Columbo (TV Series) Uneasy Lies the Crown (1990) User Reviews

Dentist to the stars

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 1 August 2017]

One of the better of the later Columbo movies has James Read as a most prominent dentist with a gambling problem being cheated on by wife Jo Anderson with movie star Marshall Teague and also being kicked out of the practice by father-in-law Paul Burke.

Using the knowledge of his profession Read concocts a scheme to kill the lover and frame the wife for the crime. Read is one cocky and arrogant suspect as he plays the role of the wronged husband standing by his wife.

To show how prominent Read is with the prominent people there's a nice scene here with a poker party with several of his patients playing themselves. They include Dick Sargent, Nancy Walker, and Dodger great 3rd baseman Ron Cey. Read is losing there and he likes to bet frequently on slow horses.

In fact it's at the track where Peter Falk confronts him even still not quite having put it together.

Read's one of Columbo's best villains, the ones you really love seeing tripped up.

Dentist in debt.

[punishmentpark · 8/10 · 21 September 2015]

This episode's killer is a real scuzzbag - one of the best this series has ever come up with. James Read does a great job of playing this part, somewhere between the ideal son-in-law and the ultimate face of true evil. Maybe some of the acting is no better than your average 'As the world turns' performance, but it fits perfectly somehow.

The ending, in which he (the killer) caves to a small chemistry experiment by Columbo, is a little disappointing, though. All the while before, this unscrupulous killer had been portrayed as an incorrigible gambler, but then he throws in the towel way to easily when it really counts. I'm not saying this should have been the one episode in which the killer got away with it, but still...

Other supporting roles, by Jo Anderson and Paul Burke especially (and the card gang, for instance, as well), were pretty terrific, too.

Another fine Columbo episode, in short. A small 8 out of 10.

Interesting episode

[zmartever · 7/10 · 17 March 2014]

All in all, this was an enjoyable and clever episode. The villain is good looking but rather bland. His interaction with Columbo is nothing exciting. But where the episode excels is in Columbo's sleuthing. This episode reminds me a lot more of the vintage episodes. It follows the classic formula, no cheesy music and straight forward story telling. The newer movies only veer off when they try to be too cute or trendy. That's usually where the bad music comes in. My only complaint here is my usual gripe : choice of villain. They could have really used a more dynamic actor. The vintage episode usually had the best guest stars. The newer movies, with a couple of exceptions, used lesser known (and lesser talented, IMO) actors. Best moment : the tricky ending and Columbo's stained laundry.

Classic Columbo--Lots of fun

[jmatsu · 20 May 2003]

This is one of the better second generation Columbos. The murder is ingenious and the murderer is more intelligent than many others in the later Colombos. He doesn't make any careless mistakes and if not for his arrogance in thinking he couldn't be caught, probably would have gotten away with it. James Read plays a charming and sophisticated villain. It's a pleasure to watch him spar with Colombo and to see his mounting irritation as Columbo keeps turning up as the proverbial bad penny ("uh, just one more thing, sir..."). The cameos by the murderer's poker buddies are a nice treat. Columbo's solution is equally fun and ingenious.

Far fetched, even for a Columbo movie.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 22 September 2008]

The idea of having a dentist poisoning a patient, who has an affair with his wife and then guessing that the person he would die the moment he is lying in bed with his wife is of course far fetched. On top of that he guesses that his wife would give the victim a margarita, so that he is given the full opportunity to let the murder look as if his wife committed it. He then also guesses after dumping the body that the police will track down his wife as the person the victim spend his last night with. The movie its plot is hanging together from its coincidences and it just doesn't make this the most likely Columbo movie to watch.

Otherwise it's a rather fine and enjoyable Columbo movie, that follows the usual formula. It has some nice relieving humor in it and despite its unlikely main plot this, this movie really isn't among the worst Columbo movies, from the long running popular and successful series starring Peter Falk.

The movie is being told in a good and pleasantly fast pace. It's a quite long Columbo movie with its 90 minutes of running time but yet the movie doesn't feel overlong or anything like that. The movie moves along fine and it doesn't drag.

