User Reviews

I don't care about the technical aspects, but I loved watching Peter Falk carefully figuring out the facts and then setting up the two boys, and I liked the interplay between the boys themselves, one clearly meaner and more confident, the other, not so sure of himself or if they were going to get away with the crime. I thought the actor who played the professor was excellent and of course Robert Culp added a high quality performance to an already well cast, well scripted, story. The sorry ex-con who the boys thought they could pin the murder on was very convincing as a wary, damaged, three time loser who was frightened, innocent, resigned to being always suspected. What a great quality series.

Usually, in the Columbo movies, there is a cat and mouse game with the killer being very aware that Columbo thinks they did it. Here for a change, the two killers, Justin and Cooper, have no idea that Columbo suspects them making the ending sweeter given that the two of them are rich entitled privileged jerks.

I love that the audience is on all the clues that Columbo has. Usually, sometimes we don't see that odd little piece of clue that tells him who he thinks did it right away. We find out later most of the time what it is. Here he finds out about the message for Prof Rusk from Mr. Rowe. Then we see the wheels spinning in Columbo's face. Great stuff. It's all cat and mouse from there with the mice having no idea that Columbo suspects them.

I kind of wish that Robert Culp's character was there at the end. He was Justin's father and treated Columbo in a dismissive snobbish way, that I felt he deserved to see just how clever Columbo really was and watch his son get hauled off to jail.

Anyway, I just wanted to say I enjoyed this episode. I loved the different approach this time. And I loved Columbo's reenactment of the murder that he set-up to out the killers. 10/10.

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.

I really enjoyed this later episode of Columbo, "Columbo Goes to College" from 1990. Two obnoxious students (Stephen Caffrey and Gary Hershberger) caught cheating and about to be in big trouble with their families decide to kill their professor (James Sutorious) by an ingenious method.

Columbo is actually a guest teacher for the class and is with the students when they walk into the parking garage and find the body.

I'm not sure when Columbo realizes who the killers are -- I think it's early on, but he has to prove it. That's where some luck comes in.

The two students are so arrogant and think Columbo is a stupid slob - I realize that's what they are supposed to think but they were so obnoxious, I wanted to slap them. And Robert Culp as one of the kid's father was excellent as always, but patronizing. I couldn't wait for all of them to get their comeuppance,

Entertaining episode.

This time Columbo is up against 2 villains.....2 spoiled college kids who think Columbo was born yesterday. The 2 guys chummy up to the Leutenant to stay close to the investigation, even befriending him only to poke fun at his idiocracies behind his back. Robert Culp (looking very well) appears as the father of 1 of the boys. Oh how i missed thee :) This is a good solid installment in the newer Columbo movies. A decent plot that moves along at a good clip. The 2 college kids give a convincing performance. They are even very likable. Too bad they are total sociopaths. They both think Columbo is a total putz until - surprise surprise - he busts their sorry butts. Best moments: Columbo watches 1 of the boys do a parody of Columbo's mannerism, realizing all is not as it seems. And ....the boys getting busted :)

Having just viewed Columbo Goes to College (again) and read the IMDb reviews here, I wish to add my thoughts about why this is one of the absolute best of the ABC Columbos.

We start off by seeing a college student, Cooper Redman, getting harshly warned by his father that any more foul-ups will cause him to be out on his own, no longer supported by his father. Then we follow Cooper and his close buddy, Justin Rowe, as they are called into their professor's office after class, where the prof reveals that he knows they stole the last exam and he is trying to decide which of two disciplinary acts to take.

The two talk about wanting to get rid of their problem, but don't make it clear what they plan to do. We see them borrow keys from the campus policeman they know, make a copy, and later break into a home and steal a pistol.

We later see Justin pleading with the prof to meet with his father—an influential person at the university, for a few minutes, across campus that night—while the professor's class is having a guest lecturer—Lt. Columbo.

