Columbo (TV Series) Grand Deceptions (1989) User Reviews

"Grand Deceptions" (1989)

[Wuchakk · 8/10 · 14 January 2019]

PLOT: Col. Brailie (Robert Foxworth) runs a military think tank where he commits fraud against the wheelchair-bound owner, a famous retired general (Stephen Elliott). Brailie murders a blackmailing investigator (Andy Romano) and makes his death look like a military-games accident.

COMMENTARY: This one has always ranked high on my list of favorites of the latter-day series. Some people don't like it because of the quasi-military setting and Foxworth's supposedly wooden portrayal. But he's no more wooden than Gene Barry in the very first Columbo flick, "Prescription: Murder" (1968). Both roles called for an arrogant, calm, overconfident and inexpressive person.

Janet Eilber plays the general's much younger wife and her character is genuinely winsome and noble, yet she's taken a foolish path and feels guilty about it. This all leads to a convincing and potent sequence.

Look for Lee Arenberg in an amusing bit part.

GRADE: A-/B+

Missing the fun things

[FlushingCaps · 6/10 · 11 November 2013]

Just saw this episode for the second time last night. It wasn't bad, there weren't big plot holes or anything to really dislike, but I think the reason most reviewers say it wasn't one of the best Columbos is because it was missing the things that make the best ones so good.

Columbo's dog was briefly seen, but there was nothing funny about anything with the dog. There were no funny scenes involving any of Columbo's props. Nobody seemed confused about who the man in the raincoat was, and Columbo didn't interview any really strange people.

Another element in many Columbos is introducing us to a look at some sort of technology--video recorders, how perfume is made, computer robots, etc, from past years--and there is none of that in this episode.

We also don't get a behind-the-scenes look at movie making, running a TV network, wine producing, bull fighting, or any of the other occupations/professions of Columbo villains.

I recall one scene where Columbo opened a door in the "think tank" and saw people on the floor. But instead of going in and being introduced to their activities, he basically said, "wrong room" and left. No laughs there.

There was one slightly humorous bit, a silent one right at the end, which I won't mention here. But the most it could produce was a snicker, a sort of breaking-the-fourth-wall moment without any people on the screen.

I did like that the murderer was someone we could really dislike--stealing funds for personal use from his employer, having an affair with the boss's wife, etc. Unlike the previous episode, the killer had a real reason to kill the victim--his lifestyle and reputation were to be ruined, if not a jail sentence.

Below is the "spoiler" more-or-less The killer, Robert Foxworth, set it up that he was supposed to be putting together a display of miniature soldiers while the killing took place. He arranged it so he would be told the soldiers have arrived right before a party for the general. He excused himself to put the display together so they could present it to the general later during the party.

In reality, the soldiers had come earlier, in a box marked books, and Foxworth assembled the display earlier. The later shipment marked "military miniatures" was actually the books that were part of the gift. Taking these out and sticking them on the shelf next to the toy soldier display took almost no time. This is when Foxworth left to commit his murder.

Columbo's biggest evidence that led to arresting Foxworth was that the books supposedly sent the morning of the murder wouldn't fit inside the book box. He guessed that the box marked books contained the soldiers and the one that arrived in the evening marked "Military Miniatures" was the books.

I know Columbo has always explained some things a bit too carefully. But I agreed with Foxworth's reaction. Columbo actually explained the "Military Miniatures" means toy soldiers. Foxworth sneered "Don't patronize me, Lieutenant." What makes this so weak is that 1) Foxworth could have claimed that only most of the books were in the shipment, that he added a few others from his own collection, 2) Foxworth could not guarantee that nobody would have had a chance to see the display before the evening shipment arrived, and, most significantly, 3) there was no explanation at all to tell how the company that sent the books used a box marked as miniatures, while the company that sent the soldiers used a box marked books.

It would have been better had the boxes not been marked specifically, but Columbo checked the shipping company and found that the evening shipment was weighed at so many pounds, which couldn't possibly have been the light-weight soldiers, but that would be the right weight for the books, and vice versa.

