I wouldn't exactly call this movie an horrible one but compared to the usual Columbo movie standards, this is a rather weak entry in the long running successful series, starring Peter Falk.
Some very odd things are happening in this movie, that just don't feel 'Columbo-like'. I would call this movie a rather unrealistic one, even for usual Columbo movie standards. It also really isn't the most clever Columbo movie around and it's actually a quite poorly written one, that perhaps even becomes a bit ridicules at part. Also the way the murder itself is being planned out and committed is quite ridicules in my opinion.
Vincent McEveety always was a director who tried out some new things for his Columbo movies, often with success but there also are some movies that simply don't work out well enough, of which this is obviously one.
It's also often a real slow movie. Some of the sequences go on for far too long, which I blame to the dialog. Some of the dialog is absolutely dragging and its the type of dialog in which the same things get said 3 times over again. It makes some of the sequences within this movie annoying to watch as well.
The movie also isn't really helped by its cast. George Wendt isn't an horrible actor but yet he really doesn't act well in this movie, so you can say he got miscast. It's still interesting to see Rod Steiger in this Columbo movie and his role is actually quite bigger than he gets credited for. Hardly the best or most interesting role out of his career but it's nice watching him in this nevertheless. Peter Falk also does his very best but I wouldn't call it the best performance out of his career, which again, is mostly also due to the movie its dialog.
So really not the best Columbo movie around, although I also just wouldn't call this movie an horrible one.
6/10
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