(There are Spoilers) Lt. Columbo, Peter Falk, is far more in charge and less bumbling and fumbling in this movie then he usually is. The L.A detective comes straight out and confronts the murderer of an ad agency president Victor Norris,Robert Middleton, without his usual bumbling and fumbling act. Columbo has no trouble at all confronting Well known motivation expert Dr. Bart Keppel, Robert Culp,and telling him that he knows that he's the killer but at the same time doesn't have the evidence to arrest or have Dr.Keppel convicted in a court of law.
Dr. Keppel uses underhanded tactics to blackmail people, who he feels are a threat to him, plants the false story that Victor Norris is having an affair with an employee of his the very attractive Tanya Baker, Arlene Martel. Dr Keppel is caught red-handed by Norris in an effort to blackmail him by trying to get is wife Mrs. Norris, Louise Lathan, to think that Tanya and Victor are fooling around with each other. Norris confronts Dr. Keppel at a movie house playing Dr. Keppel's motivation film to a number of potential clients. Told by Norris he'll report him to the police the doctor, unknown to Norris, had already set him up for the kill.
Having the very rotund Norris stuff himself with globs and globs of very tasty but highly salted caviar and then sublimity splicing into the movie a cold drink against a dry and hot desert scene was all that Dr.Keppel needed to get Norris to walk out into the lobby. I's there that Dr. Kepple blew him away as he was taking a cold cold drink from the water fountain. while all this was happening Dr. Keppel was, or made like he was, back in the theater narrating the movie that gave him a perfect alibi in Norris' murder.
Let. Columbo put on the case is baffled to why anyone would murder Norris under the conditions that he was done in. Leaving the theater for just a moment to take a drink. Let. Columbo feels that Norris' killer had to be someone at the theater who did it since he must have known that Norris would be alone at the very moment that he murdered him but who?
Talking with the projectionist Roger White, Chuck McCann, Columbo finds out that there's a TV/Video monitor in the lobby that could have well recorded the killing but was mysterious turned off at the time. White is smart enough to realize that Dr.Keppel may well have murdered Norris because he caught him fiddling around with the TV monitor just moments before he was murdered.
White is a bit on the dim-witted side in trying to blackmail, which is Dr.Keppel's specialty, Keppel into giving him $50,000.00 to have him keep his mouth shut. All this leads to White being shot and killed by Dr. Keppel who tries, for some strange reason, tries to make it look like he was killed by Mrs. Norris at his moon-lighting job at the Magnolia Theater.
The scheming Dr.Kepple tricked White into believing that he'll come up with the 50 grand only to have him put his guard down and end up with a bullet up his chest. What Dr. Keppel didn't know is that White told Det. Columbo a little trick of his that he uses on the reels of film to alert White when to change them, with a nickel, that in the end helped cooked the not so clever Dr. Keppel's goose.
Columbo on to that Keppel is a double murder, of Middleton & White, is still out in the cold in getting evidence to arrest him. During the rest of the movie Let. Columbo harasses the doctor to the point of even interrupting him in a very important game of golf, that so unnerves him, causing Dr. Keppel to miss a number of critical shots. Columbo in the end uses the very tactics that Dr. Keppel used to set up and murder Norris, a subliminal cut in a movie, to trap him. This flash on the screen, subliminal cut, gets Dr. Keppel himself to lead Columbo to the evidence that would finally convict him and Lt. Columbo does it with his usual pizazz.
Dr. Keppel uses underhanded tactics to blackmail people, who he feels are a threat to him, plants the false story that Victor Norris is having an affair with an employee of his the very attractive Tanya Baker, Arlene Martel. Dr Keppel is caught red-handed by Norris in an effort to blackmail him by trying to get is wife Mrs. Norris, Louise Lathan, to think that Tanya and Victor are fooling around with each other. Norris confronts Dr. Keppel at a movie house playing Dr. Keppel's motivation film to a number of potential clients. Told by Norris he'll report him to the police the doctor, unknown to Norris, had already set him up for the kill.
Having the very rotund Norris stuff himself with globs and globs of very tasty but highly salted caviar and then sublimity splicing into the movie a cold drink against a dry and hot desert scene was all that Dr.Keppel needed to get Norris to walk out into the lobby. I's there that Dr. Kepple blew him away as he was taking a cold cold drink from the water fountain. while all this was happening Dr. Keppel was, or made like he was, back in the theater narrating the movie that gave him a perfect alibi in Norris' murder.
Let. Columbo put on the case is baffled to why anyone would murder Norris under the conditions that he was done in. Leaving the theater for just a moment to take a drink. Let. Columbo feels that Norris' killer had to be someone at the theater who did it since he must have known that Norris would be alone at the very moment that he murdered him but who?
Talking with the projectionist Roger White, Chuck McCann, Columbo finds out that there's a TV/Video monitor in the lobby that could have well recorded the killing but was mysterious turned off at the time. White is smart enough to realize that Dr.Keppel may well have murdered Norris because he caught him fiddling around with the TV monitor just moments before he was murdered.
White is a bit on the dim-witted side in trying to blackmail, which is Dr.Keppel's specialty, Keppel into giving him $50,000.00 to have him keep his mouth shut. All this leads to White being shot and killed by Dr. Keppel who tries, for some strange reason, tries to make it look like he was killed by Mrs. Norris at his moon-lighting job at the Magnolia Theater.
The scheming Dr.Kepple tricked White into believing that he'll come up with the 50 grand only to have him put his guard down and end up with a bullet up his chest. What Dr. Keppel didn't know is that White told Det. Columbo a little trick of his that he uses on the reels of film to alert White when to change them, with a nickel, that in the end helped cooked the not so clever Dr. Keppel's goose.
Columbo on to that Keppel is a double murder, of Middleton & White, is still out in the cold in getting evidence to arrest him. During the rest of the movie Let. Columbo harasses the doctor to the point of even interrupting him in a very important game of golf, that so unnerves him, causing Dr. Keppel to miss a number of critical shots. Columbo in the end uses the very tactics that Dr. Keppel used to set up and murder Norris, a subliminal cut in a movie, to trap him. This flash on the screen, subliminal cut, gets Dr. Keppel himself to lead Columbo to the evidence that would finally convict him and Lt. Columbo does it with his usual pizazz.