupted by it like a dope addict and alcoholic gets hooked on and destroyed by heroin or booze. It was the fact that Laura was lucky to be in the right place at the right time, with the right connections, that made her a target not only for Luke Dickerson but of one of the many so-called friends, whom Dickerson was hired by, of her who was jealous of her success which he felt was at his expense!
****MAJOR SPOILERS**** This turned out to be one of the most difficult case for Perry Mason to handle in the fact that Laura's husband Glenn turned out to be the luckless fall-guy not in being suspected in murdering Luke Dickerson but in taking the rap for the person who actually killed him! Someone that both Glenn and Perry if they knew who the person was would never in a million years want that person to pay for the crime that he committed!