It was reasonably entertaining, better than the average TV detective show, but definitely not among the better Columbo episodes.

Underrated

[jeffthefuzz · 8/10 · 27 September 2008]

I don't know why this episode is getting bashed. I thought it was one of the better 'new' Columbos. The Private Military Corp is a fun setting and the acting is uniformly good. Columbo is less goofy than he is in a lot of new episodes, too. There area lot of little touches that they add in this one that are not in a lot of the new ones: a few scenes with "This Old Man" in the background and an appearance by Dog. A lot of people complain that this villain is too easy for Columbo to get, but I will say that he actually gets some pretty decent evidence to build up a case, which does not always happen in Columbo. I will admit, I think this one is helped immeasurably by the score, which is just phenomenal! Check it out!

Consistently poor delivery pretty much kill it at every step

[bob the moo · 2 October 2005]

Colonel Frank Brailie has been stealing money from a foundation fund and enjoying the benefits of it for years until Sergeant Major Lester Keegan finds out and decides he wants his cut in return for silence. The two men work together at a private military training academy that takes citizens and makes them into soldiers. Not wanting to give up his income, Brailie uses a party for General Padget and the setting up of a gift as an alibi while he slips out to find Keegan on night manoeuvres with his unit. He stabs Keegan unseen and then leaves his body on one of many explosive packs set to simulate mortar attacks. The next day he is called to the scene of the "accident" to find that Lieutenant Columbo is there with this men. It all seems "open & shut" until Columbo finds a flashlight and a reason to doubt the accident.

As with many TV film series (such as Perry Mason), if you like one or two of them then you'll pretty much like them all. This entry in the Columbo series pretty much follows the usual formula – we know the killer and the "perfect" plan but then watch Columbo follow his hunch and gradually starts to pick holes in the story he is told before eventually finding enough to prove his suspicions. Knowing this ahead of time won't ruin anything for you; it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. Having had my fingers burnt with my first "new" Columbo, I wasn't sure if I should bother going back or should just rewatch the original series from the seventies, but I thought that the formula can't be that hard to pull off and figured that it was worth another pass. Sadly this film continues the trend of just not being as roundly enjoyable as it did in its heyday. The story is OK but it is the delivery where it falls down. We spend too long on the build up and too long on the characters rather than focusing on Columbo. The mood of the originals used to be quite bright and fun but here it is drab and serious – making it harder to enjoy while being too stiff to enjoy as a drama. The mystery unfolds in a quite uninvolving fashion and I didn't get into it that well.

The delivery problems continue with the characters and the performances. Falk isn't himself and he seems less comfortable in his character than before – a very strange thing considering I'm used to seeing him be so natural. It isn't his fault though that he is almost sidelined by the other characters and I did wonder why the film spent so much time away from him. Foxworth is too dull to interact with Columbo well and he is far from being a good foil for Falk if you use the standard set by the first few series. Romano is OK in a minor role but while the performances from Elliott and Eilber are OK, they don't deserve the focus they are given.

Overall an average Columbo film at best. The idea is OK but the delivery is roundly poor. The cast are poor, the story uninspiring, the music twee and silly all producing a modern film that doesn't deserve to really share the same character as the originals and will barely do enough to please even fans.

It could have been worse!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 24 May 2006]

Columbo always likes to get his man or woman. This time, it's Robert Foxworth who plays a military man. Sam Wanamaker better known and respected for his role in rebuilding the Shakespeare Globe Theater on the Thames in London, England returns to direct a Columbo. He is a veteran director and it shows. Of course, I think it could have been better. The writing was a bit weaker than most and I think it could have been a lot better in the acting department but I love Columbo and I have seen almost all of them many times. I think even the casting would have been better besides just Falk and Foxworth in the roles but I'll take Columbo with the good, the bad, the ugly, and sometimes brilliant episodes.

Just one of those 1989 Columbo movies.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 29 November 2008]

Man, what is it with 1989 Columbo movies? Perhaps it was because of the fact that the 1989 Columbo movies were the first ones to be made after an 11 year 'break' and they were still searching for the right out formula with some new 'modern' additions to it. But fact is that 1989 aren't really among the best Columbo movies, with some exceptions here and there though.

