"Columbo" Short Fuse (1972)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Edward M. Abroms

Writers:

Jackson Gillis (teleplay)
Lester Pine (story) ...

TV Series:

"Columbo" (1971)

Original Air Date:

19 January 1972 (Season 1, Episode 6)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A chemical plant's director gets threats and issues threats, and one of the employees develops and plants a bomb in his car. When the car turns out to be missing, Columbo is called to find out what happened.

Plot Keywords:

Threat | Murder | Bomb | Chemical Factory | Police Investigation

Cast

Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Roddy McDowall	...	Roger Stanford
Anne Francis	...	Valerie Bishop
James Gregory	...	David L. Buckner
Ida Lupino	...	Doris Buckner
William Windom	...	Everett Logan
Steve Gravers	...	Sergeant
Lawrence Cook	...	Murphy
Rosalind Miles	...	Nancy
Lew Brown	...	Farrell
Jason Wingreen	...	Policeman
Eddie Quillan	...	Ferguson
Stuart Nisbet	...	Pinstripe
Annette Molen	...	Girl
Jim Neumarker	...	Plainclothesman

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-7 (2004)

Filming Locations:

Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, Palm Springs, California, USA

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

The last episode of the first season of "Columbo" to be filmed, though it aired before "Columbo: Blueprint for Murder (#1.7)" (1972)

Goofs:

Continuity: In the elevator scene as well as in the scene that follows where Columbo is standing on the small and narrow road in the mountains, the character obviously suffers from vertigo. However, a few scenes later he is walking down the high metal staircases at the outside of a factory building and suddenly his vertigo seems to have completely disappeared.

Quotes:

Doris Buckner: I called the Commissioner and he said he'd send his very best man.
Roger Stanford: Is that a fact.
Lt. Columbo: My wife says I'm the second-best, she claims there are eighty men tied for first.

Fun and interesting

When I watch any episode of Columbo, the guest murderer has to be both engaging and ruthless, and to a certain extent Roddy McDowell is most definitely engaging at least; one can make the argument that he was also ruthless, but he's too overly flamboyant for me to consider ruthless, but I digress. Another aspect that I usually enjoy is the location or atmosphere around the murder, and in this case everything revolves around a massive chemical plant and there's a rather funny scene or 2 with Columbo aboard a railway car over a spacious mountain. We all know how he's afraid of heights, and he loses his nerve in this humorous moment. There are a few recognizable faces, such as Ida Lupino, Anne Francis, William Windom, and the mumbling as usual James Gregory, plus add a funky tune during the murder sequence in what is perhaps the worst recorded song in history, but you have to hear how bad it is.

This isn't the best Columbo episode, but when you add murder by cigar box, a nice car driven by Roger Stanford(McDowell), a cable car over a huge mountainside, solid acting, and a dark room, these factors make this particular segment worthwhile.