Death Hits the Jackpot 

Freddie Brower, a down-on-his-luck photographer in the final stages of a divorce, wins $30 million in the lottery. In order to not share it with his wife before the divorce is finalized, he... See full summary »

Director:

Vincent McEveety

Writers:

Richard Levinson (created by), William Link (created by)

Stars:

Peter Falk, Rip Torn, Jamie Rose

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Rip Torn	...	Leon Lamarr
Jamie Rose	...	Nancy Brower
Gary Kroeger	...	Freddy Brower
Betsy Palmer	...	Martha Lamarr
Warren Berlinger	...	Det. Jack Stroller
Antony Ponzini	...	Gregory Lopiccolo
Penny Santon	...	Momma
Marilyn Tokuda	...	Judy
Britt Lind	...	Trish
Robert Alan Browne	...	Detective Lancer
Daniel Trent	...	Detective Braverman
Donald Craig	...	Auctioneer
Peter Schreiner	...	Otto
Shane McCabe	...	Meyer McGinty

Storyline

Freddie Brower, a down-on-his-luck photographer in the final stages of a divorce, wins $30 million in the lottery. In order to not share it with his wife before the divorce is finalized, he arranges for his uncle Leon to cash in the ticket and give Freddy the money after the divorce. But uncle Leon Lamarr has ideas of his own.

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Plot Keywords:

lottery winner | lottery | photographer | renaissance costume | drowning in a bathtub | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

15 December 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kuolema vie päävoiton

Filming Locations:

3100 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

120 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This is the third episode in which Columbo speaks fluent Italian.

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Goofs

When Leon breaks the watch, he waits for the second hand to stop. This was clearly achieved by freeze-framing, rather than the watch actually stopping.

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Quotes

Columbo: [about the things the chimpanzee touched] What do these things have in common? They're all shiny, and they're all metal, just like this medallion.

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Soundtracks

Where Have All The Flowers Gone
(uncredited)
Written by Pete Seeger

User Reviews

Uncle Leon has ideas of his own...

For me, Death Hits the Jackpot is one of the better later Columbo episodes. It starts off a little slow perhaps, but it picks up significantly and doesn't have any more problems as far as I am aware. The story is interesting and well-structured, and the script has a lot of nice humorous touches between Lamarr and Columbo which was a delight to see, in fact I liked this episode especially for its less-serious yet somewhat light-hearted tone. The direction is as solid as rocks, and there are several good scenes, any scene between Lamarr and Columbo is winning, but the murder scene is quite intense, the denouncement is clever and the party itself was a nice touch for those sumptuous costumes. The music is great once again, and the acting is too. Peter Falk is exceptional as always, and Rip Torn is simply brilliant and seems to be relishing a very interesting character. Overall, delightful and one of the better later episodes. 9/10 Bethany Cox