Zwei Leichen und Columbo in der Lederjacke

It seems that Peter Falk didn't mind veering from the "Columbo" formula from time to time, but the attempts weren't always successful. "Undercover" from season 12 is one example.

The big problem is that it isn't a script meant for Columbo, and very little was done to adapt it to our rumpled lieutenant. It begins in a precinct and concerns the hunt for pieces of a photograph, cut to resemble jigsaw pieces, that will tell the police where $4 million was hidden after a robbery six years earlier. When they are approached by the insurance agent (Ed Begley, Jr.) who couldn't recover the money, the captain says that Columbo and another detective (Harrison Page) can take it on.

It's not an altogether unsuccessful episode, but the beginning is offputting. It's not just the precinct set and a 67-year-old man getting permission from his captain, it's the fact that the dialogue and setup are just not the character in any way, shape, or form.

Later it becomes fun, when Columbo actually goes undercover as a low-life to track down the photo pieces and then as a Mafia godfather. Also, he has good scenes with the real-life Mrs. Falk, Shera Danese, and a fun scene with Tyne Daly, who plays an old hooker. However, this scene wasn't in tune with Columbo either as I don't think he would have kissed her on the lips.

Burt Young, who once played Columbo in Murder Can Hurt You - but the name was changed to Palumbo - is one of the people looking for the puzzle, and the absolutely gorgeous Kristen Bauer, now Kristen Bauer von Straten is Begley's girlfriend.

There is a little Columboism at the end.

I can't say I didn't enjoy this episode because it's hard not to enjoy Columbo and I always took him any way I could get him. I'm just disappointed that a little more effort wasn't put into the script -- it actually could have been a Movie of the Week with Falk playing a completely different character.

Even though the majority of people find the new (1989-2003) Columbo movies inferior to the classic episodes from the 1970's, I actually find them usually to be on par with the originals. For one thing, the newer episodes have much better production values; the cinematography and original musical scores are often striking and skillfully done. That being said, this particular "new" installment was a disappointment for me.

The premise of the movie is certainly intriguing - two men are killed in a seedy apartment and one of them has a jigsaw like piece of a picture. This leads Columbo into a complex mystery which involves finding the many pieces of a photograph that reveals the location of $4 million worth of stolen loot. This money was attained from a heist many years ago, where all four of the robbers were shot to death after they had already hidden the cash. Columbo then goes "undercover" to try to gain all the pieces of the puzzle from many different colorful characters before someone beats him to the punch.

The plot originated from an Ed McBain novel (Jigsaw) and it is an odd choice to mold the Columbo character into a seemingly unrelated novel. This results in a drastic change from the usual Columbo formula we all love and the results are lukewarm. While it was nice to see Peter Falk exercise his acting range in this movie by playing many different characters while undercover, the movie doesn't have the essential ingredient that made the Columbo franchise successful in the first place - the cat and mouse game. Without this dynamic the movie's momentum drags and by the end of the movie when the villain was revealed I really didn't care much. The "who-dunnit" aspect was not strong enough for me to care and the killer was not convincing nor exciting enough for this movie to be a success.

Some bright spots of the episode was the brilliant (but much too short) performance of Tyne Daly as the pitiful, sleazy ex-hooker Dorothea McNally. The scenes between her and Peter Falk crackle with electricity and their one scene together is the highlight of the movie. The musical score by Dick De Benedictis has a film-noir sound to it and adds to the atmosphere of the movie. The cinematography is uncharacteristically gritty and dark for a Columbo movie - which commonly focuses on the life of the rich and elegant.

Overall, this was an enjoyable but mediocre Columbo entry. Still recommended despite its shortcomings.

Columbo is called to a clear-cut case of double homicide in a dead end apartment block, where a robber has been shot at the same time as stabbing the owner in the neck. The only thing not clear is the motive as all Columbo can find is a section of a photograph that has been neatly cut out. Stumped by what it all means Columbo and his partner listen with interest when an insurance investigator tells them that the photograph in question will lead to a stash of stolen cash. With Columbo's Italian background, Krutch suggests that Columbo help out by going undercover and trying to recover all the elements and recover the cash.

