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At one point in this episode, Columbo arrives to the scene of the crime to examine some champagne corks. It's raining outside and he's let in by the maid who is extremely annoyed by his presence. He comes through the door wearing a black trucker cap reading NFI in big white letters. This is the episode my great-Uncle Marty told me about when I was ten years old, visiting him in Malibu with my brother and grandmother. He told my brother and I that he and Peter Falk had hung out at some point, and that Uncle Marty had been wearing this NFI hat (I don't have any idea where he got it). Peter Falk, being an inquisitive guy, asked my great uncle, "So, ah, what does NFI stand for?' to which Marty answered, "No F------ Idea!" Peter Falk apparently thought this was so funny that he just had to wear the hat in the episode he was currently filming! My great uncle even showed us a picture of him and Falk together wearing matching NFI hats! We always liked this story but, because he never told us the title, we could never find the episode and I was starting to think it didn't really exist until very recently I found it in the complete Columbo set! This probably means nothing to anyone else but it made me hoot with joy! Overall a fun episode with one very special scene of Columbo examining corks and questioning an angry maid all while wearing an NFI hat. Now where do I get one of those hats?

I am one of the biggest Columbo fans. I just love Peter Falk and his most famous character, Lieutenant Columbo. In this one, Dabney Coleman plays a wealthy corrupt attorney who kills his rock star girlfriend and sets her male lover with the crime. We don't actually see the crime since it's not Columbo's style to show a victim in a degrading matter. We are only given hints of what he does to her. It's fine by me. Columbo episodes are always tastefully done rather than carelessly graphic. What makes Columbo episodes so entertaining is the empathy for the victims regardless of judgment. Dabney Coleman as a popular LA criminal defense attorney tries to outsmart Columbo but fails. No criminal is smart enough to beat Columbo.

We all know how Peter Falk, as the Chinese water-torture of Detectives, can wear down the most erudite and cunning adversary. In this episode he almost meets his match in Dabney Coleman. Coleman is one of the best actors to portray villains as he has that arrogant sneer we love to hate. The close ups of Coleman's sneer and Falk's deadly smile is a viewer's delight to behold. He and Falk playing cat and mouse is riveting drama and not to be missed.

I caught the references to Sam Spade and Phillip Marlowe.

Good thing Shera Danese married Peter Falk, as she sure can't act.

John Finnegan has played janitors, waiters, bums on the street, and other characters. Now all of a sudden he is the chief of police. I don't buy it.

Dislike it when Columbo's legal "superiors" don't get what he is getting to. With his track record there should be much more believability.

PLOT: A middle-aged lawyer (Dabney Coleman) learns that his companion, a former rock star (Cheryl Paris), has been having an affair at his beach house with her former drummer, but he can't throw her out without great compensation due to her threats to expose his illegal tactics. So he murders her at the beach house, framing her lover. Shera Danese plays the attorney's assistant, who wants a piece of the pie. Little Richard has a bit part.

COMMENTARY: This is a solid episode of the revival series highlighted by Coleman's arrogant lawyer locking horns with the disheveled detective and a case dependent on distinctive wine bottles and a dubious speeding ticket in Pasadena. The striking Denese was Peter Falk's wife for 34 years (until his death) and appeared in six episodes of the series.

GRADE: B+

Superb episode. Extremely difficult frame-up by brilliant defense lawyer picked apart step by step by Columbo, until he is stumped by a seemingly foolproof alibi. The way he cracks it, and the manner of proving it provides for one of the most shocking and fabulous Columbo finales of all. Dabney Coleman is really good as the murderer, who thinks he can arrogantly get away with anything because of his unbeaten record as a murder defense lawyer and his powerful connections in the system. It seems to give Columbo an extra desire to get him, and you can hear the joy in his voice when he finally gets the last laugh and nails him. However, I do wish Falk had not included his wife Shera Danese in six episodes. If ever there was a case of nepotism, this was it. As superb as he was as an actor, that is how bad she was as an actress. But if that was the price to pay for enjoying Falk's immense talents in 68 Columbo episodes, I'll gladly pay it. However, after reading the other reviews, I realize that many people missed the main clue (e.g., eralan_uk), which ruined the whole episode for them. Without including a spoiler here (as I have carefully avoided them in all my reviews, so viewers can have advance notice of the quality of the episode beforehand), allow me to add this critical info. If you miss one cryptic early allusion to it, you will not be able to figure out how a person can create a complex fake alibi for a murderer, yet not suspect him as the murderer until after the fact. The answer is that the person unwittingly created the alibi, thinking it was for some other purpose, and only put two and two together after the fact. So pay careful attention when that person first reveals their suspicions to the murderer, as she briefly explains what she had been asked to do earlier, and how that led to her current suspicions. The full meaning of her cryptic comments only become clear later on, when the fake alibi is revealed.

