In Defense of Hamilton Burger

[insaneladybug]

Perhaps Hamilton Burger of Perry Mason fame isn’t hated so much as disliked or misunderstood, but that also qualifies him for a defense here. I’ve certainly encountered enough people who don’t seem to understand him to warrant wanting to write this

Comments

[ginnekomiko]

First off, let me just say that I love you forever for doing a character from the Perry Mason TV show.(Your icon made me happy.) Second, you're defending Hamilton. I always liked him for all the points you make, he's a very interesting and human character,despite being the loser every single time. That's the wonderful thing about actors they can bring out so much more than words on a page if done right.

Third, your research was awesome.I immediately knew which episodes you were talking about.(Thank you re-runs!)

[insaneladybug]

Yay! I didn't even know if anyone would comment or know what the heck I was talking about. Thank you so much!

William Talman was truly amazing in the role. I can't imagine anyone else playing Hamilton as well as he did.

[moon_doggy]

Man, nice to see another fan of the old-school, black-and-white screeen courtroom.

I'll tell you one thing, if I was ever in need of a DA, I'd shure want an honest dude like Hamilton Burger at my table. Plus, at the end of each show, Burger would alway motion to dismiss the charges so that he could honestly and justly uphold the law.

[insaneladybug]

Same here! I have a hard time finding fellow Perry Mason fans on Livejournal.

You are so right. Hamilton was really a breath of fresh air. A lot of times, the cliche was for the D.A. to be dishonest and/or just dead-set on getting a conviction no matter what, while the defense attorney was hailed as the only good guy. But with Perry Mason they really wanted to have both lawyers be upright, decent people.

Thank you!

[moon_doggy]

I was practically raised on Perry Mason. My grandfather was a huge fan; I remember watching it with him when I was little. My mom’s a fan of the show, too.

I know. And, even in a lot of today's courtroom shows, the DA is mostly portrayed as a shady crook that’s only interested in their winning record and loves to pull stunts like threatening the family of a defense witness. That's why I like characters like Hamilton Burger (and Julie March in Matlock); a person that stuck to their principles and never forgot why they went to law school in the first place, to help people.

I also agree with you when you say just because he’s the District Attorney doesn’t mean he’s evil and/or incompetent. I remember quite a few episodes where both Burger and Mason figured out who the guilty party was, at the same time, and teamed-up to catch them - despite the fact it was going to help Mason. Letting Mason win was, to Burger, second over keeping an innocent person out of jail.

Both Burr and Talman were just awesome actors in the series, all around…

[insaneladybug]

Awesome! I became familiar with the show about ten or eleven years ago, when one of our local PBS affiliates picked it up. My mom remembered watching it with her father and started watching it again mostly for the nostalgic factor, but she ended up devoted to the characters, as I am.

Oh really? I didn't realize that cliche persisted in shows today. That's unsettling. I was thinking shows in recent years, such as Law & Order, usually tried to portray the D.A.'s office as the good guys.

I haven't watched much Matlock, but I really should since I like Andy Griffith.

The episodes where Perry and Hamilton team up are among my most favorites. And the actors were indeed perfect for the parts! I can't imagine anyone else doing as good a job.

[animenutcase]

THIS. SO MUCH THIS

[insaneladybug]

Thank you! I'm glad you found it a good read, despite never having seen the show!

The police angle is definitely headdesk-worthy. But, as with the show's other flaws, I blame Erle Stanley Gardner's insistence on his formula. He wouldn't let the show's writers deviate from that formula, even when they tried to.

However, the show did try to be as nice as it could to the police characters in spite of the formula. They were by and large honest and incorruptible, and Perry was always saying how efficient they were. They were often important during the climaxes, as the true villains were cornered and caught.

I'm glad that fanfiction writers aren't bound by Gardner's formula. I deviate from it wherever I can, while keeping to the spirit of the characters.

[animenutcase]

You're quite welcome~

It might be because I'm a cop's daughter, but who knows? Stanley Gardner doesn't sound like he'd be fun to work for. Isn't it fun to experiment a little in story-writing?

I guess it makes sense that the police would be important at the climax. It's not like Perry could arrest the villains himself, right?

Fanfiction is a beautiful thing when it's done right.

[insaneladybug]

I don't think it's just because of that; I don't picture myself wanting to work for him either! I wonder what happened to the scripts the show's writers wrote that he rejected. (He had to approve every script.) I like to think they're still floating around somewhere in a CBS archive; I would love for them to surface someday so people could read them.

Very true. And I do think that, plot flaws aside, they tried to stay up-to-date on correct legal and police procedures. I know it was praised for its depiction of legal procedure, at least. Overlooking the flaws, the show was very good. But it could have been even better if it hadn't been for that darn formula. I don't think the public always liked its formulaic nature, either; the producers often talked about all the letters they got from people asking why Perry always won/why Mr. Burger couldn't win, etc. etc. They had to be very sneaky to have Perry lose without Gardner rejecting the script. They did succeed in that very occasionally.

Indeed it is.

[tarlonniel]

::waves:: Excellent defense. I agree with everything you said. Love William Talman, love Hamilton Burger and his relationship with Perry, wish Erle Stanley Gardner had been a little slacker on the reins when it came to his formula (at least for TV).

Oh, and "durrr what's character development?" is one of the funniest tags I've ever seen.

[insaneladybug]

Thank you! :)

Yes, imagine where things could have gone if Gardner had just relaxed a little bit more. I guess we have to be grateful he allowed as much as he did, but still.

LOL. Indeed. This comm has some very amusing tags.

[ext_2644984]

I had to revive this thread because, from the looks of things, from the late 50's through the early 60's, Los Angeles was a horrifically unlucky place to live if you were a middle- or upper-class resident, where you were more likely to be accused of murder than to be an actual murderer yourself, and without the means to hire or, extremely fortunately, was a friend of a friend or associate of Perry, Paul Drake, or Della Street; otherwise the quite efficient but pedestrian LAPD investigation, along with a competent District Attorney, would insure you would see either the chair or life without parole. Without Perry Mason, California would have fried more innocent Angelenos than (Hamilton) burgers,

Then again, you could move across the country to Cabot Cove, Maine, and wait 20 years, where 5% of the entire town would be murdered in ten years. Pays yer money, takes yer choice.

[insaneladybug]

Huh. Interesting to hear that perhaps the show wasn't so far off the mark then. Although the books the show was based on started in the 1930s.

Where did you find your information?