On October 6th, 1971, the second episode of season 1 aired. Starring Robert Culp in his first go-round as the murderer and the lovely Patricia Crowley as the victim this was a strong follow-up to Murder by the Book.
This episode also features strong performances from Ray Milland as the powerful widower and some nice supporting work by Brett Halsey and others.
📺 Watch it for free, here: https://www.imdb.com/tv/watch/tt0068397 (May not be available in all regions)
What to watch for
A few tidbits and interesting clues from the episode....
Out of Order
This was the first regular Columbo episode filmed (after the pilots) but was aired after Murder by the Book.
Two at a Time
In the opening scene Brimmer is seen firing guns on the company's firing range. Guns plural, he's got one in each hand. And he's got an impressive shot grouping...which isn't as hard as it might seem because like most movie guns these magically have no recoil.
They must be surprisingly quiet too - because nobody on the shooting range is wearing hearing protection, and a real gun would be painfully loud.
Double vision
Brimmer has two closed-circuit monitors in his office which...curiously...are both showing basically the same camera.
A Filming Location you Can't Refuse
The Kennicut mansion may seem familiar. That's because it's appeared on screen many times. It was the house where Jack Woltz wakes up to find his horse's head in his bed in The Godfather. It was the house where Alan Stanwyk hired Chevy Chase to murder him in Fletch. And it was the house where Whitney Houston lived in The Bodyguard. Just to name a few.
If you like it, as of July 5th, 2021 it's currently for sale...for about $70M.
Did it and Didn't
Both Robert Culp and Ray Milland belong to a special Columbo club: The club of actors who have appeared in episodes both as the murderer and as not the murderer.
Culp does the killing in this episode, Milland is the powerful widower.
In season 2, Milland plays the smarmy Uncle Jarvis who murders his cuckholded nephew Tony in The Greenhouse Jungle.
Culp is the killer two more times - in season 2's The Most Crucial Game, and in Season 3's Double Exposure - and he returns in Season 10 as the father of one of the killers in Columbo Goes to College.
The Older Man
Ray Milland is, in real life, 26 years older than Patricia Crowley, who plays his ill-fated wife in this episode.
Never a Good Idea
Lenore is the first of several Columbo victims who make the mistake of confronting their killer alone to blackmail them or tell them they are about to destroy them.
The distinguished list includes the projectionist/real estate enthusiast Roger White who tries to blackmail Bart Kepple (also played by Culp) in Double Exposure, and Verity Chandler (played by Rue McClanahan) who tries to blackmail funeral director of the year Eric Prince (played by Patrick McGoohan) in Ashes to Ashes.
The Glasses Effect
Columbo in the 70s was becoming known for interesting cinematic work. This episode is notable for the scene where Brimmer has just killed Lenore, and we see scenes of him cleaning up from the crime, reflected in his glasses.
Oops
This is arguably the only episode of Columbo where the only killing in the episode was an accident.
There are a few where the killing wasn't premeditated. In Any Old Port in a Storm, Adrian lashes out at his brother in a fit of anger, but then deliberately puts him in the wine cellar to kill him. Likewise in Ashes to Ashes, Prince strikes Verity when she blackmails him, but it seems clear his intent was to kill her.
There are other episodes where one killing was accidental, such as Tony's death in the struggle with Vanessa in Columbo Likes the Nightlife, or Janice Caldwell in A Friend in Deed...but both of those were followed with premeditated killings (The blackmailing paparazzo Linwood and the philanthrophic heiress Margaret Halperin).
Reader Philip Wilson pointed out that A Deadly State of Mind also starts with an accidental killing; Dr. Collier (played by George Hamilton) killing Carl Donner in self-defense. But later in the episode Collier murders Nadia Donner by hypnotizing her to jump off her apartment balcony.
He knows...
When Columbo meets Brimmer at Kennicut's house and uses the palmistry ruse to feel his ring he comments to Brimmer that "...your Apollo line crosses the Mound of the Moon" and adds "That's the sign of a man who is destined to attain a very particular kind of distinction."