We see Professor Rusk leave the classroom and head to the parking garage. Back in the classroom, one of those two students pulls out a miniature TV screen and a remote control car door locking/unlocking device (rare in 1990) and we see on his little screen Prof. Rusk as he leans to insert his key into the door, being suddenly shot—dead. After class, several students, including Justin and Cooper, are walking with Columbo into the parking garage, where Columbo happened to park about four spaces down from Rusk, and they discover the body. Justin volunteers to call 911, and instead of running back up the stairs, he jumps into his pickup, parked across from the professor's car, and wheels around to the garage entrance area, then runs to the security guard, Joe and tells him about the murder.

Much of the show has Columbo talking with the "helpful" students, as they try to lead him toward the basketball coach's wife, who had been having an affair with Rusk, and eventually to the possibility that someone with organized crime connections, named in one of the professor's books, was responsible. They think Columbo is a fool and they can lead him any way they want.

Like most Columbos, we don't know when the Lieutenant first suspects these two students. That's always a fun part for us viewers, trying to see what little thing seems to get him focused on the killer(s). The first clue he seems to find is a shell casing—on the driveway outside the parking deck, which, of course, shouldn't have been there, making him wonder how it was dropped there instead of where the gun was fired.

Right then it's apparent to the viewer that the gun was rigged to the two students' truck, which was conveniently driven out of the garage before there was a chance it could be searched and the gun discovered. Security videotapes show only the shooting from an angle different than what we saw at the time of the murder. One thing I would have fixed with the script is made it clear that there were other cameras that would have shown other angles that would have helped, but that their footage at that time was erased as the system is set to re-record over all tapes every hour unless someone intentionally saves it. For most of the film, we are led to believe that there were no cameras that might have helped. They do establish that the gunshot must have come from a spot just out of sight of any camera, but the other angle would have made it more clear about the escape of the murderer—or lack thereof.

One thing that makes it clear that Columbo is on to the two killers is how he seems to be extra friendly to them, sharing what he knows more than usual. He even agrees to have a beer with them, although he conveniently avoids drinking it.

I enjoyed seeing Bridget Hanley play the professor's wife. I remember her well from her starring role as Candy on Here Come the Brides. Most enjoyable are a few scenes with Robert Culp as Justin's father, as he seems apoplectic that Columbo hasn't researched the professor's life at all, or the background of the security man on duty.

The most revealing clue came late in the show, and it didn't directly lead to one or both of the killers, but it did let Columbo figure out a big part of how it was done. Viewers in 2014 need to be aware that the technology demonstrated here was far less common in 1990, making the method used even more intriguing.

To me this was one of the best Columbo episodes in the post-NBC group. The murder was intricately planned, motive was clear, and mistakes were so few that we had to have Columbo spend much of his time pursuing false leads. Columbo didn't seem to suspect these two men, but, we viewers asked, "Why was he being such a buddy to them, letting them know so much about his investigation?"

In this case, if Columbo let them know he suspects them, they would stop talking to him. The prof wasn't killed at their frat house and they weren't relatives, so there would be no other reason for Columbo and the two to keep communicating at all. While they seem to be leading Columbo around by the nose, it is they who are on the end of Columbo's fishing line, as he plays with it before reeling them in. The way he tricks them is quite like a couple of other episodes, but I suspect many longtime Columbo fans were also fooled, at least on first viewing.

Karl Wiedergott, who does many voices in The Simpsons, guests stars in Columbo Goes to College. It's hard to believe this episode debuted over 30 years ago and it raises the smile to see then wow factor of the hidden camera technology of 1990 that was central to the murder of a philandering professor. I almost expected Columbo to pull out his brick size cell phone.

Gary Hersherger, who I first saw in the underrated movie Sneakers back in the 90s, is one of the culprits. I like Columbo Goes to College. Sure some of it is far-fetched, but really any Columbo is better than none. Please grant Columbo tenure.