Dead Weight

Gosh, I'm disappointed.

I was privileged to interview both Peter Falk and Eddie Albert, and I loved both of them. Eddie Albert was at the end of his life and such a dear man, and Peter Falk and I had a blast, and even some correspondence afterward.

So it wounds me to read that Suzanne Pleshette had known Falk since her teen years and stopped speaking to him after this episode, and that Eddie Albert said to him, "I always wanted to meet you and work with you. You're an a***ole." What could have gone on?

"Dead Weight" is from Columbo's first season and concerns a General Hollister (Albert). He has a construction company that does business with the military, and the procurer, Colonel Dutton (John Kerr) has been giving him business and allowing him to put in ridiculously low bids. Now there's an investigation, and Dutton is fleeing the country. He promises Hollister that his name will never come into it should he be found, but that's not enough for Hollister, so he shoots him.

Just as this happens, Helen Stewart (Pleshette) and her mother (Kate Reid) are sailing by the house (which was actually one of Peter Falk's homes) and sees the murder. She reports it to the police, and they're skeptical. This is the great war hero, General Hollister, as famous as Patton, whose materials and artifacts from the war are about to be put on exhibit. (In real life, Eddie Albert was a major war hero as well.)

Helen insists that she saw what she saw; General Hollister tracks her down and starts wining and dining her. Soon her story changes.

This is a good episode, with Columbus suspecting the General right away. The only problem with the episode is that Helen should have realized what the General was up to, but we're supposed to understand it's because of her past history. If you can buy it, that part works.

Especially good here are the performances, done, it seems, under duress. Eddie Albert has the soldier's coldness and arrogance but can turn on the charm; the beautiful Pleshette, so young here, is vulnerable as someone hurt by her divorce and in need of attention. Kate Reid's sharp retorts are fun.

Falk, of course, is perfection as Columbo. At one point, Hollister takes him out on his boat, and Columbo becomes seasick. "It's amazing to me that someone named Columbo is so uncomfortable on the water," Hollister says. "Must have been another branch of the family," Columbo tells him.

This episode is aided greatly by a terrifically sincere and sympathetic performance by Suzanne Pleshette as a woman who has witnessed a murder from a distance and is doubted, even by her own mother, played well by Kate Reid. Ultimately, she comes to be manipulated by the killer, a military officer, also played well by Eddie Albert who is perfectly cast as the steadfast and hardhearted officer. But it is the attractive and talented Pleshette who really shines here. Sad to read years later that she and Albert did not get along with Falk, who was selfish and thoughtless when it came to his fellow actors as he fought to get the show's producers to allow him to direct episodes, especially since Pleshette was friends with Falk from her days in New York City when she was just starting out her career. Nevertheless, there is a chemistry here between them in their scenes together that is undeniable, a testament to Pleshette's professionalism. Good to know they re-kindled their friendship a year later, but they would never act together again.

Retired Major General Martin Hollister has made some money by being part of a business that gets work at very high prices, thanks to a partner inside the Government that awards him contracts and splits the profits, even though others are cheaper and better. However his partner's employers are onto him and Colonel Dutton is looking to run. Hollister can't end his career on the run and kills Dutton – effectively cutting any possible route back to him. However a woman boating off the marina thinks she sees the murder and calls it in. With no other evidence, body or weapon Columbo is ready to drop it but can't discount the eye witness account from Helen Stewart. While Columbo keeps digging for clues, Hollister gets to know Helen – hoping his easy charm will make her doubt what she has seen.

As with many TV film series (such as Perry Mason), if you like one or two of them then you'll pretty much like them all. This entry in the Columbo series pretty much follows the usual formula – we know the killer and the "perfect" plan but then watch Columbo follow his hunch and gradually starts to pick holes in the story he is told before eventually finding enough to prove his suspicions. Saying this is not a spoiler – it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. Here we try something pretty different – the cat and mouse games go three ways, with both men vying for the heart and mind of the witness to the crime. It could have been very good, and some strong moments in this dynamic show how well it could have worked, but too much of it is unconvincing and forced. If Martin and Helen had been good friends already before the murder, the step up to semi-lovers would have been easier to take. As it is, it feels too sudden and easy, and it surely would have set off alarm bells in everyone's mind – Helen would have suspected and Martin would have known better once the seeds of doubt were evident after only one or two meetings. Helen's character is well written and is a little believable that she would be suckered in by male attention, but Hollister is not as well laid out as a character – a problem since the conclusion relies wholly on an understanding of his character.

