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7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: Simple, straightforward clues belie the strength of this highly effective and unpredictable Columbo story, 23 April 2002 Author: The Welsh Raging Bull (leighton.phillips@sihe.ac.uk) from Port Talbot, South Wales, UK
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
The director of a Cybernetic Research Institute think tank murders an associate who threatens to expose the former's son just before he is to receive a prestigious award, after it is discovered that he plagiarised the work of a deceased scientist.A holding and well enough done Season 3 episode made at the peak of the series, which boasts an original plot and a well-constructed script which despite the simplicity of the prevailing clues harbours an ingenuity that makes this one of Columbo's hardest cases to solve: Columbo can easily identify the murderer as a cigar smoker but can he prove it?Jose Ferrer's character, although lacking a little in humour, stands as a comparatively respectable adversary for Columbo; he quietly respects Columbo's abilities but is relatively self-assured that his murderous act can be concealed. However, it becomes increasingly apparent that the erratic behaviour of his son (whom he is protecting) is something that Columbo can take advantage of. Ferrer's performance is more than sufficient in displaying his character's paternal protectiveness whilst maintaining a certain nonchalance and one-dimensional determination.Much maligned for the inclusions of a youthful teenage genius named Steven Spelberg (an unsubtle reference to the director of the first transmitted Columbo story, Steven Spielberg) and Robby the Robot (from Forbidden Planet), this is a worthy entry in the long-running series simply because it's initial simplicity is the catalyst for a very robust and difficult-to-solve case for Columbo.
6 out of 7 people found the following review useful: An above par entry in the series, 16 July 2005 Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
Dr Marshall Cahill is the head of a scientific think tank and is naturally proud when his son follows in his footsteps and is nominated for top awards for his discovery of a revolutionary theory. However associate Howard Nicholson discovers that Cahill Jnr has plagiarised the work from a deceased scientist in a bid to win his demanding father's love. Unwilling to let his family be discredited, Cahill murders Nicholson and makes it look like a simple burglary gone tragically wrong.As with many TV film series (such as Perry Mason), if you like one or two of them then you'll pretty much like them all. This entry in the Columbo series pretty much follows the usual formula – we know the killer and the "perfect" plan but then watch Columbo follow his hunch and gradually starts to pick holes in the story he is told before eventually finding enough to prove his suspicions. Saying this is not a spoiler – it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. With this film we find ourselves in a place full of geniuses, which helps to put Columbo in the "underdog" role and lets him play down his intelligence. With a good mystery plot this works well although the usual cat and mouse tensions are minimised. The story is still enjoyable though and the conclusion is a clever trap that sees Columbo being his much more aggressive self while also showing that he takes no pleasure in any of the murder business process.The cast are roundly good. Falk, although playing alongside the dog here, is still very good and he wears his character well. Ferrer is good and he manages to make an interesting character without ever just playing the arrogant person that usually makes for a good villain. The two have good chemistry and the support cast are strong enough with good performances from Walker, Ayres, Wagner and a few others. However the lead two usually make these films and, although they don't butt heads as well as some other films they are still good.Overall an enjoyable Columbo film that is interesting and entertaining despite not totally going to the formula in regards the characters. A good plot and the usual stuff still make it a solid entry in a roundly good series of films though.
2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: José Ferrer and Robby the Robot plot the perfect murder in this entertaining "Columbo" entry, 22 December 2006 Author: J. Spurlin from United States
Dr. Marshall Cahill (José Ferrer) is the director of a government institute that employs various scientific geniuses, including the elderly Dr. Nicholson (Lew Ayres) who knows that Cahill's son Neil (Robert Walker, Jr.) has plagiarized a dead man's theory of molecular structure. When Nicholson threatens exposure, Dr. Cahill murders him and cleverly makes the killing look like the job of a heroin junkie who needed his fix. But clever or not, another kind of genius is on the case: our rumpled Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk).Alf Kjellin directs a script by Steven Bochco and Dean Hargrove and delivers a fine "Columbo" episode. Ferrer is a fascinating actor, who achieves a great deal with minimal affectation: his performance is a treat. Robert Walker, Jr., the son of the "Strangers on a Train" star, proves to be interesting: his face make him look like a combination of his father and Boris Karloff. Jessica Walter, the psychopathic one-night stand in "Play Misty for Me," has a more sympathetic role here: as Nicholson's young wife and Neil's psychiatrist. A boy genius played by Lee Montgomery is named Steve Spelberg: add an "i" and you have the director of "Columbo: Murder by the Book." (But he hadn't yet made "Jaws.") Columbo's basset hound, Dog, makes one of his infrequent appearances. But the best supporting performance comes from Robby the Robot of "Forbidden Planet" and the TV series "Lost in Space." Here he's an accomplice to murder!Best line: Cahill pompously telling Columbo, "You know, you have a very transparent mind, which in no way implies clear thinking." Don't be too sure, doc.
