Columbo: Murder, A Self Portrait

PLOT: A successful artist (Patrick Bauchau) enjoys life living luxuriously on the Malibu shore with no less than three women: his ex-wife (Fionnula Flanagan), his present wife (Shera Danese) and a young model (Isabel Lorca). The three women are all beautiful in their own way and age-bracket, a redhead, brunette and blonde respectively. The man obviously wants his cake and to eat it too! For hidden reasons, he murders one of them.

COMMENTARY: The only way a Columbo movie can work is if it convinces you of the reality of the locale, the people thereof and their unique situation; and this is why this segment works. Speaking of locale, the beachfront locations are spectacular. And Colombo's pet basset hound, "Dog," gets some quality screen time. There are also some awesome-looking dream sequences.

Columbo aficionados will remember Gretchen Corbett's stunning bikini sequence in "An Exercise in Fatality" (1974) and perhaps JoAnna Cameron's office scene in "Negative Reaction" (1974). This episode features a comparable sequence with bikini-clad Isabel Lorca (Julie) on the beach. For anyone interested, "Now You See Him" (1976) and "Columbo Cries Wolf" (1990) are the best episodes in this department.

FYI: Shera Danese was Peter Falk's lifelong wife, whom he married Dec. 7, 1977. She appeared in a total of six Columbo installments, including two in the initial series, one of which was a prominent role in "Murder Under Glass" (1978). She also has a prominent role in "A Trace of Murder" (1997) where she costars.

GRADE: B