Columbo: Agenda for Murder

I love watching the actor Patrick McGoohan...he was just terrific in shows like "The Secret Agent" and "The Prisoner". But he was also really good in various TV shows as guest stars...and I particular loved his several appearances on "Columbo". This being said, I was not completely in love with "Agenda for Murder" as it was his weakest appearance on the program. Now it isn't bad....but the finale seemed a bit too easy and hard to believe.

Oscar Finch (McGoohan) is a very important mover and shaker--the sort of guy who is good at pulling strings and he has a strong future in politics. However, out of the blue, a man from the past threatens to derail so much Oscar has built for himself. So, he does what any sociopath would do...he kills the guy. However, Oscar is no dummy....he meticulously plans the killing and it appears to be foolproof. Of course, being on "Columbo" you know it isn't.

Watching this with my wife was a big plus, as she writes thrillers and knows a lot about crime...perhaps too much! So, when they used very tenuous dental evidence in this one, I told her this was ridiculous....and she said that in the early 90s it was believed to be an exact science and folks WERE convicted using it. However, she also admitted that in recent years, they've come to realize that it is NOT an exact science and isn't as reliable as they'd assumed. So, perhaps some of my gripe is simply about the misuse of such evidence...not in the writing of the show. Still, the ending DID seem very abrupt and anti-climactic. Enjoyable, of course, but not among the better episodes....which is generally the case with these later "Columbo" episodes.

At face value, "Agenda for Murder" seems pretty average: the typical Columbo-esque villain is a businessman who commits a simple murder to keep some professional skeletons in the closet. The crime is simply executed, without the usual bells and whistles of a complicated alibi or execution.

Patrick McGoohan, however, is brilliant. In "Braveheart" he chewed the scenery as the evil King. In this Columbo episode, he's a high-priced attorney vying for the position of U.S. Attorney General. He's efficient, wealthy, pompous ("If you can answer that question, Lieutenant, you're a smarter man than I"), intelligent, and underestimates Columbo by a long shot. McGoohan played different shades of the same role in other Columbo outings (a domineering commander of a military school, a secret government agent, and a suave funeral director), but he's at his best here.

Peter Falk as the Lieutenant is also top form - watch the scenes between Falk and McGoohan closely and you'll see how Columbo slowly manipulates Oscar Finch from a self-confident businessman into a man who is inwardly afraid of his own shadow but must keep his stern outward demeanor. As was mentioned in other reviews, their game of cat and mouse is a delight to watch, rivaled only by Falk's performances with William Shatner in "Fade in to Murder" and "Butterfly in Shades of Grey."

The episode is abound with clues that will make the viewer slap his head and exclaim "Why didn't I think of that?" Particularly clever are the faxed jokes and the drop of blood. I do think, however, that Finch was far too clever to mess up and leave behind the final clue that proved his guilt - he was, after all, a criminal attorney!

This episode is a must for new Columbo fans (after "Caution: Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health") and, should a distribution company ever decide to release the newer episodes on DVD, "Agenda for Murder" should be on the top of the list.

AGENDA FOR MURDER is a fine instalment of the late-stage Columbo series and another that features Patrick McGoohan giving a stern and authoritative performance as the murder suspect. McGoohan directed the film too and certainly knows his business, creating a well-paced and snappy production in which the detection and the humour go hand in hand. These elements combine to make AGENDA FOR MURDER one of the strongest of all the latter Columbos.

McGoohan plays a high-flying lawyer who murders an old acquaintance who has dirt on him and makes it look like a suicide. Unfortunately for him, he leaves plenty of clues behind at the crime scene, and Columbo is soon on the case. One of the clues is a major one that's revealed in a twist ending that most viewers will be able to guess, but the rest of the small stuff - like the blood spot underneath the gun - are clever and show once again how it's the little things that count.