This one really isn't the most exciting or interesting Columbo movie to watch. Despite that the movie is set at a private civilian military think tank base, rarely ever something exciting is happening. The movie is progressing very slowly and some of the sequences are needlessly long and progressing in a lacking pace, without making enough contribution to the movie and its story. Columbo is hardly investigating anything and all he does is walking around, bugging all kinds of people. Everything he discovers and hears happened by chance and not necessarily always because of his investigation skills and tactics. Even though the movie features all of the usual Columbo movie ingredients it doesn't feel like an average Columbo movie because it just doesn't all get handled too well. This was Sam Wanamaker's last movie he directed during his career. He also directed the previous Columbo movie "Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", from 1977.

It's a sort of an unwritten rule for a Columbo movie that whenever Lt. Columbo himself shows up rather late into the story, the movie normally isn't going to be among the best the series has to offer. This is also the case with "Columbo: Grand Deceptions", in which Lt. Columbo shows up after about 20 minutes.

The movie also isn't helped much by its characters. Military characters are though ones to play as an actor, since they are all so very stereotypical. Only some really fine and talented actors can pull it off to make their characters still work out. This movie just doesn't feature any of these kind of actors unfortunately. Most later Columbo movies made the mistake not to cast some big well known and already established names in it. The movie is filled with some big unknowns who never really had a flourishing career, before or after this movie and for a good reason. Most actors play their roles well enough but it just isn't helping the movie to still make something special out of it all. There isn't really a good strong character opposite Lt. Columbo for this movie and some of the characters also makes a totally redundant impression, as do some of the plot-lines.

Besides, normally it's obvious from the beginning what the reasons and motivations for the killer were to come to his actions. In this movie however new things are getting revealed as the movie progresses. At times the movie even seems to forget that its a murder-mystery.

No, all in all the movie is not that horrible and it certainly also isn't the worst Columbo movie ever made but it however also is one of the least interesting Columbo movie entries to watch.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Good 2nd series episode

[old_tv_guy · 10/10 · 8 February 2009]

"Grand Deceptions" has a lot to offer the Columbo fan. It follows the leisurely pace adopted by the series in its second go-round. But there's a lot of nice little bits-- the humorously resolved skirmish over a piece of evidence, his unexpected arrival at a critical locale, the kindness and gentleness with which he questions one of the people most hurt-- that are well-written and perfectly executed. Also, Columbo's reliance on good police work is particularly well-realized. His adversary is satisfactorily pompous and cruel. It even has his dog. As a long time fan, I don't have a problem saying it's the best episode in the 1989 season, and one of the dozen or so really good Columbos overall.

The military elite

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 22 January 2017]

In this Columbo story our persistent LAPD detective moves among the elite of what is called the military industrial complex. I wonder how the story might be handled today given the history of the paramilitary private organizations in the past quarter of a century. Remember the date of this episode was 1989 before Desert Storm.

Robert Foxworth who usually plays hard bitten villains is at his worst here in this story. He's a retired army colonel who works for this paramilitary type of outfit. One part of it is a think tank, a second part is paramilitary training for would be soldiers of fortune. A third involves some illegal activities that Foxworth wants no one, especially retired war hero General Stephen Elliott who is the chairman of the board of the place to know about.

Which when his Sergeant Major Andy Romano threatens to spill the beans he kills him and then disguises the death to look like a training accident.

Best scene is when Columbo answers Foxworth's question of when did he start suspecting him. The answer is a pip and it total keeping with the characters of both men.

Second best scene is Columbo interviewing some of the recruits for this paramilitary training. What specimens they are.

Foxworth should have gotten away with it, see what trips him up.

OUTSTANDING!

