Uneasy Lies the Crown (28 Apr. 1990)

The unsuccessful junior partner in a dental group, a bad husband and degenerate gambler, faces divorce and ostracism from his father-in-law's firm.

Director:

Alan J. Levi

Writers:

Richard Levinson (creator), William Link (creator),

Stars:

Peter Falk, James Read, Jo Anderson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
James Read	...	Dr. Wesley Corman
Jo Anderson	...	Lydia Corman
Nancy Walker	...	Herself
Dick Sargent	...	Himself
Ron Cey	...	Himself
Marshall R. Teague	...	Adam Evans (as Marshall Teague)
Mark Arnott	...	David Sherwin
James A. Watson Jr.
Steven Gilborn	...	George
Raymond Singer
Victor Bevine
John Roarke
Paul Burke	...	Horace Sherwin
Lynne Marta	...	Frances

Storyline

A dentist is threatened by a divorce, because his wife loves another man, and his father-in-law, who wants to collect his gambling debts. He decides to kill his wife's lover, and frame his wife for it, to get out of the situation. Columbo tries to solve the murder.

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Plot Keywords:

dentist | father in law | gambler | degenerate gambler | murder | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 April 1990 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min 120 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Features Paul Burke's final acting role.

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Goofs

When dentist starts working on Adam Evans, he doesn't use saliva suction device, however in next shot Adam has device in left corner of mouth.

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Quotes

Dr. Wesley Corman: Bet the winners, Lieutenant. I always bet the winners.

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Connections

Remake of McMillan & Wife: Affair of the Heart (1977)

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Soundtracks

"Mystery Movie Theme"
by Mike Post

User Reviews

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

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.