... but don't hold that against it.
Esteemed trial lawyer Leslie Williams (Lee Grant) murders her husband at their home, dumps the body in a remote area, and then has the whole thing set up to look like a kidnapping for 300K. That's 2.3 million dollars in 2023. She pays the ransom, but switches the bag holding the money with an empty bag at the last minute and then hides what would have been the ransom, so she has lost no money. When the police find the empty bag and Leslie's husband's body they just figure the kidnapping went bad and the thieves got away with the money. They begin a manhunt for the kidnappers and Leslie seems home free.
Enter stage left Lieutenant Columbo who has been troubled from the start by various aspects of this case. Leslie has been smart - she has no accomplices except a couple of, what were then, high tech devices. But she has an adversary - her stepdaughter who doesn't like Leslie and is aware of certain facts that have her believing that her father was murdered. Complications ensue.
There are three years between the first Columbo movie and this one, and Columbo now has his more familiar disheveled appearance. The film does some things that date itself. For some reason the producers thought fading in and out between scenes in such a way that it seems like somebody is having a bad dream is a good thing. They also have the daughter character talking about the "fuzz" - I guess they are just trying to be "with it" but it just seems funny now. Also note Columbo being fascinated with Leslie's landline attached to a punch card reader and a tape recorder.
What is a little different from this Columbo versus some of the others is that the "why" of the murder unfolds gradually, with the episode. I'd recommend it.
Esteemed trial lawyer Leslie Williams (Lee Grant) murders her husband at their home, dumps the body in a remote area, and then has the whole thing set up to look like a kidnapping for 300K. That's 2.3 million dollars in 2023. She pays the ransom, but switches the bag holding the money with an empty bag at the last minute and then hides what would have been the ransom, so she has lost no money. When the police find the empty bag and Leslie's husband's body they just figure the kidnapping went bad and the thieves got away with the money. They begin a manhunt for the kidnappers and Leslie seems home free.
Enter stage left Lieutenant Columbo who has been troubled from the start by various aspects of this case. Leslie has been smart - she has no accomplices except a couple of, what were then, high tech devices. But she has an adversary - her stepdaughter who doesn't like Leslie and is aware of certain facts that have her believing that her father was murdered. Complications ensue.
There are three years between the first Columbo movie and this one, and Columbo now has his more familiar disheveled appearance. The film does some things that date itself. For some reason the producers thought fading in and out between scenes in such a way that it seems like somebody is having a bad dream is a good thing. They also have the daughter character talking about the "fuzz" - I guess they are just trying to be "with it" but it just seems funny now. Also note Columbo being fascinated with Leslie's landline attached to a punch card reader and a tape recorder.
What is a little different from this Columbo versus some of the others is that the "why" of the murder unfolds gradually, with the episode. I'd recommend it.