If you ever wondered what Columbo would look like if it wandered, half on purpose and half by accident, into a 1970s spy thriller… this is the one. On November 2nd, 1975, Identity Crisis featured Patrick McGoohan’s as the villain AND the director as Columbo matches wits with a double-agent.
Meet Nelson Brenner
Our killer, Nelson Brenner, wears two faces: publicly he’s a polished “speech consultant,” privately he’s a high-level CIA operative with a past that includes clandestine work and a lot of loose ends. One of those loose ends is "A.J. Henderson"—code-named “Geronimo”—a former colleague who suddenly resurfaces with demands: money owed from an earlier operation and, more dangerously, insinuations about who Brenner really is.
That’s the kind of pressure point Columbo villains usually treat with bribes, blackmail, or an impulsive shove down a staircase. Brenner treats it like a tradecraft problem. He builds a narrative that turns murder into a plausible street crime, the kind of case that normally closes itself.
Meet Brenner’s car – The Citroen
Nelson Brenner is an unusual man and he drives an unusual
car. In this case a 1972 Citroen SM.
Geronimo!
Geronimo is played by Leslie Nielsen in his second Columbo
appearance. His first was as Beth Chadwick’s fiancé, Peter Hamilton, in Season
1’s Lady in Waiting.
Never have a clandestine meeting in a clandestine place
We see Geronimo and Brenner getting together at the amusement park. For two guys who don't want to draw attention to themselves, they certainly draw a lot of attention - first with an impressive display of marksmanship, then by giving a giant bear to a random girl.
Fred...or Archibald?
The murder at the edge of the pier
The episode’s killing is a nighttime
ambush on the sand, with Brenner flipping from cool professional to feral
executioner in a heartbeat. It’s not elegant—and that’s exactly why it works as
television. Columbo often gives us murderers who look tidy even when they’re
doing something monstrous. Here, the violence is sweaty, and personal.
She’s shy
Am I the only one who found Columbo’s distracted obsession
with the belly dancer at Sinbad’s to be kind of off-putting? Taking curious
chances with Columbo’s mannerisms seems to be a trademark of McGoohan directed
episodes – he’s likewise a bit odd/awkward in Last Salute to the Commodore.
Columbo enters the spy game
Columbo’s first problem is access. Brenner isn’t just rich
or influential—he’s connected to the kind of machinery that can appear in your
case file and politely tell you to stop reading. The agency even sends its
Director, Phil Corrigan, to lean on the lieutenant. (A lovely bit of meta:
“Phil Corrigan” is also the name of comic-strip hero Secret Agent X-9.)
But here’s what makes Columbo dangerous to an espionage professional: he
doesn’t play the same game. He doesn’t care about codes, he cares about habits.
He doesn’t need to know what the microfilm contains; he needs to know who
touched it, who lied about it, and which detail in the liar’s story is
slightly, stubbornly off.
Meeting the director
Columbo’s first problem is access. Brenner isn’t just rich
or influential—he’s connected to the kind of agency that can appear in your
case file and politely tell you to stop reading. The agency even sends its
Director, Phil Corrigan, to dissuade the lieutenant. (A lovely bit of meta:
“Phil Corrigan” is also the name of comic-strip hero Secret Agent X-9, a wink
noted in episode guides.)
I thought the scene where Columbo meets “The Director” was
very well done. The various “operators” moved through the park effectively –
though childless men hanging out in Travel Town might raise an eyebrow these
days – and I thought the dialog was pretty well done.
My one reservation is that it seems like awfully sensitive
information to be discussing out loud in such a public place.
But here’s what makes Columbo dangerous to an espionage
professional: he doesn’t play the same game. He doesn’t care about codes, he
cares about habits. He doesn’t need to know what the microfilm contains; he
needs to know who touched it, who lied about it, and which detail in the liar’s
story is slightly, stubbornly off.
Travel town
As a kid I remember going to Travel Town. I loved climbing
on the trains and seeing all the different vehicles.
A bit creepy
Columbo’s “You’re pretty” patter with the little girls
was…well…a little creepy. If a stranger in a raincoat started talking to my
daughter like that I think I might have put a little distance between us.
Not so clandestine
CIA agent #1 is careful to be discreet. Tapping Columbo on
the leg and showing his ID under the table. His partner just flashes his ID out
in the open where anybody can see.
How 1975 is that?
McGoohan winks at The Prisoner
If you’re a fan of The Prisoner, you can’t miss McGoohan’s little nods. The most obvious is Brenner’s repeated “Be seeing you,” delivered like a private joke.
The gotcha…well…
Columbo’s case hangs on Brenner having included in the speech
a piece of news that wasn’t publicly known at the time he supposedly recorded
the speech. But it seems like in Brenner’s capacity as a spy he might have contacts
inside the Chinese gov’t who could have tipped him ahead of time that they were
planning to pull out of the games.
Just because the Beijing News Bureau didn’t know about it,
doesn’t mean that an American intelligence agent didn’t.
Ultimately, Brenner’s comeuppance might be more likely to
come at the hands of the CIA – who may now realize that Brenner is also Steinmetz
– than in the California court system.
Just a few more things…
- McGoohan becomes one of the few Columbo alumni to both direct and star in the same episode.
- “T-33 Silver Star” is a bit of a blunder. The T-33 was a popular jet trainer in the 1950s. But it was only called the “Silver Star” in the Canadian variant where it was designated the CT-133 or T-33AN. The U.S. variant was called the “Shooting Star”.
- Yes, that is Columbo occasional Val Avery as the bartender in Sinbads
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