A well-paced, well-thought-out adventure for Columbo whose penchant for spotting seemingly trivial and unrelated clues at an "accident" scene is highlighted in enjoyable fashion here.
The fact that Columbo is cajoled into helping the Mexican police with their investigations whilst he is on holiday provides an alternative platform for Columbo to exploit his careful, crafty and meticulous style of detective work, which increasingly irritates the renowned (murdering) bull-fighter in this story who is considered to be totally above reproach; this structure works particularly well.
Another asset to this adventure is that the clues are inserted into the script at well-chosen moments, and coupled with the fact that Columbo struggles to discover a motive to underpin the murder, it all leads to a fascinating conclusion.
The main drawback, on reflection, appears to be the rather stiff performance of Ricardo Montalban in the murderer's role; the fractious on-screen chemistry between Columbo and adversary is plentifully evident in many of the best Columbo episodes, but it never really seems to consistently ignite here.
Nevertheless, a good standard outing for the scruffy detective, which is certainly well worth watching, although it would not quite reach the vintage description.
The fact that Columbo is cajoled into helping the Mexican police with their investigations whilst he is on holiday provides an alternative platform for Columbo to exploit his careful, crafty and meticulous style of detective work, which increasingly irritates the renowned (murdering) bull-fighter in this story who is considered to be totally above reproach; this structure works particularly well.
Another asset to this adventure is that the clues are inserted into the script at well-chosen moments, and coupled with the fact that Columbo struggles to discover a motive to underpin the murder, it all leads to a fascinating conclusion.
The main drawback, on reflection, appears to be the rather stiff performance of Ricardo Montalban in the murderer's role; the fractious on-screen chemistry between Columbo and adversary is plentifully evident in many of the best Columbo episodes, but it never really seems to consistently ignite here.
Nevertheless, a good standard outing for the scruffy detective, which is certainly well worth watching, although it would not quite reach the vintage description.