4 out of 6 people found the following review useful: Co-incidence or inside joke, 15 September 2005 Author: Roger Reynolds (olds2347@adelphia.net) from United States
I watched this Colombo movie and enjoyed it. Considering the format limitations of a television series, the story was very interesting, the acting excellent and worth repeated viewing. But my comment goes more to a couple things I noticed and I wonder if other IMDb viewers know more about it. There were a couple of characters in the story with names that must surely be an inside joke. Is the name of the lead character, Marshall Cahill, a nod to the 1973 John Wayne movie, Cahill US Marshall, and is the boy genius named Steve Spelberg a nod to Steven Spielberg who directed a 1971 Colombo TV movie? I turned to IMDb to see if this would be mentioned as trivia or in user comments. Surely this can't be just a co-incidence. Maybe others have something to add.
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Possibly the most outdated Columbo movie around., 24 May 2008 Author: Boba_Fett1138 from Groningen, The Netherlands
The earliest Columbo movie entry dates back from 1968 but yet no other Columbo movie seems as old as this one. The silly outdated technical and scientific elements and the presence of Robby the Robot makes this movie feel and look outdated which does take away some of the quality of the overall movie but nevertheless doesn't prevent the movie from being not entertaining or bad to watch.Nevertheless I don't really count this movie among one of the best out of the long running Columbo series. The story and especially its settings were not really interesting enough and the movie also really lacked a good well known actor opposite Peter Falk. It's not that José Ferrer is a bad actor but he just didn't played his role very interestingly, which caused his presence and role to be a forgettable one. There also isn't enough interaction between him and Lt.Columbo, which normally really is a requirement for a good Columbo movies.There were more clues left out for Lt. Columbo than usual, which is also one of the reasons why the story isn't among the best out of all the Columbo movies.Quite funny how Robby the Robot often keeps popping up in movies and series. He made his first appearance in 1956 in the science-fiction movie "Forbidden Planet" and continues appearing in movies till this present day. His role in this movie is also quite big and significant for the movie its main plot.It remains a well made movie and a pleasant enough to watch murder-mystery but it's perhaps a tad bit more forgettable than most other average Columbo entries.7/10
2 out of 3 people found the following review useful: Confusing plot?, 31 August 2007 Author: last-picture-show from London, England
I have just seen this for the first time in years and still love the unusual setting, the cheeky reference to 'boy genius' Stephen Spelberg and of course Robby The Robot.But I cannot for the life of me fathom out why on earth someone as intelligent as the murderer Cahill (Jose Ferer) would give himself away by smoking a cigar just after killing the victim. An obvious giveaway and seemingly only included as a clue for Columbo to find.And what was the point of the brandy glasses? Presumably Cahill was hoping to frame someone else but this point is never properly addressed. Anyone else have any theories?
3 out of 5 people found the following review useful: Columbo in a Think-Tank of All Places!, 19 May 2006 Author: Sylvia Marciniak (sylviastel@aol.com) from United States
It's one of the better ones but it has a strange setting. Dr. Nicholson played by Hollywood actor, Lew Ayres, is an aging doctor with a young, attractive but equally successful psychologist played by Jessica Walter (mom from Arrested Development) and Jose Ferrer as the chief suspect in the crime. Even COlumbo has his work cut out for him because all of these intellectuals are geniuses as well. Anyway, COlumbo surrounded by geniuses has been done in another film. But in this episode, it's a small community. Jose Ferrer plays a devoted father but his son is keeping secrets from him that will not only destroy his career but his father's as well. The pressure must be unbearable in their community. Anyway, the story works fine with great actors like Lew Ayres, Peter Falk, Jessica Walter, and Jose Ferrer.
