Columbo Phile - A Casebook History by Mark Dawidziak

Author:Mark Dawidziak [Dawidziak, Mark]
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction
Published: 2010-06-05T03:15:19.768000+00:00

A cunningly crafted mystery, "Double Exposure" is the only Columbo episode penned by Stephen J. Cannell. In 1973, the writer was under contract at Universal and dying (figuratively speaking, of course) to write for the series.

"I always loved the show," Cannell explained. "I always wanted to write a Columbo, but other commitments kept getting in the way. Then there was a writers' strike and I had all this time on my hands. When I was in college, I had written a thesis on subliminal cuts. I found that thesis while I was cleaning out my garage, and I thought it was a terrific idea for a Columbo. So, during the strike, I wrote it on spec. I did it just for the heck of it. I was entertaining myself. I swung by Dean Hargrove's office and said, `Here, I was bored and wrote this during the strike. If you like it, use it.'"

Cannell isn't indulging in idle praise when he says that he was a Columbo fan. He followed the show with an expert eye during its first two seasons.

"I was an avid viewer of the series," he said. "It was my perception that it worked best in the first year when the premise was that an urbane, sophisticated man or woman, for reasons of complete personal gain or jealousy, would commit a perfect murder—an intelligent murder. He was completely sure of himself and along would come this shambling guy in a raincoat. At first amused by this little guy, the murderer slowly would realize that he had a major intellect on his hands. It became mano a mano. That led to the classic scene where Columbo and the murderer would sit opposite each other and the murderer says, `You think I committed this murder.' And Columbo says, `Aw, gee, if I ever made you feel like that . . .' And the guy would say, `Cut the shit. You know and I know that I did this, but you'll never prove it.' So Columbo would force him into a second move—a stupid move—that would incriminate him. In the second season, I saw more crimes of passion. I thought it should be a cold-blooded, sophisticated, planned murder."

He kept to that vision in "Double Exposure," the third and final Columbo episode featuring Robert Culp as a murderer.

"Robert Culp was exactly the guy I pictured," Cannell said. "But I never said to anyone, `Gee, Robert Culp would be perfect for this."

And perfect he was. It was the actor's third appearance in as many seasons. More than seven years later, Culp would play Bill Maxwell in writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell's ABC series The Greatest American Hero.

In between "Double Exposure" and American Hero, though, Cannell would launch a detective series that, like Columbo, is hailed as one of the medium's finest efforts. If Columbo represents television's best mystery influenced by the G.K. Chesterton/Agatha Christie school, then The Rockford Files is its equivalent in the Raymond Chandler school. Starring James Gamer as private detective Jim Rockford, the series lasted six seasons (1974 80).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.