Murder by the Book

A terrific start to the series, and I'm not just saying this because of its director: he'd have done a great job on this even if his name was Joe Nobody. Spielberg's cool, clipped way of creating an air of menace, through constant anticipations (not for nothing does the opening panning shot include a skull on Ferris' table) in the opening sequences should be required viewing at film schools. He still permits the classic character conflict to evolve in the later, less firmly paced stages: even inserting a signature (reflected in E.T. and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS) of officials loudly creating fuss and sidelining the vulnerable, in the scene at the Ferris home just before Columbo appears. Jack Cassidy, unfairly only really remembered today as the father of teen idol David, is on splendid, autocratically smarmy form here, as a mystery writer who can't write, but knows how to play the media. His staring eyes and coldly composed face as he points the gun at the camera, for the second time, are unforgettable. As ever, Falk charms in his down-to-earth manner, complaining of the cold - "there's no lining on this coat" - and helping out the distressed Mrs. Ferris in the kitchen. (A shame that Rosemary Forsyth is saddled with a line like, "I know Ken, he's not a murderer", though.) The music, more than slightly reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's score for PSYCHO, is another eerie advantage. All in all, a shame that Falk's plan to get Spielberg to direct COLUMBO's return to TV, in 1989, came to nothing........

Ken Franklin (Jack Cassidy), the non-writing half of a mystery novel writing team, murders the writing half of the team, Jim Ferris (Martin Milner). Franklin was the smooth one that handled the publicity and TV appearances. Ferris was planning on leaving the team after his next novel to work on an expose of organized crime. Franklin plans everything well, making it look like Ferris was murdered in Los Angeles for his ongoing investigation into the mafia, while Franklin was away at his vacation cabin, thus having an alibi. But two things trip him up. One, of course, is the fact that Columbo is on the case. The other is that a rather toothy middle aged widow who runs the country store where Franklin's cabin is actually saw Ferris with Franklin on the day of the murder. And she has blackmail on her mind.

A note to would be blackmailers. Don't think that you can blackmail somebody, even for a nominal sum, and that they'll be your friend, or in the widow's case, return your romantic interest. By definition, they see you as an enemy because that is what you are.

In this episode, Columbo does something he normally does not do onscreen. He talks to the widow of the murder victim and tells her exactly who he thinks the killer is and what he thinks about him and enlists her help in trying to catch him. Normally, although you may suspect what Columbo thinks, he saves how he came to his deductions until the final scene. Also, the motive is not revealed until the end. Franklin is a cool customer, so it was probably not anger that made him carry out such a premeditated crime, and with Ferris planning on breaking up their partnership, murder is not going to change that, so I was anxious to know what possible motive there could be. To that I'd say, watch and find out.

After two pilot movies, NBC greenlit "Columbo" as a regular rotating show in its "Mystery Theater" which aired weekly. "Murder By the Book" is the first "Columbo" airing in the series. It also has a distinction of being directed by a relatively new and inexperienced guy...Steven Spielberg.

Ken (Jack Cassidy) and Jim (Martin Milner) have together published some very successful murder mystery books starring Mrs. Melville--a Miss Marple-type character. However, Jim wants to end their partnership and write on his own, as he's both tired of Mrs. Melville and he's been doing almost all the writing. Ken decides to deal with this by murdering his old partner. But it's not a spur of the moment killing....Ken thinks he's very clever and thinks by planning it out and staging it properly he'll no doubt get away with the murder. However, as often is the case, he underestimates the police....and especially Lieutenant Columbo.

This installment works very, very well. Most of it is because Cassidy made an excellent villain...very smug, superior and self-assured. And, this might be why although this was NOT the first completed episode of the series, it was moved to the front...most likely to make a strong impression on fans.

Peter Falk's third appearance as Columbo (after a pair of two-hour NBC World Premiere Movies) officially kicked off the "Columbo" series, as well as the "NBC Mystery Movie" in September 1971.

Filmed after the superior "Death Lends a Hand," but aired first, it has the distinction of having been directed by Steven Spielberg in those days before "Jaws" when he was still cranking out episodic television on the backlot of Universal. There are some smart directorial touches, particularly in the opening scenes where the sound of Martin Milner's typewriter serves as the sole soundtrack, but this a disappointing episode overall.

As the less talented half of a famous mystery writing team (not unlike Richard Levinson and William Link, "Columbo"'s creators), Jack Cassidy makes a classy villain, one who would be invited to square off against Peter Falk on two more occasions (including season three's "Publish or Perish" which was also set against a publishing background). Unfortunately, Steven Bochco's script drags along, making this a frequently dull episode. Worse, the denouement finds Columbo wrapping things up based on flimsier than usual evidence. Had the killer not confessed, he could have walked away from his crime.

Still, Peter Falk is terrific, and makes it worth watching.

Brian W. Fairbanks

Steven Spielberg then a young television director on contract to Universal made the first regular episode of Columbo.

Jack Cassidy plays Ken Franklin who along with writing partner Jim Ferris has produced the successful range of Mrs Merivale mysteries which have made them both a lot of money. Ferris actually writes the books and comes up with the plot ideas with Franklin doing the publicity.

However Jim now wants to end the writing partnership and Ken lures him to his cabin in San Diego in order to kill him. He has a plan set up that Jim was abducted from his office by some hoodlums upset because of what he was researching.

However Columbo suspects Ken, who appears to be smarmy, over confident and puzzled as to why Ken chose to drive from San Diego back to LA rather than taking a flight which should had been faster given his long time creative partner had died.

Ken also has to resort to commit a second sloppy murder because he was witnessed hanging about with Jim near his cabin in San Diego.

Jack Cassidy is terrific as the villain of the piece and his performance is helped by Spielberg's direction who makes him exude sinister charm without being hammy. Cassidy would go on to appear in several other Columbo films.

However I think Columbo's denouement was weak which was a sign of sloppy writing from Steven Bochco.

First thing. I have actually driven myself from San Diego to LA, it takes about 2 and half hours. If Ken went to the airport in San Diego, he would need to arrive, wait for his plane, then fly to LA, disembark, go through security and drive to wherever from LA airport. Taking into account that in 1971 Ken would not need to arrive at the airport as early as you do nowadays and security would not be as stringent. Columbo's assertion that flying would had been faster just does not hold up.

More importantly Ken's last line does not make much sense when he states that the murder plot was his own idea from some years ago that he told Jim about and he did not know that Jim would write it down in a piece of paper. It was well known Jim always scribbled ideas down, Ken should had known that!