"Columbo" Murder, Smoke and Shadows (1989)

Director:

James Frawley

Writers:

Richard Levinson (creator) &
William Link (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Columbo" (1971)

Original Air Date:

27 February 1989 (Season 8, Episode 2)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

An egocentric wunderkind director murders a childhood friend who threatens to expose his negligent complicity in the death of his sister years earlier.

Plot Keywords:

Director | Movie Director | Murder | Actress | Camera Crew

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Fisher Stevens	...	Alex Bradey
Molly Hagan	...	Ruth 'Ruthie' Jernigan
Nan Martin	...	Rose Walker
Jeff Perry	...	Leonard Fisher
Steven Hill	...	Mr. Marosco
Jerome Guardino	...	Sergeant Burke
Elizabeth Ruscio	...	Fran
Al Pugliese	...	Phil Crossette
Time Winters	...	Stan
Gayle Harbor	...	Lisa
Stewart J. Zully	...	Sewell
Avner Garbi	...	Kardarsian
Meg James	...	Tour guide
Lisa Barnes	...	Waitress

Runtime:

95 min | USA:120 min (including commercials)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | Norway:15 (2007) (DVD) | Denmark:15 (2007) (DVD) | Sweden:15 (2007) (DVD) | Finland:K-18 (2007) (DVD) (self applied) | Finland:S (1989) (VHS) | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Universal TV

Goofs:

Continuity: Columbo spots a couple of ice-cream sodas left on the counter in Alex Brady's office, known as his "boys' club". One glass is almost full, the other about half-full. Not only can we see this, but Columbo comments on it at length, theorizing with uncanny accuracy how the full and the half-full glasses show what happened earlier, when the victim was visiting Brady's office. The moment Columbo leaves, Brady rushes to the soda glasses, to destroy the evidence. Inexplicably, he finds both glasses are now empty except for a milky residue.

Quotes:

Columbo: Mr. Brady, sir.
Alex Bradey: What are you doing in my desert, lieutenant?

Movie Connections:

References Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955)

Better than most latter day Columbos

As much as I enjoy Peter Falk in his signature role, many of the later episodes of the series find the great actor turning Columbo into a caricature. The charming but believable eccentricities of the early 70s detective became more pronounced and the effect more comical than amusing. This episode, the first of the refurbished Columbos to air on ABC uses Steven Spielberg, director of 1971's Murder By The Book, as an obvious model for the villain, but Fisher Stevens is merely adequate in a role that Roddy McDowell might have effectively played a decade and a half earlier. It's all fairly average, but it does offer a very accurate preview of the episodes to come in that none come close to equaling even the least successful episodes from the show's NBC run.