[alexkije · 10/10 · 21 March 2022]

This is an outstanding movie. This scenario could happen in real life. There are some clever things done undercover in the military. Steven Elliot was great as the retired general who gets duped into the scheme done undercover. The opening was really great with the Civil War figurines. Johnny Cacavas did the music. Good choice since he had a background of this genre music via his music for Voices of Vista. He has since passed away. He was head of ASCAP during his lifetime. He is originally from Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Going through the motions.

[jéwé · 7/10 · 7 July 2011]

The second run of Columbo episodes starting in 1989 and ending in 2003 has it's ups and downs. Generally speaking, they can't beat the originals. But still a lot of enjoyment comes from the Falk character. This episode is one the weaker ones, despite me giving it a 7/10. The problem with Grand Deceptions lies with Robert Foxworth (your typical 80s male) who is totally uninteresting as a villain (where was Robert Culp when you needed him most?) and the abysmal performance of Janet Eilber as the married woman who fancies him. As to the final clue with the boxes there is one thing that bothers me: the books don't fit in the soldiers box, but Foxworth could have easily stated that he used several soldiers boxes and simply threw most of them away.

Not bad, but for me one of the lesser episodes of the Columbo series

[TheLittleSongbird · 5/10 · 25 March 2012]

I have always been a big lover of the Columbo series for the diverting stories, great villains(think Patrick McGoohan, Leonard Nimoy, Nicol Williamson, Jack Cassidy and Robert Culp), intelligent dialogue and of course Columbo himself embodied by the now regrettably late Peter Falk. Grand Deceptions is not a bad episode, but while not as dull as Last Salute to the Commodore or as lame as No Time to Die it is one of the lesser episodes of the series to me. I have heard a lot of people saying that the later episodes don't quite match the pre-1989 episodes. I kind of agree with this, however that is not to say they are bad.

With a small handful of exceptions, a lot of them are decent and some like Ashes to Ashes, Agenda for Murder, A Bird in the Hand and Death Hits the Jackpot are to a standard worthy of the pre-1989 episodes. I will give credit where it's due, like all Columbo episode it looks great with slick editing and striking locations, and it is solidly directed. The music is nothing extraordinary, but it still has a certain groove and atmosphere to it. Peter Falk tries his best and there are times where he does deliver but there is not him at his best, and it felt as though he was secondary to the rest of the characters. This wouldn't matter so much, if those characters were actually interesting, but on the whole I found them dull, and that is including Brailie.

Likewise with the story, which instead of bright, breezy and above all diverting, was too drab, too stiff and too serious, complete with an ending that was good in idea but underdeveloped and implausible in execution and build-up that quite frankly takes too long to set up. The scripts I often found intelligent and clever with some good tension and humour. Not here though, it felt stiff and humourless. The acting is not great, though Steven Elliot is quite good. Robert Foxworth has to work with one of the blander villains of the series, and while I have nothing against arrogant characters(Columbo has had its fair share of them and some of them, like Leonard Nimoy's character in A Stitch in Crime are some of the most memorable guest turns) the material is below the usual standards I get from watching Columbo, so I actually found his arrogance got on my nerves. His interaction with Columbo didn't spark much joy either.

All in all, somewhat watchable, but in my opinion a lesser entry while not the worst. It's not as if Columbo is a poor series, in fact it is one of the finest series of its kind, all the more reason for Grand Deceptions to have been so much better. If I were to say whether it was worth watching, I'd say any Columbo episode is worth watching once, but for me, I'd rather stick to the likes of A Stitch in Crime, By Dawn's Early Light, Any Old Port in a Storm, Etude in Black, Forgotten Lady, Death Lends a Hand, Blueprint for Murder and How to Dial a Murder.

5/10 Bethany Cox

Doable.

[punishmentpark · 6/10 · 13 September 2015]

Even though I'm not particularly interested in any war-themed films, this Columbo episode had its moments, especially since it was also about alternative branches of war: a think tank, making money off of other, distant warring parties, the 'I Ching', a shrunken head and such. But there was a good deal of Gung-Ho and explosions, too.