James Read isn't really a great actor but yet he also isn't among the worst Columbo 'villains'. His character is still strong and interesting enough for the movie.

I liked watching it, despite all of its weaknesses.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

A very interesting episode.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 15 January 2020]

The previous installment of "Columbo" ("Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo") was extremely weak and had several plot holes. Fortunately, the series was back in form with "Uneasy Lies the Crown".

Dr. Corman is a jerk...and a second-rate dentist. His favorite thing in life is gambling...not his wife. So, she begins having an affair. He knows about it but plays dumb....and concocts a plan to kill his wife's lover, frame her for the murder AND convince his father-in-law to keep him at his dental practice! It's a very clever plan and involves a lethal dose of Digitalis administered under a crown he implanted in the boyfriend's mouth! Will he get away with it and fool Columbo? Yeah, right!

This is a very enjoyable episode. I am not at all sure of the chemistry and if it's real...though the show made it seem plausible. Fascinating to watch and well worth seeing.

Diverting Later Entry.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 17 October 2010]

Written by Steven Bochco, maybe partly because of that, this episode is pretty good for the later series of "Columbo." The title paraphrases Shakespeare from Henry IV: Part Two. The plot lacks the outrageous but understated humor that we sometimes find in earlier Columbos, but it does have a few smiles -- mostly involving the rumpled lieutenant's battle with blue laundry dye. And it's not only a joke; it figures in the resolution of the plot.

The villain here is James Read. It's hard to gauge his talent because he fits the part so well -- tall, handsome in an undistinguished way, looking trustworthy. He was good in a similar part in "Eight Men Out." He certainly gets the job done here, as a wealthy but miscreant dentist who murders his wife's boyfriend in an ingenious way and frames her for the deed. Jo Anderson, who may or may not have ripped off the name from Bobby Burns, is fine as the fragile, pale, unfaithful wife -- not quite debilitated enough by a heart condition to keep her from being an active sexual receptacle. (The story is a little racier than most.) Several recognizable faces occupy the background -- Paul Burke, and a handful of stars or ex-stars from the Universal TV stable.

So much fun

[aromatic-2 · 10/10 · 23 June 2001]

James Read is so much fun as the dentist-killer in this ingenious episode that I've watched it four times. It is fun to watch the late sitcom stars, Nancy Walker and Dick Sargent, play themselves as two of Read's poker-playing buddies. And, Columbo is in great form. This one gets an "A" from me.

Fills the time quite nicely, but the story doesn't extract the decent performances that it deserves

[The Welsh Raging Bull · 7/10 · 16 July 2006]

A substantially plotted and scripted 1990 Columbo episode penned by prolific writer Steven Bochco, which sees a debt-ridden, gambling dentist murder his wife's lover, by putting an overdose of a heart condition drug in the crown he puts in for him and then frames his wife, who is filing for divorce and also possesses a tragic marital history.

The murder set-up is fine, the story holds together very well, but it isn't particularly well-paced despite the deft development of clues which shift the focus of the investigation from the murderer's wife to murderer. Moreover, the story deserves more gritty and assured performances than we evidence, particularly from James Read as the murderer, who, for me, shamefully underacts in his relatively juicy role. Consequently, his scenes with Columbo, which should have possessed a mesmerising ferocity, instead only generate mild entertainment, which unfortunately deflects from the proficient elements of the storyline (just think what Jack Cassidy or Robert Culp could have done with the material!).

Very passable stuff for a new Columbo series that was trying feverishly to get somewhere near the quality of the original series, and in terms of storyline they get very close here. Sadly, the performances from the supporting cast don't really get the best out of the material.

What About Pinocchio?

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 25 April 2024]

This is a far fetched case. The bad guy's plot is so dependent on timing that the chances of it working are so remote. A dentist to the stars is also a gambler and a deadbeat. He owes huge amounts of money. He uses his wife as a source of income (her family is wealthy). When she takes a lover, a high profile actor, our dentist friend sets him up to die, putting the blame on the wife. His method is dental in nature and it works. Columbo suspects the guy but can't prove anything. When we get down to details, it would seem it would take so much luck to make this happening. The guy could have dropped dead going out the door of the office complex.

