Columbo: Grand Deceptions

PLOT: Col. Brailie (Robert Foxworth) runs a military think tank where he commits fraud against the wheelchair-bound owner, a famous retired general (Stephen Elliott). Brailie murders a blackmailing investigator (Andy Romano) and makes his death look like a military-games accident.

COMMENTARY: This one has always ranked high on my list of favorites of the latter-day series. Some people don't like it because of the quasi-military setting and Foxworth's supposedly wooden portrayal. But he's no more wooden than Gene Barry in the very first Columbo flick, "Prescription: Murder" (1968). Both roles called for an arrogant, calm, overconfident and inexpressive person.

Janet Eilber plays the general's much younger wife and her character is genuinely winsome and noble, yet she's taken a foolish path and feels guilty about it. This all leads to a convincing and potent sequence.

Look for Lee Arenberg in an amusing bit part.

GRADE: A-/B+

Man, what is it with 1989 Columbo movies? Perhaps it was because of the fact that the 1989 Columbo movies were the first ones to be made after an 11 year 'break' and they were still searching for the right out formula with some new 'modern' additions to it. But fact is that 1989 aren't really among the best Columbo movies, with some exceptions here and there though.

This one really isn't the most exciting or interesting Columbo movie to watch. Despite that the movie is set at a private civilian military think tank base, rarely ever something exciting is happening. The movie is progressing very slowly and some of the sequences are needlessly long and progressing in a lacking pace, without making enough contribution to the movie and its story. Columbo is hardly investigating anything and all he does is walking around, bugging all kinds of people. Everything he discovers and hears happened by chance and not necessarily always because of his investigation skills and tactics. Even though the movie features all of the usual Columbo movie ingredients it doesn't feel like an average Columbo movie because it just doesn't all get handled too well. This was Sam Wanamaker's last movie he directed during his career. He also directed the previous Columbo movie "Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", from 1977.

It's a sort of an unwritten rule for a Columbo movie that whenever Lt. Columbo himself shows up rather late into the story, the movie normally isn't going to be among the best the series has to offer. This is also the case with "Columbo: Grand Deceptions", in which Lt. Columbo shows up after about 20 minutes.

The movie also isn't helped much by its characters. Military characters are though ones to play as an actor, since they are all so very stereotypical. Only some really fine and talented actors can pull it off to make their characters still work out. This movie just doesn't feature any of these kind of actors unfortunately. Most later Columbo movies made the mistake not to cast some big well known and already established names in it. The movie is filled with some big unknowns who never really had a flourishing career, before or after this movie and for a good reason. Most actors play their roles well enough but it just isn't helping the movie to still make something special out of it all. There isn't really a good strong character opposite Lt. Columbo for this movie and some of the characters also makes a totally redundant impression, as do some of the plot-lines.

Besides, normally it's obvious from the beginning what the reasons and motivations for the killer were to come to his actions. In this movie however new things are getting revealed as the movie progresses. At times the movie even seems to forget that its a murder-mystery.

No, all in all the movie is not that horrible and it certainly also isn't the worst Columbo movie ever made but it however also is one of the least interesting Columbo movie entries to watch.

6/10

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As I stated in a previous user review I wrote for another episode of "Columbo", the episodes that were made from the late 1980s on suffer because of obvious padding; the older episodes were shorter and as a result had a faster and leaner pace. This is true with this particular episode, though I will admit that the padding is not quite as obvious as other episodes. In fact, some of the padding is entertaining, my favorite being the scene where Columbo talks to his dog. As for the main plot line, I thought it was handled in an okay fashion. Not as well accomplished as the 1970s episodes, but it does have a reasonable amount of entertainment. The murder is clever and original, and will have you guessing how Columbo will solve it. And Falk is in top form as usual. I will admit, however, that the direction is lacking edge; we don't feel the screws tighten as the investigation intensifies, nor a sense of urgency. While it may be a lesser episode in the end, it does all the same have rewards for fans of the series.

One of the most mediocre of all 68 Columbo episodes, as nearly every aspect thereof is unimaginative and boring. The killer is an utterly uninteresting character, who cannot arouse an ounce of sympathy for himself since he is not only a coldblooded murderer, but also one who betrays both his handicapped boss (a decorated war hero) and the woman he is having an affair with. He is also a mediocre and monotonous actor, who cannot make his role exciting in any way. The woman in the story is also played by an average actress who cannot arouse much interest in her character. There is almost none of the typical humor by or about Columbo. The one comment about his car falls flat; when Columbo happens on a group of people shaking funny cans on the floor it is not allowed to develop into anything; there is nothing about his dog or raincoat; and not one person mistakes him for anything but an ordinary detective. The murder plan is not particularly brilliant, and the alibi is simple and rather unimaginative. Furthermore, Columbo's proof that the alibi does not really exist is not nearly as foolproof as he makes it sound. Plus, the manner in which the false alibi was achieved, is highly unrealistic, and no explanation is given as to how a company would make such a mistake. Finally, there is hardly a single good line in a 90- minute episode of a series that is usually loaded with great lines. Did I leave out any other weak points?

GRAND DECEPTIONS is one of the earliest of the comeback Columbo episodes, following on from the superior SEX AND THE MARRIED DETECTIVE. This one's a little dry and stilted for a Columbo episode, not to mention that the military setting is overly familiar from earlier and better instalments (like BY DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT).

The murder is a typical one with a military angle, but it takes forever to get going and about half an hour of screen time has passed until we get to the meat of the detective investigation. Although the running time overall is only an hour and a half, this story feels very slow and it's a little too serious for its own good; there's no goofiness here, and even though Columbo's dog makes a cameo, he doesn't get to do much.

Falk is on fine fettle, but I find that Columbo is only as good as his opponents, and Robert Foxworth as the guest villain is a bit of a bore, far too straight-laced to make an impact. Andy Romano (ERASER) as the victim is much better, as Stephen Elliott playing the old-time general. But, in the end, GRAND DECEPTIONS is a very ordinary and average-feeling Columbo story, with a completely spurious ending, and certainly not one to remember.