A spoiled, self-centered, egotistical and highly-erratic heir to a chemical company, is about to be pushed out by his uncle-by-marriage, who's had enough of trying to clear up his nephew's endless screw-ups and scandals. So he concocts a box of Cuban cigars set to explode one minute after they're opened, puts them in his uncle's car, and has a night on the town with his uncle's secretary to have an alibi when the inevitable happens. But before anyone finds what's left of the car, his uncle and the man's combination chauffer-private eye, his aunt calls the police because her husband's gone missing... and they send their "best man" to investigate... Columbo. (What, you were expecting someone else?)
All the company politics involved in this story I found over-complex and boring. But the murderer is so bizarre, exagerated and over-the-top in his attitude and behavior, he gets the wheels spinning in Columbo's head, while everyone else merely assumes the car that went over a cliff was due to an exploding gas tank. There's so much insistence that it couldn't have been a murder, it had to have been an accident, that, when the climax arrives-- and Columbo actually CONS the killer into believing it WAS an accident-- and that he's holding the UNEXPLODED box in his hands-- it actually kinda makes sense, if just barely. I've seen enough people with NPD to know, a lot of them are that unstable.
Roddy McDowell (BATMAN: "The Bookworm Turns") is "Roger Stanford", an overgrown child playing at being an adult, who really could not keep his mouth shut every time Columbo was around, practically telling the Lieutenant what he did when the detective merely had suspicions. His total freak-out at the end was absolutely the highlight of the episode.
Anne Francis (FORBIDDEN PLANET) is the secretary Roger is having a secret affair with. Did he ever care, or was she just a tool to get at his uncle? (Probably) Still very attractive here, she seems to be playing a character much-younger than her then-age of 40.
James Gregory (STAR TREK: "Dagger Of The Mind") is "David L. Buckner", who runs the company for his owner-wife, and used his former-PI chauffer to dig up dirt on his incessantly-troubling nephew, which results in both of them getting blown to pieces on a dangerous mountain road. Gregory had an outstanding role (as "General Ursus") in the only original PLANET OF THE APES movie that McDowell did not appear in. I always remember him for the line, "The only GOOD human, is a DEAD human!" Well, he certainly ended up dead in here.
Ida Lupino (THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) is "Doris Buckner", owner of the company, who's convinced her fears about her nephew were unfounded... just before Columbo NAILS the punk.
William Windom (STAR TREK: "The Doomsday Machine") is "Everett Logan", next in line to run the company, until Roger convinces his aunt he was working against her and her husband. When Roger flips out, Everett clearly realizes (without any words being said) that he's no longer fired. (Windom had previously played one of Columbo's superiors in the pilot, who was misled into trying to remove Columbo from an investigation-- which only made the Lieutenant MORE suspicious.)
In a callback to the 2nd pilot, when Columbo was seen to have a fear of flying, here we see him suffering from a serious fear of heights while riding in a cable-car through very high, dangerous-looking mountains. I can only figure that he took that first ride deliberately, to try to overcome said fear, knowing he'd probably need to take a 2nd ride later. (In Jules Verne's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", Professor Lindenbrook has his nephew Axel climb to the top of the tallest church steeple in a town, several times, to help him overcome a similar fear of heights, knowing he'll have to face even worse when they begin a descent into a volcano crater.)
At the climax, in a very-unusual scene, Columbo, without any real, hard evidence for once, instead plays a psychological game with his prey, loudly proclaiming nothing's wrong, as a way of convincing the killer that any moment, everyone in the cable-car could get blown to bits. Peter Falk apparently said he didn't care for this one, but I found the ending not only tense, but extremely-enjoyable to watch. As it happens, way back in January 1972, this was the very first COLUMBO I ever turned on-- just at the climax, in fact-- while waiting for NIGHT GALLERY to come on at 10 PM. That one scene got me HOOKED on the whole series, and I rarely missed an episode after that.
All the company politics involved in this story I found over-complex and boring. But the murderer is so bizarre, exagerated and over-the-top in his attitude and behavior, he gets the wheels spinning in Columbo's head, while everyone else merely assumes the car that went over a cliff was due to an exploding gas tank. There's so much insistence that it couldn't have been a murder, it had to have been an accident, that, when the climax arrives-- and Columbo actually CONS the killer into believing it WAS an accident-- and that he's holding the UNEXPLODED box in his hands-- it actually kinda makes sense, if just barely. I've seen enough people with NPD to know, a lot of them are that unstable.
Roddy McDowell (BATMAN: "The Bookworm Turns") is "Roger Stanford", an overgrown child playing at being an adult, who really could not keep his mouth shut every time Columbo was around, practically telling the Lieutenant what he did when the detective merely had suspicions. His total freak-out at the end was absolutely the highlight of the episode.
Anne Francis (FORBIDDEN PLANET) is the secretary Roger is having a secret affair with. Did he ever care, or was she just a tool to get at his uncle? (Probably) Still very attractive here, she seems to be playing a character much-younger than her then-age of 40.
James Gregory (STAR TREK: "Dagger Of The Mind") is "David L. Buckner", who runs the company for his owner-wife, and used his former-PI chauffer to dig up dirt on his incessantly-troubling nephew, which results in both of them getting blown to pieces on a dangerous mountain road. Gregory had an outstanding role (as "General Ursus") in the only original PLANET OF THE APES movie that McDowell did not appear in. I always remember him for the line, "The only GOOD human, is a DEAD human!" Well, he certainly ended up dead in here.
Ida Lupino (THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) is "Doris Buckner", owner of the company, who's convinced her fears about her nephew were unfounded... just before Columbo NAILS the punk.
William Windom (STAR TREK: "The Doomsday Machine") is "Everett Logan", next in line to run the company, until Roger convinces his aunt he was working against her and her husband. When Roger flips out, Everett clearly realizes (without any words being said) that he's no longer fired. (Windom had previously played one of Columbo's superiors in the pilot, who was misled into trying to remove Columbo from an investigation-- which only made the Lieutenant MORE suspicious.)
In a callback to the 2nd pilot, when Columbo was seen to have a fear of flying, here we see him suffering from a serious fear of heights while riding in a cable-car through very high, dangerous-looking mountains. I can only figure that he took that first ride deliberately, to try to overcome said fear, knowing he'd probably need to take a 2nd ride later. (In Jules Verne's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", Professor Lindenbrook has his nephew Axel climb to the top of the tallest church steeple in a town, several times, to help him overcome a similar fear of heights, knowing he'll have to face even worse when they begin a descent into a volcano crater.)
At the climax, in a very-unusual scene, Columbo, without any real, hard evidence for once, instead plays a psychological game with his prey, loudly proclaiming nothing's wrong, as a way of convincing the killer that any moment, everyone in the cable-car could get blown to bits. Peter Falk apparently said he didn't care for this one, but I found the ending not only tense, but extremely-enjoyable to watch. As it happens, way back in January 1972, this was the very first COLUMBO I ever turned on-- just at the climax, in fact-- while waiting for NIGHT GALLERY to come on at 10 PM. That one scene got me HOOKED on the whole series, and I rarely missed an episode after that.