A Trace of Murder (15 May 1997)

A beautiful wife and her forensic expert boyfriend try to frame her very rich husband for murder.

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Writers:

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

Stars:

Peter Falk, David Rasche, Shera Danese

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
David Rasche	...	Patrick Kinsley
Shera Danese	...	Cathleen Calvert
Barry Corbin	...	Clifford Calvert
Raye Birk	...	Howard Seltzer
Will Nye	...	Officer Will
John Finnegan	...	Barney
Franklin Cover	...	Harry Jenkins
Alice Backes	...	Harriet Jenkins
Dion Anderson	...	Stuart March
Donna Bullock	...	Tracy Rose
John F. O'Donohue	...	Doherty
Dyana Ortelli	...	Colenari
Kymberly Newberry	...	District Attorney (as Kymberly S. Newberry)
Maury Sterling	...	Store Clerk

Storyline

A millionaire's being threatened with a lawsuit by a man he did business with. When he gets into a fight with the man, his trophy wife is more embarrassed than concerned about her husband. Now she can't divorce her husband because of a pre-nuptial agreement. And if she kills him, she would be the prime suspect. So she along with her lover decides to kill the man who is using her husband and frame her husband. Which they do. When Columbo investigates the murder, one of the forensic people helping him is the woman's lover.

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Plot Keywords:

lawsuit | millionaire | police | murderer | crime investigation | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 May 1997 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal TV

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 92 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel was one of the primary locations used for filming. "Columbo" was visiting a mortician's convention. Sitting in an adjacent lobby-hallway, outside the ballroom was a vintage Cadillac Hearse. The Construction Coordinator, Doug Vlaming and his "hammer tones" had to pull the hotel's Hollywood Boulevard Entrance double-doorways, in order to drive the hearse into the hotel's hallway. Replacing the entrance for filming, afterwards removing the entry, again, to back the Hearse out of the hotel, and re-installing everything that they had removed. The Hotel Management, approved any production request, because management was familiar with the "Columbo" Art Department team, (Hub Braden, Mary Dodson, Bill Gregory, and Doug Vlaming). They had been the same staff on the "Murder, She Wote" production crew which had used the hotel facility for many repeat location filming for the MSW yearly series schedule.

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Goofs

When Columbo is showing Pat a map, he starts to lay the map out on a desk and says "This first". In the very next shot he once again says the same thing, "This first".

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Quotes

Lt. Columbo: Three eyes see more than one.

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Connections

Follows Columbo: A Bird in the Hand... (1992)

User Reviews

Not bad, but the ending drags

Let me say this right off the bat: the two worst actresses in the world are Kate Capshaw and Shera Danese. Watching Danese's misplaced facial expressions, hammy acting, arm waving, and screechy voice sucks all the fun out of this Columbo film. She does absolutely nothing good with the plum role she's given. Bad director or bad acting? I tend to believe the latter.

Danese's acting aside, this is a pretty enjoyable Columbo film, well-paced and fairly involved. The joy of watching Columbo is wondering if he already knows who the killer is; in the 1970s films, you could never tell, and that was part of the fun. That sense of enigma is lost in these later films, especially in this one, where he doesn't realize it until well into the film. No matter what else he does, this is Peter Falk's signature role, and he has been a lucky actor for not getting typecast, given his variety of roles over the years.

All in all, I recommend this film as a worthy contributor to the Columbo legacy.