Decent but something was missing

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 4 April 2012]

Uneasy Lies the Crown is certainly not a bad episode, in fact I thought it was quite good, just not great like a lot of Columbo episodes. It is a little far-fetched and implausible in the plot at first, luckily the clues are deft and the tone of the episode becomes grittier and diverting by the final act. James Read certainly looks the part, tall, handsome and sophisticated, and he works very well with Falk in their sparring, however there were other times in this episode especially at the start where his performance felt underplayed and bland. There are some bright spots in the supporting cast, but the general standard was inconsistent ranging from inconsistent to bland and annoying. Uneasy Lies the Crown is still a well made episode with a strong score, often clever writing like in the cat-and-mouse scenes between Falk and Read and Peter Falk is just wonderful as always as Columbo, though I do think he has given better performances in the series. Overall, decent if lacking the extra something that the best episodes of the series had. 7/10 Bethany Cox

"Uneasy Lies the Crown" (1990)

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 7 January 2019]

PLOT: A charismatic dentist with a gambling problem (James Read) concocts a clever way to murder his wife's movie star lover and frame her (Jo Anderson), but Columbo finds flaws in the elaborate scheme. Paul Burke plays the senior partner father-in-law in his final role.

COMMENTARY: The script was originally written in 1973 by Steven Bochco for the third season of Columbo, but Falk felt the villain was weak. So the teleplay was later used for the penultimate episode of McMillan & Wife, "Affair of the Heart" (1977). Obviously Falk changed his mind by the time this episode was shot, but he was unaware that it was used for McMillan a dozen years earlier.

While the murder scheme is a little too creative (i.e. farfetched), this installment is as good as any typical segment of the 70's show and plot-wise is reminiscent of "A Stitch in Crime" (1973), which may be an additional reason why Falk rejected it at the time. It's not great like "Stitch" because it's 24 minutes longer and contains some padding, but it's still a very good episode. Redhead Anderson is strikingly lovely.

GRADE: B+

Uneasy Lies the Crown

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 24 March 2018]

The shocking thing about this episode is that Columbo claims he has only been in the force for 22 years. Given that the first episode was shown in 1971, then it means he joined the force in 1968. It took him 3 years to make it to detective and become a lieutenant. By 1990 he is still a lieutenant but with a bad dye job on his hair.

James Read plays dentist Wesley Corman works for his father in law's dental firm. However he spends more time on bad business ventures and losing a fortune gambling with minor showbiz celebrities. Corman's wife is cheating on him and she plans to leave him. His father in law wants to fire him and call in his debts.

The episode rather misleads you in who the murder victim is going to be as you think it is going to be the father in law but it turns out to be his wife's lover by carefully using dental work to slowly release poison.

The murder plan is rather far fetched, relying on so many factors outside Corman's control. Columbo puts the murder together based on a hunch, no forensics and a bluff. At least Columbo got one thing right, Corman is a lousy gambler so would make the wrong call.

There is a scene where Columbo questions some of the minor celebrities. Actor and impressionist John Roarke who played George Bush Sr in The Naked Gun 2 does a good impression of Bush Sr here as well. Unfortunately his Jack Nicholson sounded just like George Bush Sr!

good but a ripoff

[blanche-2 · 9 September 2004]

This was the recycling of an old Macmillan episode that starred Stefanie Powers - notice I said Macmillan and not Macmillan and Wife. It was after Susan St. James left. That's the only reason I was disappointed in this episode - I'd seen it! It was "Affair of the Heart" on Macmillan. Strangely, Peter Falk himself did not realize that this episode had been previously done until I told him during an interview and sent him the Macmillan tape. Apparently, it was written by Steven Bochco, who also wrote for Columbo, and it was used again.

I enjoyed the Columbo episode more. The package was somewhat classier, including James Read, Paul Burke, and Jo Anderson. It also included a fun poker game that included Nancy Walker and Dick Sargent.

So so plot....

