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.

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.

THE MOST CRUCIAL GAME is a strong early showing for everyone's favourite TV detective. It features regular guest villain Robert Culp as one of his most belligerent bad guys, the manager of an American football team who decides to do away with the wayward young owner in an almost perfect crime.

I say almost, because it doesn't take long for Peter Falk to get involved in the case and begin to unpick loose ends. As with the other TV movies starring Culp, watching the interplay between both actors is inherently amusing and difficult to dislike. Culp seems particularly short-tempered here, and he certainly gives Falk a hard time as the story progresses.

Also of note is the strong supporting cast, including the likes of Deans Jagger and Stockwell, and Valerie Harper as the call girl. There's plenty of natural, free-flowing humour in this one, particularly in Columbo's hunt for a new pair of shoes. Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't have a problem with the ending, which I actually thought was really great in the way it was filmed, with the camera zooming in on both Culp's and Falk's faces as the realisation hits. Top stuff.

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.

An unusual feature of the show "Columbo" is that they recycled actors rather frequently. For example, in season one, Ray Milland (without hair) and Robert Culp were featured. Now, in season two, both are back--Milland (with his wig) and Culp. In fact, Robert Culp would make two additional appearances on the show...a testament to the loyalty the producers showed to many of their guest stars.

Paul Hanlon (Culp) is the high-strung manager of a pro football team. The owner (Dean Stockwell) is a drunk playboy...with little interest in the team or his other business interests. Apparently, this or something else rubbed Hanlon wrong, as he killed the owner and made it look like he died in his swimming pool by accident. But to do this, he dressed up like an ice cream man and did the vile deed during one of the team's games. Is this plan fool-proof or will he end up being caught because his plan wasn't quite so perfect.

In addition to Stockwell and Culp, this was a rather star-studded episode. Additionally, James Gregory, Valerie Harper and Dean Jagger appeared in the show. Together, they are all excellent...and it helped that the script was intelligently written and interesting.

By the way, I am no lawyer but I wondered about something. Someone in the show was involved in doing illegal wiretaps. Later, Columbo was listening to recordings of these illegal taps. Is that legal? It seems if they were illegal that the police cannot use them in any way...but I certainly am no expert.