COLUMBO AND THE MURDER OF A ROCK STAR is a pretty good entry from the second incarnation of the raincoat-wearing sleuth. It features Dabney Coleman (BOARDWALK EMPIRE) who offs his cheating partner in an ingenious way, only to perplex the cops by offering a cast-iron alibi and a seemingly obvious suspect.

Sometimes these later stories can feel a little strained due to the lack of enough plotting to sustain a 100-minute running time, but that's not the case here. The murder is a complex one that takes plenty of (interesting) preparation, and there are various twists and turns thrown into the case to keep the viewer's attention right until the end. There's the occasional continuity error (such as the placement of a champagne bottle, which I was convinced had some relation to the plot) and unbelievable moment, but it's not enough to detract from the experience.

Falk is on fine form, although I was sad to see his comedy routines are limited to the single highlight, involving a funny fish tank contraption. Still, Coleman makes for an effectively grumpy villain, and the novelty of a Little Richard cameo can't be ignored. Falk's wife, Shera Danese, appears for the fourth time in the series. There's even a role for '70s actress Sondra Currie, playing virtually the same character she did in POLICEWOMEN.

When his ex-rock star partner threatens to expose him unless he pay her off, successful lawyer Hugh Creighton kills her but makes it look like her lover that did the crime. He is helped by the fact that her lover flees the scene – giving the police someone to chase while Creighton makes sure everyone gets to see his grief. However with Columbo on the case nothing is ever that simple and all it takes is a few out-of-place things and he immediately has doubts. With Creighton using his considerable experience in the court to help him, Columbo digs deeper.

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. Knowing this ahead of time won't ruin anything for you; it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually simple enough for the series to do the business although I have had my fingers burnt with some of the "new" Columbo's. This one is actually pretty good though despite having some side additions that are unnecessary and don't really work. The plot is reasonably good and is well delivered although at times it is a bit of a stretch – a problem to some viewers but most Columbo fans will just accept this as par for the course. The attempts at comedy are reasonably good but the scenes that place Columbo in, say, an interrogation room don't really fit with the formula.

The main winners for the film are the performance from the lead two. Falk is good even if the material isn't totally true to his character; but when given the chance he is really good – as shown in the hilarious but mocking conclusion. Coleman is hardly a classic foil but at least he is up for some cat'n'mouse and his abrasive performance fits the film pretty well. The support is not as good; not so much in the bigger roles (which are all fine) but in the small additions like "regular" character George (Gilborn) and the pointlessly feisty Currie; although Little Richard at least is a strange find.

Overall though this should please fans even if it is not up to the standards of the original Columbo episodes. The main two are good together and the plot moves along well apart from a few big leaps here and there (and one weirdly creepy moment with a Columbo "mask"). Good enough for fans then but probably not strong enough to win new ones.

Although we've owned (and have repeatedly viewed) the complete collection for years; this is my first episode review. You know what that means?

I only have 68 to go.

Ok, Dabney Coleman actually does a pretty good job here. The story line is pretty good and the "clue collection/interpretation process", by Columbo is Ok, not bad/not great.

It's a bit slow and Falk even more so. Still, it's far superior entertainment than 99% of anything else y'all can find on the boob tube.

Slow at times but still, decent intrigue.

Bob R.

This Columbo story has Peter Falk assigned to a double homicide of a former rock star who is the live-in mistress of wealthy defense attorney Dabney Coleman. Coleman has a reputation of never losing a criminal case. But mistress Cheryl Pais has enough information on Coleman and his methods that could ruin him. Still he wants her out of his life and he'll get her out one way or another.