[solitaryman-91051 · 6/10 · 16 July 2018]

I only have one question & comment. Why would a homicide detective be called to the scene of an accident? Yes, there was a fatality but it had still not been determined to be anything but an accident at that point. Yes, I know that it was a plot device to get Columbo on the case, but I can't believe the writers used this as a means to do it.

The Dentist

[AaronCapenBanner · 6/10 · 5 March 2016]

James Read stars as Dr. Wesley Corman, a dentist who is about to be cut off by his wealthy father-in-law who has urged his daughter Lydia to finally divorce him, as he is believed to be a leach living off their money, so Wesley devises a scheme to murder the film star Lydia is having an affair with, then frame her for the crime, using poison used during a dental visit. Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) finds many holes in the story, but struggles to find out just how Wesley pulled off the murder...OK episode is watchable but not especially compelling. One amusing if awkward scene involving a poker game with two actors(Dick Sargent and Nancy Walker) playing themselves that Columbo recognizes. Strange that in Columbo's world those actors exist, but previously appearing guest actors like Dick Van Dyke and Robert Conrad don't!

Yawn!

[ozdavid · 6/10 · 26 August 2008]

I really hated this one. I am an avid Columbo fan and have seen all episodes so many times, but this one is a complete dud. The story line is so dull and the acting by all is so wooden that by the end you really couldn't care what happens.

Peter Falk looks completely disinterested throughout and this one is really a big disappointment. The finale is so ridiculous it was a wonder that they didn't all start laughing at the absurd conclusion. I doubt if there would be a jury in the land that would convict the killer on the very flimsy "evidence" of his guilt. I would not recommend wasting a minute on this.

The Crown

[safenoe · 6/10 · 14 April 2023]

This was an intriguing Columbo, especially as it was written by the legendary Steven Bochco just three years before hitting it big again with NYPD Blue. Anyway, the murderous means was kind of tortious (kind of like a dental appointment) really. So many pieces to come together, but still worth a watch.

Jo Anderson, who plays Lydia Corman, has an amazing resemblance to Julianne Moore. Also it was kind of meta to see Columbo star struck at seeing Nancy Walker and Dick Sargent at the poker table. I would have really loved for Columbo to mistake Dick Sargent for Dick York as both played Darren in Bewitched.

The usual Columbo style, in another far-fetched plot

[cashimor · 7/10 · 6 March 1999]

This plot creates one of the more ingenious murders for Columbo to solve. However, he's still in form, with the notebook and the usual questions "just before I leave". A pity we don't see the results of his betting.

Middling at best

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 12 January 2016]

I wasn't a huge fan of this second-rate Columbo episode about a killer dentist. Sure, the murder method is elaborate - some might say too elaborate - but the whole screenplay feels like it's trying too hard to equal the quality of the '70s episodes, and it doesn't. In addition, the cast is generally second tier, and the lack of a decent guest villain really hurts it too.

James Read is the villain here, and again - I'm going to say it - he's rather middling. He's a mild-mannered gambler who has none of the icy tete a tete scenes with the crumpled detective that we know and love from elsewhere. Falk's not bad, and the comedy scenes he's involved in are funny too, but I was too distracted by his ridiculously dyed hair for the most part (why not dye it black instead of that silly brown colour?).

The production values are acceptable and there are some strong supporting actors including Paul Burke, who plays the father in law of the murderer. But overall this is acceptable rather than electrifying, and it could have been so much more in the right hands.

One of the better latter day episodes

[Wizard-8 · 14 August 2017]

The latter day episodes of "Columbo" have generated a lot of debate by series fans, with many of them saying they are not as good as the episodes from the original run of the series. I will admit that there were some clunkers during the latter day run, but I consider "Uneasy Lies the Crown" as a pretty solid episode for the most part. The murder is more intricate than usual in some ways; it takes more than three- quarters of the episode before our favorite detective starts to suspect the actual murderer. And the mystery did have me wondering until near the end how Columbo would get his man. As it turns out, Columbo is handed a big clue on a plate via a great coincidence, which was a disappointment. There is also some goofy humor here and there that seems a bit too silly for the show (though some other attempts at light humor do work well.) But overall, this episode does work pretty well. Maybe not at a classic level, but it is all the same very watchable.