Columbo Pits Wits With Computer Geeks., 25 April 2009 Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico
One of the better Columbo episodes. Not as funny as some, but an engaging plot that pits Peter Falk against Jose Ferrer, chief of the Cybernetics Research Institute, who has just murdered his colleague, Lew Ayres, in order to protect his own son, Robert Walker Jr., from exposure as a chemical plagiarist and utter phony.Like the other episodes in the series, the plot is implausible if only because of Columbo's fulgurating intuition. Example: Columbo arrives at the scene of the crime, is shown the body in the living room, and told that a can of heroin was stolen from the laboratory in the garage. Columbo pauses, puzzled, and says: "I don't get it. The man was killed here and the heroin was in the garage?" Any viewer with wit must think, "Sure. Why the hell not?" Some salivating doper came in through the living room, was discovered leaving by the same route with the can of smack, and clobbered Lew Ayres with a baseball bat in the living room, afterward escaping with the goods. To find a flaw in that scenario requires not just a willing suspension of disbelief but an attack on the viewer's common sense with some kind of bone drill or sledge hammer.Maybe that alternative isn't good enough? Okay, how about this? The doper enters the doc's house, beats the location of the stash out of him, and kills him in the process.Just one more instance of Columbo's spiritual guidance. There is a scuff mark of the victim's shoes on a door, suggesting the body had been carried into the house from somewhere else. Suspicion is cast on Research Assistant Ross, but Columbo dismisses him as a suspect because he's too short to have carried the body in his arms and left a scuff mark that high on the door. Alternative: Ross IS the murderer but carried the body not in his arms but slung over his shoulder, thus elevating the shoes to the proper distance from the floor. In any case, had I been Columbo, I'd have had the Ross character charged with inability to act, even in a bit part in a TV series. So it goes. We fans don't mind such things. These implausibilities are like the ray guns in science fiction movies. We don't ask how they work. They're just there, taken for granted as necessary to the advancement of the plot.For the added zest that comes from celebrity recognition, there is a supporting role for Jessica Walters, a fine actress who never really got the parts she needed. Robbie the Robot from "Forbidden Plant" is in here too. Then there is Lee Montogomery as a child prodigy of about ten or eleven, named Steve Spelberg. (Get it?) Not a bad actor for a kid. At least I didn't feel the usual impulse to stomp him like a roach.The Beagle is in this one too. The dog is being kicked out of a tony training school because he's impossible to teach. He just sits around and drools. "Geez, Doc," says Columbo, "My wife and kids are in Fresno and I'm busy right now. Couldn't you keep him for another week?" The veterinarian refuses. "He demoralizes the others." That's an example of the writer (Steven Bochko) putting that sloppy dog to good use, whereas, say, feeding him an ice cream cone and expecting the viewer to coo over the cuteness, is not.Enjoyable episode.
Good Cast In Enjoyable But Minor And Goofy Columbo Thriller, 11 October 2008 Author: ShootingShark from Dundee, Scotland
Dr Marshall Cahill is an eminent scientist and head of a think-tank. When his son Neil plagiarises a new physics theorem, a colleague threatens to blow the lid and Cahill Senior can't let him live. Columbo is on the case and up against an organisation full of geniuses.Like a few others (Negative Reaction, A Deadly State Of Mind) the conclusion to this Columbo involves a cheap trick to ensure a confession. The facts of the case however are as intriguing as ever; a smashed pipe, a scuff-mark on a door, an odometer with a few too many miles on the clock. It's also a slightly silly story, involving good old Robby The Robot from Forbidden Planet and the character Montgomery plays is a wunderkind called Steve Spelberg (Steven Spielberg directed an early Columbo - Murder By The Book - when he was 22). It does however have three cult movie stars in Ferrer (Moulin Rouge), Walter (Play Misty For Me) and Ayres (All Quiet On The Western Front), all of whom are excellent and only surpassed by the sublime Falk, who handles the mix of plot exposition, comedy playing and character interplay with his usual effortless skill. An enjoyable if not exceptional Columbo mystery thriller.
another fine entry, 6 May 2008 Author: bushwood80 from Jupiter
How can you go wrong with a robot, a boy genius(although I cringe when the little boy says exactly that), and another memorable insertion of Columbo's friendly, sometimes-faithful bassett hound with no name? Maybe the dog should star in a spaghetti western. By now I'm certain you know the main details of this fine episode, so allow me to add a few thoughts of my own. This episode has slight special meaning to me because it happens to co-star Lew Ayres, who had an integral role in one of my favorite films, Salem's Lot(1979), but I digress. He's the unfortunate murder victim, killed by Dr. Cahill, and his appearance here isn't long enough for me, but it feels good seeing him again in another role, even though he practically asks to be killed, especially the way he calls himself "dangerous" in front of his would-be killer, Dr. Cahill. My biggest complaint in many episodes is that too many wealthy suspects practically admit to their guilt, although Cahill really had no choice, considering his son was being framed wisely by Columbo.When a series starts to age, they sometimes have to include new additions; and in this case we have a temperamental robot who doesn't like losing at chess, but enjoys walking the basset hound, go figure. Unlike the painful insertion of a robot in Rocky 3, this robot actually filled a purpose other than window dressing, and was important when the "means" that Columbo relies on came to fruition. Jose Ferrer shined as the arrogant murderer, who tries to outsmart Columbo, especially the way he smokes his cigar right in front of the detective. Last but not least, we are graced by the presence of Columbo's friendly dog, who loves barking when he wants attention, even when it interferes with the investigation. That being said, whenever I see his dog, I feel grounded that Columbo is simply a human who enjoys his dog like the rest of us.
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