"Columbo" Identity Crisis (1975)

Director:

Patrick McGoohan

Writers:

William Driskill (written by)
Richard Levinson (creator)

TV Series:

"Columbo" (1971)

Original Air Date:

2 November 1975 (Season 5, Episode 3)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

A top CIA operative commits murder the way only a brilliant spy can, never guessing he'll have to contend with a man like Lt. Columbo.

Plot Keywords:

Agent | Murder | Spy | Police | Detective

Cast

Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Patrick McGoohan	...	Nelson Brenner
Otis Young	...	Lawrence Melville
Val Avery	...	Louie
Leslie Nielsen	...	Geronimo / "A.J. Henderson"
David White	...	Phil Corrigan
Bruce Kirby	...	Sergeant Kramer
Vito Scotti	...	Salvatore Defonte
Barbara Rhoades	...	Joyce
William Mims	...	Gallery attendant
Carmen Argenziano	...	Coroner Anderson
Cliff Carnell	...	Don
Edward Bach	...	Executive
Paul Gleason	...	Parsons
Angela May	...	Ruth

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Norway:11 (DVD) (2007) | Denmark:15 (DVD) (2007) | Sweden:15 (DVD) (2007) | Finland:K-18 (DVD) (2007) (self applied)

Company:

Universal TV

Trivia:

Mrs. Columbo is said by her husband to love classical music, especially Beethoven and Mozart. Her favorite piece is Puccini's "Madame Butterfly".

Goofs:

Continuity: Two goofs in one scene: When Columbo first meets Nelson Brenner in the hallway outside the lecture room Columbo hands a photo to Mr. Brenner, who looks at it, then hands it back to Columbo. In the very next shot, as Brenner walks away, he is handing the photo back AGAIN to Columbo. Then Columbo and Brenner go into a nearby room where Brenner pulls out a small address-book type notepad and writes in it. In the next shot, suddenly the small notebook in Brenner's hands is replaced with a full-sized pile of papers.

Quotes:

Lt. Columbo: Who is that behind the fat lady?

Movie Connections:

References "The Prisoner" (1967)

Soundtrack:

Un bel di vedremo

Major plot error !!

The very murder this episode of Colombo is about makes it impossible for the Lt. to have been summoned to investigate. The murder takes place underneath the Santa Monica Pier which is in the City of Santa Monica, so since Colombo is L.A.P.D, he would not been called for this case.

Never the less, I enjoyed seeing the pier as it was in the 70s when I used to hang out there. The Santa Monica Pier is the home of the old-fashioned wooden merry-go-round, carousel that is seen as the home of Paul Newman in The Sting, it is still in use. I also enjoyed the scenes of the Long Beach Pike, (amusement park), which no longer exists as the site of the Pike is now the shopping and dining village adjacent to the Long Beach Convention Center. This area was also used in the filming of the conclusion of the chase in it's a Mad, Mad, Mad, World, which was also shot in the state park near the Santa Monica Pier where the Big W was set up and you can see the taxis driving up n down the road from PCH to the park.

Jon Jax 71