All the characters here, apart from Columbo himself, were rather bland and unimpressive. Robert Foxworth seemed to be one of the those faces of the seventies that had become rather obsolete later on, but checking his IMDb resume, I have to admit I was wrong (even if I've not seen much with him in it). His character is a slippery one, and none too proud to (finally) admit that Columbo got the better of him.

The advantage of having less interesting characters, is that you'll focus more on Columbo's detective skills. Well, of course he figures things out, but the case is interesting enough and so was the whole episode. Not a classic, but doable.

6 out of 10.

Average military-themed Columbo story

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 January 2016]

GRAND DECEPTIONS is one of the earliest of the comeback Columbo episodes, following on from the superior SEX AND THE MARRIED DETECTIVE. This one's a little dry and stilted for a Columbo episode, not to mention that the military setting is overly familiar from earlier and better instalments (like BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT).

The murder is a typical one with a military angle, but it takes forever to get going and about half an hour of screen time has passed until we get to the meat of the detective investigation. Although the running time overall is only an hour and a half, this story feels very slow and it's a little too serious for its own good; there's no goofiness here, and even though Columbo's dog makes a cameo, he doesn't get to do much.

Falk is on fine fettle, but I find that Columbo is only as good as his opponents, and Robert Foxworth as the guest villain is a bit of a bore, far too straight-laced to make an impact. Andy Romano (ERASER) as the victim is much better, as Stephen Elliott playing the old-time general. But, in the end, GRAND DECEPTIONS is a very ordinary and average-feeling Columbo story, with a completely spurious ending, and certainly not one to remember.

it was OK but..

[gmes29 · 14 June 2010]

what about the boxes? i liked the episode well enough but the later Columbo's just don't seem to have the magic the originals did. the endings don't seem as inspired. for example, in this ep, Columbo uses the boxes of books and miniatures to trap Brailie at the end yet it is never explained how Brailie managed to have the miniatures sent to him in a box marked 'McAdam Booksellers' and the books sent to him in a box marked 'Military Miniatures'. the implication is that both the booksellers and miniature manufacturers were somehow in on it which doesn't make any sense. you have to wonder about the wife too. she was otherwise a nice lady but what the heck did she see in that creep Brailie?

Not so grand but....

[lbowdls · 7/10 · 23 September 2021]

I have to add and concur what at least one reviewer did and that is how on earth did he manage to get the boxes set up to show the wrong headings? He'd need someone in a postal or delivery service and this is the thing that annoys me through the show and not even Columbo addresses how. This is what has me mark it down to 7 even though unlike what others say it is a very typical Columbo with good Columboisms, even if not the most exciting either.

Decent episode. Path of clue make sense and add up.

[reb-warrior · 7/10 · 14 March 2022]

I thought this was a pretty decent episode. There wasn't anything that didn't make any sense or did not work as in a few Columbo episodes.

Brailie volunteers an alibi right away. I think that's always a tip-off for Columbo. The clues keep adding up: it looked like the body was dragged; the flashlight found over in a place that doesn't work; 2nd autopsy shows it was murder; Columbo finds out Keegan was looking into the Secret Projects Fund; Columbo finds out Brailie and Jenny are having an affair; Columbo finds the real Secret Projects file; Columbo finds the misplaced toy soldier; Columbo breaks Brailie's alibi by showing the boxes don't fit the books.

The title should have been "Secret Projects" or "Toy Soldiers." "Grand Deceptions" seems rather bland and generic.

I think Brailie was kind of uninteresting. I often like it when the murderers have a bit of a flair, charisma. Or they start to get worried they are going to get caught and start doing things that actually make things worse. You know, you get to see them acting nervous or sweating.

The Columbo skits were so-so. When Columbo and the military man at the funeral played musical chairs with their side-mouth spy talk, that was a little funny. Columbo interviewing soldiers right after the death is a little amusing.

Decent episode. I enjoyed it. Not the greatest, but still good. 7/10.

