This episode of the COLUMBO Series is one of my favorites, because it deals with a trick of international law that we all acknowledge but rarely think about...except in wartime. Anytime you pass an embassy or consulate of a foreign state in your city you technically are looking at territory of that country. Our nation's diplomatic missions are exactly like that too. But you have to recall that this is a fragile right by all nations to help diplomatic relations flourish. For the idea is that the representatives and their visiting government leaders have the privilege of reviewing policy and diplomatic give-and-take in the relative security of their own nation's boundaries.
Of course, nations being what they are, much goes on that is less friendly and amicable. Spying for example (which was one of the reasons that embassies like our own in Iran were attacked). Also there is the chance that political problems in a fatherland country are affected by conspiracies in the embassies and consulates. Such was the secret at the bottom of the assassination plot in the second version of Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. It is also at the center of this film.
Hector Elizondo plays Hassan Salah, a high ranking diplomat from a Middle Eastern Kingdom, who is plotting the overthrow of his King. He is working the plot out of his consulate in Los Angeles, with the assistance of an aide Rachman Habib (Sal Mineo). The King (Barry Robins) is going to visit the U.S. and it may be opportune to kill the young monarch. But Elizondo is a slippery character and he is not planning to be uncovered in his duplicity prematurely. Rachman is seen by Hassan to be a threat, so he sets him up to commit an act, and while it is going on he shoots him.
But the murder is off the territory of the consulate. Enter the L.A. Police, and our favorite rumpled police Lieutenant detective. Colombo slowly unravels the inconsistencies about the killing of Rachman, and he soon comes to realize that it is Hassan who is guilty. But questioning the diplomat is next to impossible (he has diplomatic immunity outside the consulate, and he controls who comes to see him in the consulate). Colombo does his best, countering these obstacles by becoming friendly with the boy - monarch, and occasionally straying a bit (like crashing a diplomatic soirée). Elizondo is oily perfection as the put-upon diplomatic villain, refusing to acknowledge any suspicions, and even putting the detective off the territory of the consulate (after the crashing of the soirée). For once, the Lieutenant's normal control over questioning his suspect is jeopardized.
It is a sparring match between organized politeness and rumpled stick-to-it-ness to the end. It is indeed the very nice safety niche that Elizondo uses skillfully against Mr. Falk that ends with him falling on his diplomatic face.
Of course, nations being what they are, much goes on that is less friendly and amicable. Spying for example (which was one of the reasons that embassies like our own in Iran were attacked). Also there is the chance that political problems in a fatherland country are affected by conspiracies in the embassies and consulates. Such was the secret at the bottom of the assassination plot in the second version of Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. It is also at the center of this film.
Hector Elizondo plays Hassan Salah, a high ranking diplomat from a Middle Eastern Kingdom, who is plotting the overthrow of his King. He is working the plot out of his consulate in Los Angeles, with the assistance of an aide Rachman Habib (Sal Mineo). The King (Barry Robins) is going to visit the U.S. and it may be opportune to kill the young monarch. But Elizondo is a slippery character and he is not planning to be uncovered in his duplicity prematurely. Rachman is seen by Hassan to be a threat, so he sets him up to commit an act, and while it is going on he shoots him.
But the murder is off the territory of the consulate. Enter the L.A. Police, and our favorite rumpled police Lieutenant detective. Colombo slowly unravels the inconsistencies about the killing of Rachman, and he soon comes to realize that it is Hassan who is guilty. But questioning the diplomat is next to impossible (he has diplomatic immunity outside the consulate, and he controls who comes to see him in the consulate). Colombo does his best, countering these obstacles by becoming friendly with the boy - monarch, and occasionally straying a bit (like crashing a diplomatic soirée). Elizondo is oily perfection as the put-upon diplomatic villain, refusing to acknowledge any suspicions, and even putting the detective off the territory of the consulate (after the crashing of the soirée). For once, the Lieutenant's normal control over questioning his suspect is jeopardized.
It is a sparring match between organized politeness and rumpled stick-to-it-ness to the end. It is indeed the very nice safety niche that Elizondo uses skillfully against Mr. Falk that ends with him falling on his diplomatic face.