Identity Crisis

Peter Falk enters the world of espionage with this case as CIA man Leslie Nielsen is found dead on a beach after leaving a restaurant. He was having dinner with Patrick McGoohan who then murdered him. Nielsen was getting way too close to finding out that McGoohan had a secret identity as a double agent named Steinmetz.

Again Falk is facing a perpetrator who is pretty smart and resourceful and in his case can call down the very forces of the government he's betraying to halt the investigation. In fact he does have Columbo followed and then even has David White who is playing his superior come down and confer with Columbo. All that does is convince Falk that he's definitely got the right guy.

This one is a cleverly written story and how does McGoohan get tripped up. Something as simple as the time of the day. Check this out.

While I agree with those who point out the plot implausibilities, there is no denying the chemistry that exists between Falk and McGoohan. Other installments surely have a tighter plot and stronger story- telling, but McGoohan is hands-down the finest bad guy the series had. Not for nothing was he featured four times. Just the way he intones "mahjongg" make it worth wading through the borderline ludicrous plot twists.

This episode has all the trademarks: Guest appearances by Hollywood notables; memorable one-line throwaway gags; a baffling mystery; familiar L.A. locations; problems with the car ("there's only three like this in the country" he says; and Columbo's tying things together by staying on that one thing that doesn't make sense.

Guest was Leslie Nielsen, looking younger and much more serious than in the other roles I've seen him in.

Can we catalog the great one-liners in these 68 movies? Here are two from this episode: Columbo: "Do you have any wine?" McGoohan: "I have a whole cellar full." Columbo (waving his hand) "Oh, I'll just have a glass." Another classic: McGoohan: "Do you like music?" Columbo: "Oh, I hear it all the time."

Seeing the action at Travel Town, where I took my daughter 10 years ago, added to my enjoyment of this episode.

Maybe it's my tv adjustment, but the clash is getting greater between the color of Columbo's suit and his raincoat ...

Stay the course, Lieutenant Columbo, stay the course.

I am a big Columbo fan, and I have always had a soft spot for this episode. It is not absolutely perfect, the scene with Columbo fumbling for change is a little overlong for my tastes, and while the deduction on Columbo's part was brilliant I did also feel that Brenner gave up too easily, it just seemed strange that a man as calculating and smart as he was would give up just like that. However, Identity Crisis looks wonderful, with beautiful locations and slick photography. There is an atmospheric score as well as Patrick McGoohan's purposefully languid but very effective direction, the sharp, witty writing with the "do you have some wine?" and "do you like music?" exchanges standing out and occasionally convoluted but very cleverly written and interesting story. My favourite scene of Identity Crisis is the scene in Brenner's mansion with Madama Butterfly playing in the background, one of Columbo's finest scenes. Peter Falk is exceptional as Columbo, while McGoohan also stars as Nelson Brenner and he is splendid, very snobbish and world-weary. A younger and more serious Leslie Nielson is a good presence as well. In conclusion, a Columbo classic. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Nelson Brenner (Patrick McGoohan), a top CIA operative, is really a double agent who finds it necessary to rid himself of a fellow spy (Leslie Nielsen) and make it look like a mugging. Brenner inadvertently leaves tiny clues in a photo shop at a carnival, on Brenner's corpse at the beach, in a tape recording he makes while in his Agency-approved identity as a speechwriting consultant—the kind of clues that no one would ever pick up on. No one, that is, except our rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk). The indefatigable detective will find himself followed by mysterious agents, visited by the top man himself and entertained with a recording of "Madame Butterfly" in Brenner's own mansion before solving this difficult case.

Well, Columbo has already battled his own top boss ("A Friend in Deed"), a scientific genius ("Mind Over Mayhem") and a foreign secretary with diplomatic immunity ("A Case of Immunity"). Why not give him a really impossible job: battling a master spy?

It's strange to see standard spy stuff in a "Columbo" episode. We get the cryptic dialogue ("Colorado is a river" "Geronimo is an Indian"), a broken poker chip to prove identity, latex disguises, exploding cars—if I had wanted to see this crap I would have watched "Mission: Impossible."

No, I'm joking. This is an enjoyable episode, with McGoohan delivering two excellent performances: as director and guest villain. He films William Driskell's script at a leisurely, but not lugubrious, pace. The scene where Columbo fumbles for change at a gas station is the only one that seems overlong. McGoohan's splendid Nelson Brenner is fascinated by Columbo—the way a small rodent is fascinated by a snake.

I mean that analogy. Sometimes even we, the "Columbo" fans, underestimate our hero and see him as a simple guy with a gift for detection. But there is a moment or two in every episode where he seems menacing—almost frightening. In this episode, it's the scene where he walks backwards out of Brenner's office, smiling—yet with a penetrating glare. You'd need a master spy's nerves not to be undone by that.

The scene in Brenner's mansion is among the best in the series and make up for whatever deficiencies we might find in the plot and in the ending. Fans of McGoohan's spy series, "Danger Man" and "The Prisoner," will find as much to enjoy as "Columbo" buffs.