The Most Crucial Game

Let me get the negative out of the way first, mainly the lack of what I would consider a true motive for such a high-profile murder, carried out by a GM of a professional football team. That GM was superbly portrayed by Robert Culp, who's angrier than ever and is the 2nd best Columbo villain, behind only the great Jack Cassidy. I've seen this fine episode many times, and I'm still slightly baffled what was the motive; was it because the young owner, played smugly by Dean Stockwell, didn't want to buy a hockey franchise, or was Paul Hanlon(Culp)simply power hungry? This never jived with me. That being said, this is an entertaining episode revolving around football and there are notable actors performing, such as Dean Jagger, Val Avery, and Valerie Harper; there's even a special appearance by none other than Pat Riley of the LA Lakers. There's no need to repeat the plot again, but most of the scenes, including what appears to be a stray dog on set with Avery's character, are quite effective and fun. Peter Falk is in fine form, and his chemistry with Culp is superb. The conclusion may be a bit too tidy for my taste, but it doesn't detract from the rest of the segment.

...but I do love them.

"The Most Crucial Game" from season 2 of Columbo stars repeat offender Robert Culp as well as Dean Stockwell and Dean Jagger. Stockwell plays Eric, a young playboy who has inherited money and a football team from his late father and is basically interested in spending the money and fooling around when his wife is out of town.

Culp is Paul Hanlon, the manager of the football team and also in charge of building Eric's portfolio. He calls Eric after a wild party and orders him out of bed and into the pool, so that he's ready to fly that evening to look at a hockey team in Canada.

Paul goes to great lengths to get over to Eric's house and kill him during the game, and yet seem to be at the game while the murder takes place. And it's supposed to look like an accident, but Columbo finds a clue immediately the indicates that it may be otherwise.

This is a very good episode with a couple of holes that come from watching these shows until you practically have them memorized. Believe me, it doesn't take away from the entertainment value.

The big problem here is that there is never a motive given. There are two possible ones: interest in Eric's wife, or Paul has been stealing money of Eric's that he has access to, or has made some deals that benefit him more than Eric, is sick of him, and wants to get rid of him. He would still be manager of the team.

The thing is, it's up to you. People will point out problems in these shows; the viewer can sometimes explain them to his or her own satisfaction. And sometimes, it's a mistake, plain and simple.

These episodes were like feature films and I imagine were churned out fairly quickly, with the most attention paid to how the murder was committed and what clues Columbo would find. And the whole show is Peter Falk dragging some arrogant so and so off to prison anyway. In the end, as long as he does that, we're happy.

A refreshingly originally plotted Season 2 Columbo episode which sees the general manager of an American Football team, Paul Hanlon (played by Robert Culp) bump off the lazy, unambitious and wasteful owner, Eric Wagner (played by Dean Stckwell).

The script adds one or two nice twists along way and Culp, in his second outing as a Columbo villain is consistently stern-faced and oddly humourless throughout; in fact, he encapsulates the devious, selfish determination of his character and his scenes with Columbo are increasingly confrontational.

There is humour afoot in this story too: the scene when Columbo goes to call-girl Eve Babcock's home to question her is really funny, as she thinks Columbo is one of her customers.

There are however some nagging minus points - some aspects of the script rely too heavily on coincidence and luck. For instance, Eric Wagner was obviously a stubborn person - Hanlon's pestering manages to ensure that he is the pool so he can orchestrate his murder. This happens too easily for my liking...

Furthermore, the sealing clue is both inconclusive and rather contrived: amongst other things, Columbo's damning of Hanlon's alleged alibi-creating phone call takes place at exactly the same clock time it was perpetrated some days earlier. Therefore, Columbo miraculously judges his typical end-of-case wrant to perfection....

A very curious episode in many ways....worth a look for its's controversies.

While Peter Falk as Columbo is always a treat, this episode kinda stinks. First of all unless Dean Stockwell's body was discovered within 15 minutes of drowning, the thin coat of water that Robert Culp sprayed on the decking would have been long gone in Southern California by the time of Columbo's arrival. And you just knew he would use some gimmick to discover the fresh water. But to actually touch it and taste it was too much. Like the pool water that splashes onto he decking above the pool, chlorine dissipates when exposed to sunlight and heat. So, 5 minutes into it he just knows something's afoot. I mean he's good if a bit eccentric, but come on. And the ending was unsatisfying too, "ya know I've been listening to this tape for hours and I just found out it was a sound that should be there but isn't." As far as I can tell Culp has no motive for murder in the first place. The guys wife inherits and they'e not even involved. Love Columbo, but this is a very sub-par episode.

Robert Culp is the "bad guy" here, after killing his boss: a young, spoiled owner of a pro football team who is basically a good-for-nothing. Culp, the general manager of the team, does all the work for the team and has little use for the "kid."

He decides to kill the owner while the latter is in his swimming pool during the middle of the one of the team's games. (The owner could care less about his club play) Culp has to make it look like he never left the stadium during the murder, so they can't blame it on him.

In the end, Lt. Columbo figures a flaw in his alibi, but I thought it was kind of weak, to be honest. I wonder, if it was real-life story, if the court would have gone along with it. I doubt it; Culp probably would have walked.

Nonetheless, it's an interesting 75 minutes. It also was interesting to see Valerie Harper's very short (too short) appearance near the end as a call girl. That was bizarre. There were good "names" in here with a young Dean Stockwell playing that owner; James Gregory as the coach and Dean Jagger as the man who used to be the lawyer for Stockwell's dad. Lots of other interesting characters in here, too. Too bad the ending was so abrupt and weak.