Peter Falk is in his element here and really seems to be enjoying himself more than ever. His Columbo is more nuanced than usual and the supporting cast seem to be giving better performances than ever so that he has plenty of material to work with. The humour is character based rather than being silly as in some of the later episodes and despite the hour and a half running time, AGENDA FOR MURDER is never slow or uninteresting. It's a good 'un.

The effervescent Patrick McGoohan plays a Columbo murderer for the third time (and does a directorial turn to boot), as he depicts the hitherto untouchable lawyer, Oscar Finch, whose past comes back to haunt him in the form a notorious racketeer, Frank Staplin, who threatens to expose a 21 year old scandal in which Finch bribed the District Attorney at the time, Paul Mackey (who is now running for Vice President) to discard vital evidence that would have had severe consequences for Staplin.

McGoohan's performance deservedly won him an Emmy - McGoohan encapsulates the "charm" of a Columbo villain effortlessly with a crisp, precise and purposeful portrayal, tinged with a mild eccentricity, ensuring that his scenes with Falk have a razor-sharp entertainment value.

The script-writer, Jeffrey Bloom, also ensures that the vital commodity of humour is inserted at several well-timed moments in this TV movie, and like the 1973 episode from the original Columbo series "Candiadate for Crime", Columbo's intrusions with key personnel become increasingly antagonising as the presidential campaign reaches it's climax.

Satisfying as a whole, the episode is really only guilty of losing some its initial zest and pace around its mid-section when some of the investigation becomes a little drawn-out as the discussion of the clues becomes deliberately selective and individualised.

The resolution is totally unexpected and it astounds the murderer and viewer in equal measure: a devilishly clever element to a largely solid, well-made adventure for Columbo, which is probably one of the most polished stories of Columbo's latter-day movies.

Twenty years ago Oscar Finch was a lawyer who used any means necessary to get his clients off – including bribing young DA Mackey into destroying evidence against client Staplin. Now he is still a lawyer but he has managed to stay connected to Mackey over the years as his political career has taken him to the point of a race for Presidential candidate – something that Finch hopes will see him placed in a cabinet position. However Finch has not totally shaken off the past and when he refuses to help Staplin, Staplin threatens to expose the "favour" that Mackey and Finch did for him. Finch kills him and makes it look like suicide. However when Columbo investigates a drop if dried blood gives him pause, while a modern redial function on the telephone gives him the last person Staplin called – Oscar Finch.

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. With the 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. However this one appeared to have more potential with a solid cast and a plot that serves the formula well. It started well with the usual contrived murder and moves forward well with a solid mystery that Columbo gradually picks away at. It doesn't totally hang together and at some points the lack of consistent progress towards the solution is a bit of a turnoff but generally it does enough to keep it all moving forward. The film has a few attempts at comedy – one or two fall totally flat (Columbo questioning the laundry delivery guy) but some are really nice (Columbo telling Mackey his wife's name is Mrs Columbo).

What makes it better than many of the other modern Columbo films is a collection of good turns from the cast. Falk looks good – other films gave him grey hair and made him appear physically weaker, but here he looks as sharp as he did in the 1970's (sharp being a comparative word when used in reference to Columbo of course). McGoohan is a welcome return to the series after quite a few recent films had had murders that just didn't stack up at all against Columbo. Here McGoohan knows to play it up in this sort of thing and does his stern, intelligent and sinister authority figure role that the other films had given him and he does it well. The film could have give them more scenes together but they both work well together and their performances compliment one another within the formula. Credit also to McGoohan the director; he doesn't totally shake off the TV feel it has but he does give it more of a professional product. Support is good from Arndt and Zorich along with series regular Kirby. The only really bad turn was from Taggart as Mrs Staplin.

Overall an enjoyable entry in the new Columbo series thanks mainly to the presence of McGoohan as murderer and director. It does have the odd duff moment but mostly it moves forward really well and compares well with the 1970's episodes. Fans will love it and it is good enough to maybe win over some new ones as well.