Lots of Bad Guys Playing Soldier

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 22 April 2024]

So we've got all these former military people, not happy with having survived their time in uniform, gathering to engage in games to simulate combat. There is a think tank that observes and learns and shows the world how to be safe. For the end is near and we will be asked to depend on guys like this. Robert Foxworth is a really bad guy being blackmailed by another really bad guy. He ends up the murder victim. The motives of the soldiers are pretty sketchy. All that said, it turns into a conventional murder case once Columbo realizes it wasn't an accident that killled the man. There is an old retired general who is clueless. He has beautiful wife who must be forty years younger. It wasn't so bad but didn't have much spark.

Good...not great.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 10 August 2021]

Robert Foxworth plays the Colonel...but it's not a colonel as most people think about it...it's for a strange paramilitary group headed by General Padget, a well respected general from the US military. In addition to their little private army, they also head a thinktank and folks from all over the world come to this facility. Unfortunately, so does Columbo....and that means murder. And the murder...well, that all is because the organization has two sets of books...and someone's been embezzling.

This is a pretty good but not great episode of Columbo. I did like the scene Columbo had with his dog...as who hates dogs?! An interesting murder and one worth seeing....though not imperative you see.

Columbo breaks the law in order to 'solve' the crime

[last-picture-show · 5/10 · 2 November 2009]

This isn't a bad entry in the Columbo cannon but it isn't very good either. Neither the story or the acting held my attention and as some other posters have said Columbo isn't his usual chipper self so we don't even get to enjoy Peter Falk's performance.

Also the plot has a few holes in it. Firstly the scene where Colubo tries to reveal the identity of the married woman Frank Brailie is having an affair with. He takes the toothbrush from the bathroom cabinet as evidence and confronts the woman, but as he obtained the item without using a search warrant and with other officers present this evidence is inadmissible.

Also the ending doesn't really work. Columbo makes a lot of the box not being big enough to hold the books which is how he breaks Brailie's alibi, but up to this point nothing has been said about the two boxes and labels, so no explanation is made as to how Columbo can prove which box was delivered when and was used to house what. As with the toothbrush it relies on the accused falling for Columbo's version of events. All-in-all not very convincing.

Foxworth proves to be an unworthy opponent

[aromatic-2 · 3/10 · 23 June 2001]

Foxworth's character is so humorless and one-dimensional that the viewer is bored by the amount of time we have to spend with him. The military background has been done on Columbo many times before and much better. Foxworth's arrogance gets old in the first half hour and gets more insufferable as time progresses. This one gets a "D" from me.

Can a Columbo episode be utterly boring? Surprisingly, the answer is yes.

[sos45-977-267352 · 28 April 2014]

One of the most mediocre of all 68 Columbo episodes, as nearly every aspect thereof is unimaginative and boring. The killer is an utterly uninteresting character, who cannot arouse an ounce of sympathy for himself since he is not only a coldblooded murderer, but also one who betrays both his handicapped boss (a decorated war hero) and the woman he is having an affair with. He is also a mediocre and monotonous actor, who cannot make his role exciting in any way. The woman in the story is also played by an average actress who cannot arouse much interest in her character. There is almost none of the typical humor by or about Columbo. The one comment about his car falls flat; when Columbo happens on a group of people shaking funny cans on the floor it is not allowed to develop into anything; there is nothing about his dog or raincoat; and not one person mistakes him for anything but an ordinary detective. The murder plan is not particularly brilliant, and the alibi is simple and rather unimaginative. Furthermore, Columbo's proof that the alibi does not really exist is not nearly as foolproof as he makes it sound. Plus, the manner in which the false alibi was achieved, is highly unrealistic, and no explanation is given as to how a company would make such a mistake. Finally, there is hardly a single good line in a 90- minute episode of a series that is usually loaded with great lines. Did I leave out any other weak points?

Boring!

[scottwilliam-11107 · 5/10 · 7 February 2021]

Robert Foxworth is right up there with one of the series most boring villains. I originally wrote that Janet Eilber, the actress who played General Padget's wife, was a sympathetic character in this movie because she had guilt about cheating on her husband that she loves...who just happens to be in a wheelchair. But after second thought, she's not sympathetic. She cheated on her husband with a sleaze bag. The only likable character in the movie is General Padget play by actor Stephen Elliott. Of course I would rather usually watch a bad Columbo compared to what other options there are.