The film fails to set up Hollister as a vain and proud man early on and tries to do it suddenly at the end – mostly by Columbo telling us who he is. This weakens the solution because we have not been allowed to see these traits really until then. If it had been better written then these little things would have been evident across the film – just like personality traits are always there – it would have impressive if it had done this and it would have been further proof of Columbo's powers of observation (although, in a way it still is – but just a lot less effective). Falk is still good though, and even in 1971 he has "gotten" his character just right – almost a second skin even then. Albert is OK but could have been better; he toys with Columbo but then that didn't work because (with no evidence or body) why would he? He also seems smarter than the road he takes – not his fault as a performer but more of the material letting him down. Pleshette is good but again she is held back by the material; it was a nice performance though, and she did the best she could with it.

Overall this was a good try – but I really want to be able to say more than that. If it had been better written then it would have been a very good variation from formula but, with the unconvincing aspects looming large over the story, it doesn't work as well as the occasional strong moment suggest it could. The performances are all pretty good but the writing and development of characters and the plot lets them down when they need it most. Fans will enjoy it but, without anything being added by the change to formula, even they will probably acknowledge that it is not one of the better Columbo films.

This is a very solid segment of Columbo, and the main reason is the performance of special guest killer Eddie Albert, who solidly portrays General Holister with a brazen arrogance. Some motives in other episodes leave something to be desired, but the one here is much better and believable. It turns out that Holister murders a fellow officer(John Kerr) because of their shady involvement in construction projects, which are about to be investigated; it's hard not to feel bad for the victim, because he came to visit Holister to warn him and promises he'll keep his name clear and take the fall himself. Without going into detail about the entire plot, Suzanne Pleshette puts in a good performance as Helen Stewart, who claims that she saw the General shoot this man while she was boating with her mother, played by Kate Reid; a few other Columbo actors, Val Avery and Timothy Carey, also make appearances. The scenery at the shipping docks and the beach houses also add to this fine episode. The real star though is the cocky Albert, and most of his scenes are memorable. Perhaps my only flaw is that maybe he's too cocky with Columbo, as he acts very guilty at certain times. I thought the ending was decent, but too easy for Columbo to arrest him, as the suspect keeps the murder weapon on display for the public to see. This is still a terrific episode with quirky characters and interesting scenes.

This is a good, workmanlike episode of "Columbo." But for the first time, another guest star is more interesting than the one who plays the murderer.

A young divorcée, Mrs. Stewart (Suzanne Pleshette), and her mother (Kate Reid) are out sailing when the daughter happens to look into the window of a nearby house; she sees a man in a bathrobe shoot another man in military uniform. Her mother doesn't believe her, and she even begins to doubt herself when the man she accuses proves to be the celebrated Major Gen. Martin Hollister (Eddie Albert).

"Columbo" fans know the splendid formula here. We witness a high-status personage commit a murder. The rumpled Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) investigates and knows intuitively who the killer is. He plays a cat-and-mouse game with the criminal until he is able to prove his suspicions right and send the sophisticated perpetrator up the river. But my plot description above skews toward the witness, because for once that's who really captures our interest. Not the murderer.

Eddie Albert is best known as the straight man in the wacky sitcom, "Green Acres," but also played a wide variety of supporting roles in Hollywood, two of which earned him Oscar nominations. Here he plays a war hero who has aged into a corrupt businessman capable of cold-bloodedly murdering a colonel (John Kerr). This fellow Marine, who has conspired with him in illegal shenanigans, visits the bathrobe-clad Hollister to warn him that they are about to be exposed. Hollister thinks he can prevent discovery by getting rid of his co-conspirator. Albert is far too amiable to give this potentially fascinating character any depth; which is a shame, because Columbo finally discovers the damning piece of evidence through his understanding of Hollister's psychology. The impact of this revelation is muted because Hollister is not a fully realized character.

But Mrs. Stewart and her mother are. We meet them at the moment before the shooting; the camera cuts to the two of them just as it happens. Mrs. Stewart tells her mother what she just saw, and the mother immediately belittles the idea.

We soon learn this is the essence of their relationship. Mrs. Stewart phones the police, despite her mother's mockery. Columbo investigates, but Hollister has covered up the murder so well that not even our eagle-eyed detective can find anything. And when he meets Stewart and her mother, he thinks even less of her report. Mrs. Stewart clearly lives an empty life, poisoned by a mother who never misses a chance to denigrate her. Later, Hollister appears and seduces his witness. Finally even she begins to doubt what she saw.

Suzanne Pleshette ("The Bob Newhart Show"; Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds") gives a splendidly sympathetic performance, further enhanced by her interplay with the excellent Kate Reid ("The Andromeda Strain"). They are the heart of this episode. Eddie Albert's performance never really gels and prevents this from being a top-notch "Columbo" outing.

MISCELLANY: The music is credited to Gil Mille, but the score seems to be stock music from earlier episodes, primarily from Mille's "Death Lends a Hand."

Mrs. Stewart calls Columbo "an unmade bed," probably the first time anyone had used this apt metaphor.