Make Me a Perfect Murder (25 Feb. 1978)

An Emmy-winning TV executive kills her lover (who is also her boss); Lt. Columbo is on the case.

Director:

James Frawley

Writers:

Robert Blees, Richard Levinson (creator),

Stars:

Peter Falk, Trish Van Devere, Laurence Luckinbill

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Trish Van Devere	...	Kay Freestone
Laurence Luckinbill	...	Mark McAndrews
James McEachin	...	Walter Mearhead (as James Mc Eachin)
Ron Rifkin	...	Luther
Lainie Kazan	...	Valerie Kirk
Bruce Kirby	...	TV Repairman
Kip Gilman	...	Jonathan (as Kenneth Gilman)
Patrick O'Neal	...	Frank Flanagan
Milt Kogan	...	Dubbing Chief
Dee Timberlake	...	Madge
Don Eitner	...	Pete Cockrum
Morgan Upton	...	Ames
Joe Warfield	...	Al Staley
George Skaff	...	The Producer

Storyline

Kay Freestone is a West Coast TV executive whose boss, Mark McAndrews, is also her secret lover. When he gets promoted to a position in New York, he dumps her - and even denies her the job he's leaving. Her consolation prize is a new Mercedes. She's more interested in the gun he drops on the bed - after he jokingly invites her to shoot him. Joking or not, she takes him up on it. Later, he's found shot to death in his office. Kay seems to have been in the projection room when it happened. She was screening her pet project - a violent TV film called "The Professionals" - for her superiors. When our rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo investigates, he learns this Emmy-winning producer can commit a bloody act just as well as film it.

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Plot Keywords:

tv executive | shot to death | alibi | television network | gun | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 February 1978 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George C. Scott appears as an uncredited TV studio technician. Scott was the husband of main guest star Trish Van Devere.

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Goofs

As Columbo questions Kay for the first time, he is fumbling with some pieces of paper and a notebook. Of course he can't find the one he is looking for. He puts the items on a desk as he goes through his pockets once more. Then he picks everything up and walks away from the desk. When he wonders once more where the piece of paper is he is looking for, he walks back to the desk and the pieces of paper and notebook are on the desk.

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Quotes

Columbo: [to Kay] Interesting, isn't it how you can work out these small details out if you just think about it... like you have a tiny voice whispering in your ear trying to tell you who did it.

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Connections

Features Bolero (1934)

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Soundtracks

"This Old Mam"
(uncredited)
Traditional English children's marching song
Whistled by columbo

User Reviews

The opening sequence is some of the best stuff in the series—but things go slack in this disappointing effort

Kay Freestone (Trish Van Devere) is a West Coast TV executive whose boss, Mark McAndrews (Laurence Luckinbill), is also her secret lover. When he gets promoted to a position in New York, he dumps her—and even denies her the job he's leaving. Her consolation prize is a new Mercedes. She's more interested in the gun he drops on the bed—after he jokingly invites her to shoot him. Joking or not, she takes him up on it. Later, he's found shot to death in his office. Kay seems to have been in the projection room when it happened. She was screening her pet project—a violent TV film called "The Professionals"—for her superiors. When our rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) investigates, he learns this Emmy-winning producer can commit a bloody act just as well as film it.

This would have been a top-notch "Columbo" episode if about twenty minutes had been trimmed off. The first section of the film—the murder sequence and everything leading up to it—is some of the best stuff in the series. Freestone's use of a tape recording is an especially effective dramatic device.

After the murder there are two impressive scenes—one in an elevator with Freestone and Columbo, and another surreal sequence, where he harasses her via the multiple TV screens in her control booth. Most everything else is slack. There is a long, pointless scene where Columbo fools around with the TV equipment. There's a needless subplot with Lainie Kazan (who is too young to be playing an aging Judy Garland-like has-been). There's a limp scene where Columbo confronts Freestone at her old, now-abandoned home and offers sympathy.

Some of these scenes seem to be an attempt to make the villain more human than usual. That's fine, but the "Columbo" formula demands that any confrontation between detective and quarry be tense. "Columbo" works because of its formula, not in spite of it. The closer it hues to it, the better it is.

The formula also demands that what finally trips up the killer be a surprise. The ending here is very predictable. "Columbo" fans will want to watch this one, despite its flaws. Others, beware.