Rewatched and don't understand alibi

[jimcity-81058 · 3/10 · 12 March 2020]

Firstly, I enjoyed the movie for its general storyline and enjoyed getting to know some of the characters a little more deeply than normal, such as the general's wife. But, I've watched this three times and do not understand the alibi. Maybe someone can explain it to me; but basically from what I gathered, the killer used having to set up the Battle of Gettysburg with thousands of figurines behind a curtain for a party as an alibi for the time the murder was committed. He had point in fact already set up the figurines, and all he really needed to do was arrange books that was also part of the unveiling. Arranging books naturally took far less time than a whole battle scene only the unsuspecting were to assume he was spending his time arranging toy soldiers and not simply the books. Only, before he even was put in a situation that he needed to do this as an alibi, he was already shown setting up the figurines, stored in a from box from a book company. It looked to me there was lots of foot traffic earlier in the day that could see him setting up earlier, or the potentiality of someone seeing him; so I was confused as to how or why people were so easily convinced that 20 feet away from the party on the other side of curtain he was there the whole time. The biggest confusion is he'd already arranged for this time savings before he even knew he'd be motivated to kill someone so I don't understand!

Okay Columbo episode

[Wizard-8 · 6 February 2017]

As I stated in a previous user review I wrote for another episode of "Columbo", the episodes that were made from the late 1980s on suffer because of obvious padding; the older episodes were shorter and as a result had a faster and leaner pace. This is true with this particular episode, though I will admit that the padding is not quite as obvious as other episodes. In fact, some of the padding is entertaining, my favorite being the scene where Columbo talks to his dog. As for the main plot line, I thought it was handled in an okay fashion. Not as well accomplished as the 1970s episodes, but it does have a reasonable amount of entertainment. The murder is clever and original, and will have you guessing how Columbo will solve it. And Falk is in top form as usual. I will admit, however, that the direction is lacking edge; we don't feel the screws tighten as the investigation intensifies, nor a sense of urgency. While it may be a lesser episode in the end, it does all the same have rewards for fans of the series.

Routine Entry In Later Series.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 9 September 2010]

The setting is a paramilitary training camp run by a think tank that has a great deal of money invested in "special projects" overseas. The entire business is owned and run by the honorable and humane General Jack Padget. He's an old man now, retired, and suffering from some kind of disability, maybe a disease that might properly be called Padget's disease. (That's a complicated pun but not really a bad one, but it's not worth explaining.) He's married to a much younger woman. They love one another but, well, young women have needs and there's a guy around to satisfy them. The guy is Colonel Robert Foxworth, who manages the day-to-day affairs of the institute. Foxworth is a genuine skank. He's not only bedding the general's beautiful wife but skimming beaucoup dough off the top of some secret international transactions, including selling guns to countries whose leaders are of questionable character.

The general has been pressing Foxworth to turn over the books on the special projects but Foxworth is recalcitrant, so the general hires a Master Sergeant to poke into thing. He pokes too far and Foxworth eliminates him after constructing an elaborate alibi. Of course, when Columbo shows up, much later in the story, he unravels all the knots and ties up all the loose ends with his usual mystical powers. The case against Colonel Foxworth, it seemed to me, was about as weak as they come. And I know the law, too. I don't know how many episodes of Law and Order I've watched. But, as usual, the weakness of the case is shrugged off by the heavy, who always looks downhearted and asks something like, "When did you begin to suspect me?" But, man, this is a slow slog. Foxworth's machinations aren't really interesting and as a villain he's far from entertaining. Nice performance from Stephen Elliott as the general, though, in a rather complex role. And Janet Eilber as the general's devoted but horny wife can't act, but she doesn't have to. She's tall, willowy, graceful, and has a long neck inviting a viewer's incisors. She was a prima ballerina with the Martha Graham Dance Company. One would have loved watching all those abdominal contractions.

Overall, a routine entry, a little on the dullish side.