Dr Ray Flemming, a wealthy psychiatrist, hatches a devious plot to murder his wife by making her death look like the result of a bungled burglary and having his lover impersonate her to give him an alibi. He has not however reckoned with the tenacity and persistence of the Los Angeles Police Department's Lieutenant Columbo ...
This is the original Universal / NBC Sunday Mystery TV-movie featuring Falk as the iconic Columbo, adapted from their Broadway play by Richard Levinson and William Link. It's perhaps a little more straight-laced and melodramatic than many of the subsequent productions but this hardly matters - it's a fine thriller with some terrific twists, is extremely well made and features a career-defining performance from the brilliant Falk. Most of Columbo's foibles - his raincoat, his cigars, his pencil-stealing, his oh-just-one-more-thing routine and especially his play-dumb shrewdness are present here. It's important to note that cops in the movies at this time were almost all in the Steve McQueen / Clint Eastwood mould and Falk's complete contrast to them, both in terms of persona and acting style is what really makes this character special. Columbo is an unlikely American hero - a short, affable, methodical, unassuming, idiosyncratic man who uses brain not brawn. He's a treasure. Check out the hippy Dave Grusin score and the trippy Rorschach Inkblot-inspired title sequence.
This is the original Universal / NBC Sunday Mystery TV-movie featuring Falk as the iconic Columbo, adapted from their Broadway play by Richard Levinson and William Link. It's perhaps a little more straight-laced and melodramatic than many of the subsequent productions but this hardly matters - it's a fine thriller with some terrific twists, is extremely well made and features a career-defining performance from the brilliant Falk. Most of Columbo's foibles - his raincoat, his cigars, his pencil-stealing, his oh-just-one-more-thing routine and especially his play-dumb shrewdness are present here. It's important to note that cops in the movies at this time were almost all in the Steve McQueen / Clint Eastwood mould and Falk's complete contrast to them, both in terms of persona and acting style is what really makes this character special. Columbo is an unlikely American hero - a short, affable, methodical, unassuming, idiosyncratic man who uses brain not brawn. He's a treasure. Check out the hippy Dave Grusin score and the trippy Rorschach Inkblot-inspired title sequence.