Out of all the Columbo episodes this is the one I always remember most. Production values are high and the acting excellent but Columbo is supposed to be about cleverness. A clever murdered outclevered by a clever detective.
That's all fine but there are two big holes in the storyline and if you overlook them then it is entertaining for all the other reasons.
First flaw is the murder. How does a small woman or indeed any woman apart from an Olympic weightlifter manage to wrap up a 6.5ft male weighing about 200 pounds in a tarpaulin before dragging the body to the car, lifting it into the trunk , lifting it out of the trunk before shoving it off a cliff?
Second flaw is the ending. No lawyer with her smarts would give 25,000 dollars in cash to someone going on a plane to Switzerland. That would be the equivalent of about 250,000 today. It wouldn't get through customs let alone presenting it at a European bank for depositing for reasons of money laundering and proceeds of crime.
The obviousness of this flaw at the end allows too convenient an ending for the writers and director of this episode and spoils what is otherwise an excellent production.
That's all fine but there are two big holes in the storyline and if you overlook them then it is entertaining for all the other reasons.
First flaw is the murder. How does a small woman or indeed any woman apart from an Olympic weightlifter manage to wrap up a 6.5ft male weighing about 200 pounds in a tarpaulin before dragging the body to the car, lifting it into the trunk , lifting it out of the trunk before shoving it off a cliff?
Second flaw is the ending. No lawyer with her smarts would give 25,000 dollars in cash to someone going on a plane to Switzerland. That would be the equivalent of about 250,000 today. It wouldn't get through customs let alone presenting it at a European bank for depositing for reasons of money laundering and proceeds of crime.
The obviousness of this flaw at the end allows too convenient an ending for the writers and director of this episode and spoils what is otherwise an excellent production.