The last couple of "new" Columbos that I've watched have messed around with the formula with, at best, mixed results. So with the title clearly telling me that things are very different from normal I must admit to approaching this film with a certain amount of trepidation. I assume that the changes are down to the influence of Peter Falk as executive producer for the series – no matter how much I enjoy it, it must be a bother to him to be stuck with one performance in one character in one formula. This change isn't great but it does still produce a so-so story that moves along well enough despite having nothing of the original Columbo about it. What it does lack though is mystery and the steps just feel flat and be more about the undercover gimmick rather than the plot.

Columbo fans will probably find it difficult to get past the fact that he is such a different person here than normal – he plays bad cop, he puts on accents and he plays Italian stereotypes like it was going out of fashion; it is all a far cry from the cat n' mouse stuff while his brain whirrs along in the background. Falk seems to enjoy playing the different roles and getting to be tough etc and that helps the film but I still didn't think it was a good idea to move away from not only the formula but the character himself. Begley is OK but hardly a good foil for Columbo. Young is amusing, Page does OK with the unenviable role of Columbo's partner. Tyne Daly follows up her performance in "Columbo A Bird in the Hand" where she was a drunken lush with a performance as a drunken prostitute. She is OK but not as amusing as another person making a return to the Columbo series – Donner.

Overall this is an OK Columbo that I suppose deserves some credit for trying to do something different. However different does not mean good and it isn't as engaging as the classic episodes were and the undercover thing does become a bit of a gimmick after a while. It is distracting enough and certainly not as bad as some of the other new Columbo films but you can't help but look back more fondly on the classic series.

A 1994 Columbo story that goes out of its way, even by modern Columbo standards, to remove the entrenched shackles of the style and execution exhibited in the original series.

The puzzling plot involves a piece of a black and white photograph found at the scene of a double murder in an apartment. An insurance investigator later comes forward providing Columbo with a ripped piece of paper partly showing the names of people who possess the other pieces of the photograph, which when wholly assembled, will identify the whereabouts of a hidden loot stemming from a bungled robbery a few years ago.

Undoubtedly, plenty of energy and ambition was plunged into this Columbo adventure at the conception stage, but the plot's positive properties are undone by a script which drags it's revelations around with it rather mundanely rather than inserts them with conviction. Also, the characters also lack a certain lustre and fail to raise the profile of the whole episode.

Columbo's donning of disguises means that he is hardly in his trademark mac and for die-hard fans this is a little hard to stomach, despite Falk's obvious self-pleasure in diversifying his character on screen.

Not a total washout by any means and mildly entertaining in its own way, the identity of the culprit (revealed about 5 minutes from the end) is however unsurprising and moreover, there is absolutely no opportunity for a battle of wits between Columbo and murderer, which was the hallmark of the original series.

A warning to all fans of the old 70's Columbo series: extreme broad-mindedness (or amnesia) might allow you to partially enjoy this episode, but it simply builds up the plot and fails to sustain it's intensity.

I reasonably liked Undercover, but I can think of better and perhaps more interesting episodes. My complaints are some moments where the script, while mostly amusing and fun, loses lustre especially towards the end, the last 15 minutes doesn't hold that many surprises and feels unsatisfying and while Ed Begley Jnr is good actually I found the character underwritten. However, it is beautifully filmed with a fitting score and an intriguing, well paced and fun story. Columbo is different to how he's usually written, but Peter Falk puts his versatility to the limit and is as always entertaining. The support cast manage to be more memorable than Begley, with Tyne Daly just as good as with her performance in the Columbo episode A Bird in the Hand, Burt Young is amusing but faring best is Harrison Page who is a delight as Columbo's partner. Overall, entertaining and solid if not one of the better episodes. 7/10 Bethany Cox