Publish or Perish

Of course basically all of the Columbo movies are more or less the same and they mostly can distinct itself mainly through its directing. This is one of the better directed Columbo movies and its made with lots of pace and style.

It's a Columbo movie that got made with a lot of class. It features cinematic tricks such as split-screens and also the cinematography is not just only static.

But director Robert Butler also knows how to handle its actors. Peter Falk is in good form in his Columbo role, who acts more in a police role this time than perhaps is the case in any other Columbo movie. Jack Cassidy also plays a good role as the movie its main suspect. Columbo movies almost always featured famous actors in the role of the key suspect. Jack Cassidy is not the best known actors of this bunch but he has played some good roles throughout his career, including a role in the previous Columbo movie "Columbo: Murder by the Book", directed by Steven Spielberg.

The main suspect in this movie uses a very original tactic. He tries to make himself look as suspicious as possible at first, by leaving clues and leaving suspicious statements, even though he himself did not commit the murder but hired someone for it to do it.

The approach and its actual story and the way it progresses also makes this a good and special Columbo movie to watch, that provides plenty of entertainment value. It also has plenty of twists and turns in it, although it of course also all remains rather predictable for most part till some extend.

One that's among the better ones of the Columbo movies.

8/10

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Riley Greenleaf (Jack Cassidy) publishes the bestselling sex novels of Alan Mallory (Mickey Spillane), who is about to leave Greenleaf and sign with a rival firm eager to publish his new novel set during the Vietnam War. But Greenleaf's firm has a life insurance policy on Mallory. Enter Eddie Kane (John Chandler), a bomb enthusiast and Vietnam veteran, who has written a manuscript called "How to Blow Anything Up in Ten Easy Lessons." Greenleaf thrills him with the promise of getting it published; Kane in turn considers doing a hit job on Mallory a trivial favor. Little does Kane guess what Greenleaf has planned for him after filling that part of the bargain.

"Publish or Perish" is a rehash of a great early "Columbo" episode, "Murder by the Book," which also starred Jack Cassidy. This time Cassidy has a far more complex murder plot—too complex for his own good. There are too many ways it could go wrong, as it inevitably does. Still, he seems to have our rumpled Lieutenant Columbo (Peter Falk) going for awhile. Although Greenleaf makes some tiny Freudian slips, which Columbo immediately seizes upon, he actually seems to convince our brilliant detective that someone is trying to frame him. Then again, we can never quite read Columbo. Is he—as is almost always the case—only pretending to buy the murderer's line of bull?

This is no "Murder by the Book," but it's an entertaining episode with a good cast. Cassidy is fine doing pretty much what he did in "Book." Chandler is perfectly cast as the hit-man and gives a memorably creepy performance. Mariette Hartley appears as a rival publisher, beautifully freckled and free of makeup. Spillane is no actor, but it's fun seeing the real-life pulp novelist in this role. Robert Butler directs Peter S. Fischer's script in a show-offy, but mainly effective manner: the murder scene, at one point, shows us Cassidy, Chandler and Spillane in a thrice-split screen. Billy Goldenberg provides a weird electronic score that I enjoyed. "Columbo" fans will be happy with this one.

Jack Cassidy returns as another killer, this time a publisher called Riley Greenleaf who is about to lose one of his top authors to a rival firm, so concocts an elaborate scheme to give himself a drunken alibi, ending in jail after a forced auto accident, that brings in Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) who first believes it to be a frame-up, but the later murder of the actual, bomb-making assassin(and would-be author) puts the case in a whole new direction. Mariette Hartley guest stars. Exciting episode with Cassidy playing a character not unlike the one he played before('Murder By The Book') A shame some plot connection couldn't have been made from that...

And again, Cassidy is involved with the publishing world.

Allen Mallory (Mickey Spillane), a prolific and successful author, wants to leave his current publisher, Riley Greenleaf. Unfortunately Riley is played by Jack Cassidy, a repeat offender on Columbo.

Riley hires a crazed demolitions expert Eddie Kane to kill Mallory, with a promise to publish Eddie's how to make a bomb missive. This way, Riley receives a large life insurance policy the company has on Allen and keeps him from writing for anyone else.

Riley has a convenient alibi, but it takes more than that to fool Columbo. Mariette Hartley is Mallory's agent, and Jacques Aubuchon the publisher who wants Mallory. Of course there is a hilarious restaurant scene between them and Columbo.

There are a few problems with the episode. For instance, Allen's agent says Riley doesn't know about the new book he's writing, but it's obvious that Riley does. His alibi at the time of the murder is a red flag. Also, he's very blunt about having a motive to kill Allen, and even threatens him in public.

Still, the personalities of Columbo and Greenleaf sell this. A most enjoyable Columbo.

"Publish or Perish" marks the second time Jack Cassidy starred as a villain on "Columbo". It also is interesting because the famous pulp writer, Mickey Spillane, stars as the murder victim!

Riley Greenleaf (Cassidy) is a publisher who apparently holds grudges. When he learns that a best-selling author is about to leave his company, he plots to murder him using a very elaborate plan and a seriously disturbed young man who enjoys blowing up things! The plan works great...until Greenleaf tries too hard to tidy up every loose end. As is typical of most "Columbo" episodes, this results in his brilliant plan unraveling.

This is an enjoyable episode...one worth seeing. My only worry is that my wife is also a best-selling author and I think I'd better warn her against changing publishers!