Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate...

Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception (NBC Sunday at 9 p.m.), a new TV movie, finds Mason (Raymond Burr) defending a Marine accused of killing a Nazi war criminal in Paris. Yvette Mimieux guest stars.

The Women of Brewster Place (ABC Sunday at 9 p.m., completed Monday at 9 p.m.), a 1989 TV movie, focuses on several black women struggling for a better life.

To the gently pulsing beat of “Peggy Sue” and “That’ll Be the Day,” The Buddy Holly Story (Channel 13 Sunday at 6 p.m.) pays tribute to the crown prince of Southern rockabilly, one of rock’s most influential musicians and composers. In this 1978 film, Holly lives again, largely through the uncommonly brilliant performance by Gary Busey in the title role.

The Case of the Hillside Stranglers (NBC Monday at 9 p.m.), the 1989 TV movie on the spectacular serial murder case, is docudrama at its worst--flat, uninvolving, antiseptic and even misleading. Given the limitations of their roles, Dennis Farina (as Angelo Buono), Billy Zane (as Kenneth Bianchi) and Richard Crenna (as the now-retired detective Sgt. Bob Grogan) perform respectably.

The Karen Carpenter Story (CBS Tuesday at 9 p.m.) is a surprisingly candid 1989 TV movie bio of the late pop star, who emerges as far more complex and enigmatic than her bland image ever suggested. Cynthia Gibb is superb as Karen and so is Louise Fletcher as her mother. Joseph Sargent directed from Barry Morrow’s subtle script.

Falling in Love (Channel 13 Thursday at 8 p.m.) is a 1984 variation on “Brief Encounter” starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep as suburban New Yorkers married to others but who become emotionally entangled in spite of themselves. This handsome and intimate film may play better on TV; on the big screen it seemed too conventional for such distinctive superstars.

The 1981 Hard Country (Channel 5 Friday at 8 p.m.) is “Urban Cowboy” minus pretensions and with a women’s lib point of view. The result is a refreshing, modest entertainment, as raucous as it is thoughtful. Kim Basinger plays a directory assistance operator who begins to reevaluate her life (with chain-link factory worker Jan-Michael Vincent) when she’s visited by her high school friend, now a successful country and Western singer (Tanya Tucker).

William Wyler’s 1938 Jezebel (Channel 5 Saturday at 8 p.m.) brought Bette Davis an Oscar as a Southern belle, a kind of compensation for not getting to play Scarlett O’Hara (because she refused to accept Errol Flynn as Rhett Butler); alas, Ernest Haller’s gleaming black-and-white images have been colorized for this presentation.

Written by David Newman and Robert Benton (fresh from “Bonnie and Clyde”) and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, There Was a Crooked Man (Channel 13 Saturday at 8 p.m.) is a kind of adult comical Western that unfortunately never develops enough straight-ahead power. Kirk Douglas has the title role, and Henry Fonda is the upright lawman determined to nail him.

The ratings checks on movies in the TV log are provided by the Tribune TV Log listings service.