He probably meant the distinction of being arrested for murder.
Giving him an out
When Columbo goes to Brimmer's office to deliver the file and tells Brimmer about the killer striking her with his left hand, he suggests that the killer might not have meant to do it, that it could have been an act of passion. (which it was)
This empathetic offering was probably a deliberate opening for Brimmer to come clean and admit it was an accident.
Brimmer doesn't, of course.
Employee of the Year
Marv Goux plays the crew-cut, "ex-Marine type" investigator Leo Gentry.
He must have liked working for Culp, because he does so again in Season 2's The Most Crucial Game where he plays an assistant football coach.
Fun fact...in real life Goux played football at USC, then coached football at USC for 25 years before spending 11 years coaching for the L.A. Rams.
Did you notice...when Leo is play-wrestling with Teddy on the living room floor there's a football on the floor next to them.
Brunch?
After Columbo gets the tour of Brimmer Associates, Brimmer hosts him for lunch. But during the tour the clock on the wall of the computer center indicates that it's just before 8:45. That was either a really long tour, or an early lunch.
Leave em Hanging
Columbo's familiar technique of introducing an important fact or clue to the suspect, but then changing the subject before finishing his sentence appears in this episode too. In this case he starts to tell Brimmer that he knows about Lenore having an affair before abruptly asking about the recipe for the fish.
He undoubtedly notes Brimmer's reaction, and presses the advantage by asking him to send the recipe to his house instead of his office. He then basically lays out the exact blackmail plot that Brimmer used.
Columbo uses this technique frequently, to put the suspect off-center.
Ask their opinion...
Another technique Columbo often uses is to lay out his theory of the case, which is usually exactly what happened, and then ask the killer if they think he should continue to pursue that angle. He's giving the killer the chance to talk him out of that theory. Clever idea, but unfortunately it almost never works. In this episode he lays out the crime for Brimmer over lunch and asks Brimmer's opinion. He downplays the theory but...
...tells Columbo that if he believes in it to stick with it.
Equipment visible?
When Brimmer gets into Kennicut's car there's a wire visible at his belt buckle. Maybe for a microphone? Hard to say.
It's not a pocketwatch chain - Brimmer wears a wristwatch.
The Gotcha
Columbo maneuvers Brimmer into breaking into the auto shop to search the trunk of his car. Columbo needed the car to be in the auto shop because:
- They needed it to not be at Brimmer's house so they could set up the ambush.
- and - - Brimmer breaking in gives them a lot more probable cause than him just going out to the driveway, or even to his office, and looking in the trunk.
People were well-dressed in the 70s. Even wearing a jacket and tie to break into an auto shop.
Brimmer's answer of "papers" isn't very satisfactory. Even with a giant Cadillac you wouldn't have to climb into an empty trunk to find papers.
Columbo does a great job of anticipating Brimmer's move. Having a man stationed by the trash can to intercept him when he tries to dispose of the contact lens.
Whose lens was it?
Columbo is right...doesn't matter. It's not even clear if Columbo planted the lens there or not, though I suspect he did. The odds of a random contact lens being in his trunk are extremely low.
Just a few more things
- Seems odd that the head of an elite security company would forget to lock his patio door.
- When Columbo asks if he'd still be working the Kennicut case if he accepts Brimmer's job offer; Brimmer says he has more important cases. More important than the murder of an extremely powerful man's wife?
- If your wife has multiple sets of golf clubs, especially if she's new to the game, you're probably wealthy.
- Brimmer tells Columbo that about 10% of the population are ambidextrous. In reality it's closer to 1%.
- When Brimmer arrives at the cemetery during the exhumation he tells Kennicut "One of my men told me you were here." If I were Kennicut I'd want to know why Brimmer's men are following him.
- There's a fun scene where Columbo asks the golf pro to give him a lesson, then surprises everybody by hitting a great drive. Hard to say if the ball Columbo hit actually went well, but it might have since in real life Peter Falk was an avid golfer.
I like Brimmer's closing line to Columbo: "You should have taken that job," A nice gesture of respect for Columbo's work.
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