I've been looking forward to watching this episode again, and while I was watching it, I tried figuring out why I liked it so much before. 'Liked', because it has lost a little of its luster. It's still a fun episode, in which Columbo gets really annoyed with two rich college frat boys who make fun of him behind his back. In the end, of course, he keeps his cool and sets them up, using his wife's car, no less.
The gadgets must have been very interesting to the audience at the time, such as the long-distance gun trigger and the mini-camera, and it's still a fairly clever plot today. Some supporting roles were rather simplistic, such as the bumbling school guard and the jittery janitor. Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger present us with two culprits who really make us want them to get caught, though stupidity (after murder) seems their worst 'crime'. And it's fun to see everyone giving Frank the runaround, without their desired results. I would have found it to be more credible though, if he would have investigated the professor's wife and mistress a little further, since they both had motive to get rid of him and they were giving each other alibis...
A good 7 out of 10, once more.
The gadgets must have been very interesting to the audience at the time, such as the long-distance gun trigger and the mini-camera, and it's still a fairly clever plot today. Some supporting roles were rather simplistic, such as the bumbling school guard and the jittery janitor. Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger present us with two culprits who really make us want them to get caught, though stupidity (after murder) seems their worst 'crime'. And it's fun to see everyone giving Frank the runaround, without their desired results. I would have found it to be more credible though, if he would have investigated the professor's wife and mistress a little further, since they both had motive to get rid of him and they were giving each other alibis...
A good 7 out of 10, once more.