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Reviews
Columbo: Grand Deceptions (1989)
Rewatched and don't understand alibi
Firstly, I enjoyed the movie for its general storyline and enjoyed getting to know some of the characters a little more deeply than normal, such as the general's wife. But, I've watched this three times and do not understand the alibi. Maybe someone can explain it to me; but basically from what I gathered, the killer used having to set up the Battle of Gettysburg with thousands of figurines behind a curtain for a party as an alibi for the time the murder was committed. He had point in fact already set up the figurines, and all he really needed to do was arrange books that was also part of the unveiling. Arranging books naturally took far less time than a whole battle scene only the unsuspecting were to assume he was spending his time arranging toy soldiers and not simply the books. Only, before he even was put in a situation that he needed to do this as an alibi, he was already shown setting up the figurines, stored in a from box from a book company. It looked to me there was lots of foot traffic earlier in the day that could see him setting up earlier, or the potentiality of someone seeing him; so I was confused as to how or why people were so easily convinced that 20 feet away from the party on the other side of curtain he was there the whole time. The biggest confusion is he'd already arranged for this time savings before he even knew he'd be motivated to kill someone so I don't understand!
Columbo: Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991)
Everyone talks about plot hole at end but what about plot hole near beginning?
I've watched this episode several times. Though I think a better job could have been done showing how Hugh's assistant was an accomplice; I can accept that we are to understand he had her drive with a mask with a likely explanation that he simply wanted her to do this as a way to demonstrate the fallibility of speed cameras. She of course quickly realized that it wasn't for this benign reason, but rather to establish an alibi for his killing of his girlfriend. That's why she immediately was like "You did it!" once Columbo left. I understand this; and frankly, don't understand how others don't understand . . .
What baffles me, on the other hand, is that do not see anyone else point out what seems to me a much bigger unexplained issue. Towards the beginning, you see Hugh playing the role of what can only be described as a foreman or a large construction project; or, a real estate tycoon overseeing the construction of his large building. In this scene he and his rock star girlfriend have heated words atop his unfinished building wearing hard hats, and she almost falls off . She is trying to extort him for money, and he explains he can't pay it because all his money is "tied up in this building".
Yet, never again do we see Hugh in this capacity for the rest of the movie. Instead, he serves the role of a high-power attorney. So is he an attorney who is also having a skyscraper built? This seems odd. What's wrong with the building space he's in? His firm suddenly has money to finance a huge remodel of their existing offices (as a pay-off to the assistant so she won't blab, he was letting her decorate and also made her partner) But, I believed him in the beginning that he truly did not have the money his girlfriend was seeking; yet it seems like a large throwaway to remodel offices that you're soon going to be upgrading out of, into a huge new skyscraper. He could have just promised his new assistant a corner office in the new high rise or something. I'm certain that one can explain away that, who knows, maybe he was moving his private firm in to a large skyscraper all his own but to me it seems like equally sloppy writing or omission of footage as the alibi situation was. It was also a missed opportunity to perhaps hide the weapon in the concrete of the new building, or something - just made this initial seen odd. It could have taken place a park for as inconsequential as it was . . .