Columbo Cries Wolf....

[Void99]

This is a very weird one and it's not really shown very clearly at all.

Columbo Cries Wolf (1990)

The episode is basically about a playboy mansion type owner called Sean Brantley (played by Ian Buchanan). He and his female business partner, Dion Hunter (played by Deidre Hall) run a magazine called "Bachelor's World".

Going to have to go into spoilers to explain this one.
Sean and Dion basically decide to get some free publicity and fake Dion's "disappearance" and make it appear as though Sean bumped her off to gain full control of the business.

Dion is set to go on a business trip from the US to the UK. On the night...before arriving at the airport in a limbo, she stops off so that her chauffeur can go and pick up some quality salmon.

As the chauffeur is picking up the salmon, he hears a gunshot from the outside ally where the limo is, runs out and checks....but everything is perfectly ok, goes back in, gets the salmon and returns to drive Dion to the airport.

Dion is now acting strange, all bundled up well in a scarf and hat and sunglasses, despite the warm summer night weather and talks strange when saying goodbye. SPOILER: she is doing this on purpose. She also fired a gun into the air back in the ally so the police would later find the empty shell.

Anyway it's reported Dion never met up with her business partner in the UK and has seemingly vanished into thin air.

Enter Columbo. He believes she was murdered in the ally on Sean's orders ...a lone female shot her, got into the limo and hid her body under a chair and put on her hat, scarf and glasses etc.

Columbo's theory is briefly shown in short clips of a woman dressed in black with a black hat hiding behind a dumpster in the ally....when the chauffeur goes into the building, she runs to the car, shoots Dion and slumps her body on the floor of the limo, puts on her hat, scarf and glasses. Although this happens very fast and it's very dark.

Columbo is so convinced of foul play he has the entire mansion searched for days and surrounding areas of land dug up. Huge press attention and magazine sales sky rocket.
Dion then returns alive and well and Columbo looks like an utter fool.

But there's another twist.
Sean then REALLY DOES murder Dion. Get's one of his hot nypmhs/live-in models called Tina (played by Rebecca Staab) to pose as Dion when driving outside the mansion, Tina is wearing the clothes Dion had earlier in the episode when she went to the airport.

Sean and Dion wore matching communication bracelets that they could contact and page each other on. Sean stupidly forgot to remove it from Dion's body and when Columbo calls it....the beeper can be heard from inside the mansion wall and her body is found and Sean is busted. End of episode.

Because of how weird the episode is and how it plays out....it took a bit of a rant to explain.
Been on a bit of a Columbo binge recently!

[darth chlorophorm 2]

Columbo is one of my favorite detectives of all time. Faulk plays him expertly.
In fact Peter Faulk's daughter said Faulk came up with Columbo's look, personality and "play it dumb" style of investigating.
My mother and I actually been re-watch the series lately.
I do remember this episode very well. Mostly because it features a few soap opera actors.
The "twist" about Deidre Hall's "death" was pretty well done.
Poor Columbo ends up looking like a fool for a while, but comes out on top like always.

[Void99]

The only detective show I really like.....grew up on Columbo!
Back around 2007 - 2009 there was a magazine deal where they bought out DVDs every few weeks....each contained 2 episodes. I had my local newspaper shop reserve them for me. Ended up with a huge stack of Columbo DVDs!!!

One of the scenes I mentioned in my last post can officially be seen here on the Peacock Columbo Youtube channel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAnqIG9xSLs
Starts around the 3:15 mark.
I suppose it counts as "imagined disguise purpose" at least!

[esercito sconfitto]

sometimes moving a clip to the correct place is ... well, a difficult task

Thanks Void !

[Void99]

Columbo is one of my favorite detectives of all time. Faulk plays him expertly.
In fact Peter Faulk's daughter said Faulk came up with Columbo's look, personality and "play it dumb" style of investigating.
My mother and I actually been re-watch the series lately.
I do remember this episode very well. Mostly because it features a few soap opera actors.
The "twist" about Deidre Hall's "death" was pretty well done.
Poor Columbo ends up looking like a fool for a while, but comes out on top like always.

Did you notice the editing goof in the opening credits sequence of this episode?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WcAw48SuiQ

At 0:11 you can see Peter Falk casually strolling along in the background, left side of screen at the other end of the pool.
His character is not meant to be involved in the story at this point!

[darth chlorophorm 2]

Columbo is one of my favorite detectives of all time. Faulk plays him expertly.
In fact Peter Faulk's daughter said Faulk came up with Columbo's look, personality and "play it dumb" style of investigating.
My mother and I actually been re-watch the series lately.
I do remember this episode very well. Mostly because it features a few soap opera actors.
The "twist" about Deidre Hall's "death" was pretty well done.
Poor Columbo ends up looking like a fool for a while, but comes out on top like always.

Did you notice the editing goof in the opening credits sequence of this episode?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WcAw48SuiQ

At 0:11 you can see Peter Falk casually strolling along in the background, left side of screen at the other end of the pool.
His character is not meant to be involved in the story at this point!

No, I didn't notice that error.
My mother & I are currently binge watching the "Columbo" spin-off series "Mrs. Columbo".
The series was eventually renamed "Kate Loves A Mystery" before it's cancelation.
In the decades since it aired, the series has been officially stricken from the Columbo continuity.
Although it doesn't has the "magic" of Columbo, Mrs. Columbo is still an enjoyable show to watch.
It has that "Murder She Wrote" vibe.
If you've never seen the show, the entire series is available for free on Tubi TV.
I recommend you try it.
If you're a fan of Diagnosis Murder, Matlock, Murder She Wrote and those contemporary mysteries, you'd probably like this as well.