... in the sense that, rather than a carefully planned premeditated murder of somebody that the killer knows well, this is the unintentional killing of somebody that the killer barely knows. So on the one hand, the killer will not be suspect number one, but on the other hand, in his haste to cover up the crime he could have missed something, and he'll constantly worry that he did miss something.
Brimmer (Robert Culp) is an ex-cop who has become a P. I. and heads a thriving agency. The wealthy Arthur Kenicutt (Ray Milland) has hired Brimmer to determine whether or not his wife, Lenore, is having an affair. Brimmer tells Kennicutt that his wife is not seeing anybody, but that's a lie. Brimmer uses this knowledge to blackmail Lenore into spying on her husband - who is a powerful newspaper publisher - and feed him information. She comes to his beach house and tells him not only "No", but that she plans to confess her past brief indiscretion herself, plus tell her husband about Brimmer lying to him and trying to blackmail her. He tries to stop her from leaving his house, he gets angry in the tussle, he hits her, she hits her head when she falls, and dies.
Of course Brimmer panics, he takes Lenore's body to a remote location and dumps it, and does his best to clean up the broken furniture and glass from the fight. The police investigate when the body is found, and Kennicutt, once he is cleared of suspicion himself, hires Brimmer to help the police in the investigation. Brimmer can't believe the beauty of his situation. But then Lieutenant Columbo enters the search for the killer and interrupts Brimmer's beauty contest.
Columbo makes some leaps of logic here, because Brimmer did not know Lenore Kennicutt. I have to wonder about the victim's logic here as well as Brimmer's. Brimmer has made a fortune doing PI work, so he has to be pretty bright. Why didn't he realize that Lenore had the upper hand the minute he lied to her husband? How would he make good on his blackmail of her? Tell her powerful husband - who seems to have all of the milk of human kindness of WIlliam Randolph Hearst - I was lying BEFORE but I'm telling the truth NOW? And why would Lenore go to Brimmer's house, alone, to tell him she's about to ruin his life? Because you have no movie if people only make good decisions.
With great production values, good acting, and the always humorous antics of Lieutenant Columbo, this is good viewing.
Brimmer (Robert Culp) is an ex-cop who has become a P. I. and heads a thriving agency. The wealthy Arthur Kenicutt (Ray Milland) has hired Brimmer to determine whether or not his wife, Lenore, is having an affair. Brimmer tells Kennicutt that his wife is not seeing anybody, but that's a lie. Brimmer uses this knowledge to blackmail Lenore into spying on her husband - who is a powerful newspaper publisher - and feed him information. She comes to his beach house and tells him not only "No", but that she plans to confess her past brief indiscretion herself, plus tell her husband about Brimmer lying to him and trying to blackmail her. He tries to stop her from leaving his house, he gets angry in the tussle, he hits her, she hits her head when she falls, and dies.
Of course Brimmer panics, he takes Lenore's body to a remote location and dumps it, and does his best to clean up the broken furniture and glass from the fight. The police investigate when the body is found, and Kennicutt, once he is cleared of suspicion himself, hires Brimmer to help the police in the investigation. Brimmer can't believe the beauty of his situation. But then Lieutenant Columbo enters the search for the killer and interrupts Brimmer's beauty contest.
Columbo makes some leaps of logic here, because Brimmer did not know Lenore Kennicutt. I have to wonder about the victim's logic here as well as Brimmer's. Brimmer has made a fortune doing PI work, so he has to be pretty bright. Why didn't he realize that Lenore had the upper hand the minute he lied to her husband? How would he make good on his blackmail of her? Tell her powerful husband - who seems to have all of the milk of human kindness of WIlliam Randolph Hearst - I was lying BEFORE but I'm telling the truth NOW? And why would Lenore go to Brimmer's house, alone, to tell him she's about to ruin his life? Because you have no movie if people only make good decisions.
With great production values, good acting, and the always humorous antics of Lieutenant Columbo, this is good viewing.