While on holiday in Mexico Peter Falk gets into a fender bender and because his insurance is from the USA that creates a huge problem. I suspect that the local police in the person of Pedro Armendariz, Jr. want his expertise and draft him into a strange case. Since Columbo is married to his job more than Mrs. Columbo, they don't have to work hard, Falk just can't resist in any event.
In fact this is one of the few episodes that references another. Previously Columbo on yet another vacation solved a mystery on board a ship that was bound for Mexico. Apparently it made all the papers south of the border.
Ricardo Montalban plays a retired matador who now makes a living as a stock contractor for the corridas. When A Martinez goes into the bull ring to face a really fearsome bull, he gets knocked down and loses consciousness. Martinez's father who is Montalban's trusted right arm for years sees Montalban show fear and not really do anything.
This is one of the strangest motives for murder ever in the series. His ego is such that Montalban can't stand the thought of anyone who could ever have seen him show any fear, even someone who would never reveal it. It's the why that has Columbo going. It makes Montalban not hateful as some Columbo villains, but not truly sympathetic.
Which makes this story somewhat unique in the series.
In fact this is one of the few episodes that references another. Previously Columbo on yet another vacation solved a mystery on board a ship that was bound for Mexico. Apparently it made all the papers south of the border.
Ricardo Montalban plays a retired matador who now makes a living as a stock contractor for the corridas. When A Martinez goes into the bull ring to face a really fearsome bull, he gets knocked down and loses consciousness. Martinez's father who is Montalban's trusted right arm for years sees Montalban show fear and not really do anything.
This is one of the strangest motives for murder ever in the series. His ego is such that Montalban can't stand the thought of anyone who could ever have seen him show any fear, even someone who would never reveal it. It's the why that has Columbo going. It makes Montalban not hateful as some Columbo villains, but not truly sympathetic.
Which makes this story somewhat unique in the series.