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Storyline
Lt. Colombo investigates the murder of Rudy Matthews, an art collector who is found shot to death in his home. The killer is the dead man's nephew, art critic Dale Kingston who, with the help of his accomplice Tracy O'Connor, tries to mask the time of death and then give himself an alibi by attending an art exhibit From the outset, Colombo can't quite understand why one of the two missing paintings was by a lesser artist and why a thief wouldn't have taken something more expensive. Kingston tries to point Colombo in the direction of his aunt, Matthews ex-wife Edna. The fact that Matthews left everything, including his entire art collection, to her seems to support that idea. Colombo isn't buying it and sets a clever trap for him. Written by
garykmcd
Plot Summary
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Plot Synopsis
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The barely-glimpsed actor playing Dale Kingston's uncle is B-movie icon
Robert Shayne, who played Inspector Henderson on the "Superman" TV series.
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Goofs
Whilst in the TV studio, after having his make-up removed, Kingston buttons up the collar of his shirt and adjusts his tie. A few seconds later he again buttons up his shirt collar and arranges his tie.
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Quotes
Lt. Columbo:
You know that gallery you went to? Checked out. Hope you don't mind.
Dale Kingston:
Oh, that's your job. And?
Lt. Columbo:
Oh, the parking lot boy, he remembered when you got there, all right. So that if Mr. Matthews was killed at eleven o'clock, then you sure didn't do it.
Dale Kingston:
Now isn't that a shame, Lieutenant? And here I am, your best and most obvious suspect, too. Tch, tch, tch, tch.
Lt. Columbo:
Oh, don't say things like that. Really, you got me all wrong.
Dale Kingston:
[
sarcastically]
Oh, yeah.
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Soundtracks
"Etude in E major op. 10 No. 3"
by
Frédéric Chopin
Heard during the murder sequence
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A very brisk, hastily edited and somewhat more simplistic Columbo that we've become accustomed to: some scenes have untidy editing or continuity errors in them (the pictures that are on or off the wall after the murder; the scene where the murderer does up his tie in the make-up chair; and the removal of the fruit bowl off the table near the end of the film, which results in one piece of fruit falling on the floor etc.).
Nevertheless, this story is entertaining enough for the undemanding viewer and the resolution is not predictable in any way.
Ross Martin is quite aggressive in his role as the murderer and he seems to get perturbed by Columbo's persistence extremely early on, but his performance satisfactorily illustrates his characterisation's misplaced self-confidence.
Not vintage Columbo, but pleasing viewing nonetheless.