Several years earlier a new word entered the English language courtesy of Michelle Triola Marvin and her attempts to collect alimony from Lee Marvin whom she lived with but never legally married. Her victory started a flood of those kind of suits and palimony became a word.

Coleman arranges the murder of both Pais and the guy she's been seeing on the side. Being a criminal lawyer he knows how to do it. He's even got a suspect suitable for framing.

One thing about this episode that had a different twist. Usually Columbo has to insinuate himself with the object of his suspicions to get close to him. Here Coleman uses whatever pull he has to get close to Columbo, the better to keep the eye on the investigation.

Coleman even has an alibi cooked up courtesy of his new law partner Shera Danese. You have to see what it is and how Peter Falk blows it apart at the climax.

Coleman who has taken a patent out on playing these smarmy characters is at his smarmy best in this Columbo story. Great to see him taken down.

This is a very good Columbo episode. Some the bad reviews have missed important detail that are there, but not stressed---you might need to watch closely, or more than once to pick up all of the clues.

IMHO, this would rank as one of the all-time great episodes, if not for a couple of issues. The biggest weakness is Shera Danese who plays the bad guy's accomplice and partner (and who in real life was Peter Falk's wife, which probably explains a lot...). Her character is schizophrenic, playing it cool and collected in most scenes, but in at least one scene she so overacts that it's painful to watch. The other (lesser) flaw is that the villain himself goes a bit over the top a few times, obviously attracting attention to himself when it would have been smarter to keep a low profile and force Columbo to have to work a little harder.

Again, a very enjoyable episode with a strong ending. And who wouldn't enjoy seeing a lawyer get outsmarted by Columbo?

Peter Falk delivers as always. Very well made. Genius the way he puts it all together at the end. The berries raining down in one place was really cool and didn't see that coming.

Columbo always has a reputation for being a very clever and witty murder mystery series. Columbo is not perfect, has instances where he is incredibly disorganized, then later his thoughts will be completely organized. This is the part of his great charisma and charm. I find him to be a very funny and likable guy. Episodes of Columbo where the Murderer seems to have all his or her bases covered seem to be the best episodes. Dabney Coleman's character seems to have committed the perfect murder in this episode "Columbo and the murder of a rock star". Dabney Coleman plays a very rich lawyer (who has NEVER lost a murder case) who is threatened by his rocker girlfriend. Of course This Rich lawyer guy kills his girlfriend, Columbo gets suspicious and of course his suspicions inevitably lead to the Lawyer! Ah but the Lawyer comes up with a last minute airtight alibi! Then Columbo proves the alibi to be false! How? Oh no you've gotta watch it to find out! I'll never tell!

I have seen every episode of Columbo and savor every nuance and interplay between the characters. I believe Dabney Coleman is the perfect villain to fall into Columbo's 'web of intrigue' and there have been many expert encounters (Patrick McGoohan being among the cream). But Coleman so perfectly asserts his arrogance even while neatly stepping ever so blithely into the inevitable path Columbo uncovers. And while it may not be the cleverist of his arrests, just watching Coleman slowly dissemble is a delight for Falk and Coleman fans alike. Little Richard's part brightens it up as well and Shera Danese rounds out the piece beautifully.

I agree with other reviewers that you need to watch this several times to understand it better. It's more complicated than it looks First time I watched it I had problems with the gotcha as weak but watch it again and there are two pieces of clinching evidence that he was at the scence of the crime. Coleman is great and Falk transcends the weakness of the plot. Not at the level of early Columbo but by no means bad.

Dabney Coleman stars as a successful yet arrogant lawyer named Hugh Creighton who discovers that his live-in girlfriend(and former rock star) Marcy(played by Cheryl Paris) is having an affair with her former drummer Neddy Malcolm(played by Julian Stone) so decides to murder her, then frame him for the crime, with assistance from his soon-to-be business partner/wife Trish Edwards(played by Shera Danese) Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) finds that the evidence points to the powerful and influential Creighton, so proving his case will be a challenge indeed... Coleman is excellent here, and matches off well against Falk in memorable episode(though it is odd that, with their mutual professional success, they never crossed paths before...)