Wrong!

[skarylarry-93400 · 6/10 · 19 February 2022]

The coroner tells Columbo the medicine killed the actor in a couple minutes. He died much later from it, probably hours later! Decent episode! I don't think the actor would have went for that little plain looking drip!

Rush to Confess, a Reflection of Poor Writing

[peterwcohen-300-947200 · 4/10 · 30 April 2023]

These latter-day Columbo movies can be pretty painful to watch. The actors are the cheesiest of 80's/90's TV 2rd stringers, the settings look like cheap sets of tasteless interiors rather than actual places, the soundtrack is synth pop elevator music, and the goofiness is just ... too goofy.

What I'm referring to is the unfunny poker game with Nancy Walker, Dick Sargent and Ron Cey. What a random collection of b-list cameos, and it makes the scene feel like a waste of time. Like, rather than listening to what happens, you can't help but sit through it and wonder did they grab the first three vaguely recognizable people who passed by the soundstage on the Universal Studios lot?

As for catching the criminal, I don't think so. This was the old bluff play that Columbo has used before, but this time, it's worse. Columbo bluffs that he can, through some unheard of trick of chemistry, prove that the murderer did it, and he's about to do it (it won't work)... and the bad guy says, "don't bother, I did it." Phew! Everybody's happy. Come on! That's pathetic. That's Perry Mason territory.

Swallowing the whole story is a bit of problem but generally it is an OK Columbo

[bob the moo · 16 November 2005]

Dentist Wesley Corman works for his father-in-law's firm and has wasted a small fortune of his in-law's money on business ventures and bad gambling. However his luck has run out – his wife is cheating on him and is planning a divorce while his father-in-law is planning to call in all Wesley's debts. Desperate for a way out he calls in his patient (and his wife's lover) Adam Evans and sets something inside his crown. Later that night, while he is at a poker game, the poison in the crown breaks out and kills him in the arms of Lydia Corman. Wesley comes to the rescue, taking the body out on the road and making it look like an accident – naturally his in-laws appreciate his discretion to protect his wife and all is forgiven. However Columbo gets assigned the case and a grain of salt, an empty stomach and some blue blotches are all it takes to lead him back to the Cormans with a lot of questions.

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 simple enough for the series to do the business although I have had my fingers burnt with some of the "new" Columbo's. With a solid pun of a title and a world that Columbo is a stranger to (dentistry) things looked OK but it is a foundation that the story can't build on that well. The plot steps away from the classic cat'n'mouse game, retaining only an element of that if favour of more of a general investigation. This works better than I suspected but the unlikely plot undermines it a bit just because a lot of it doesn't ring true – Corman's office being empty of staff, his in-laws doing a 180 so easily, the crown idea working as well as it is; all these are things that take a leap of faith that sometimes the material can't make.

The cast are mixed. Falk is on pretty good form, not quite his best but he doesn't look as old as other "new" films and he comes across as a bit sharper. Read is a bit bland and doesn't quite match up to Columbo, so it is perhaps in his favour that the film only turns to cat and mouse in the final third. The support cast is so-so, some nice characters like Columbo's dentist and Gilborn's George but the family is not that great. There are some "star" cameos from people like Walker and Sargent as themselves at a poker game – I didn't care about them so much as I was annoyed by the guy doing impressions at the game, he is just the sort of w*nker that you wouldn't want at a game! The game itself though provides a nice touch where it is contrasted and intercut with Mrs Corman panicking.

Overall a solid Columbo despite the problems with the plot. The cast aren't anything special but the story moves along well and Falk in on good form. Not up to the standard of the original series' then but it stands up for itself with the lesser "new" episodes.

Not a goof.

[mjsdrums · 16 May 2021]

When Columbo tells Corman he wondered why the car was in neutral, he follows by asking if it might have been done deliberately so the police wouldn't just write it off as a heart attack/accident. The fact that Corman had confessed to moving the body is irrelevant.