Columbo: Sex and the Married Detective

Columbo playing the tuba? Yes, that's one of the highlights of this delightful and funny adventure, in which a famous sex therapist crosses wits with our hero. Another great moment is Peter Falk giving advice to a bunch of psychiatrists! This really is one of the best outings for Columbo and will delight fans, both old and new.

Columbo's episodes are really quite a combination of serious, lightheartedness, good acting, an excellent cast, and drama mixed with comedy. Sex and the Married Detective casts Lindsay Crouse who is an excellent actress and does a superb job in this episode. She plays a sex therapist who discovers and learns of her lover's infidelity. She decides revenge. I found this episode to be much more entertaining than some others and still worth watching again and again. I found the interaction between Columbo and the Crouse to be the most interesting as well. Like most of Columbo episodes, one of the trademarks is to treat the audience and the suspect with intelligence rather than dumbing them down.

Lindsey Crouse's tour-de-force performance as a nationally known sex therapist who is betrayed by fiancee Stephen Macht (himself, delightfully slimy) has a special place in my heart. The story is extremely well told with lots of humor and terrific supporting performances. The murder plan is ingenious and memorable executed. Columbo has a field day with the sex therapists. Columbo playing the tuba was a lot of fun also. The look Crouse comes up with for her courtesan alter ego is stunning. The scene where Columbo holds up a social event while he scans the Ladies' Room for clues is an all-time classic. The ending scene with the fireplace is very compellingly set up. This is one Columbo that should not be missed.

I am quite surprised at how many negative reviews I have seen here. I happen to think this is one of the best Columbo episodes around. I personally don't like the choice of music, because it is synonymous with cheesy sexual films. Other than that, however, I think this episode is first rate. Lyndsay Crouse does a superb job as the murderer. Columbo is not turned into a senile caricature, as in some of the later episodes. He retains his dignity throughout, with the occasional comic responses and scenes. The brief bathroom scene, and the longer scene in which he plays psychologist are both hilarious, and his embarrassed expressions and comments when the topic of S-E-X comes up are very endearing, and in line with his old-fashioned character. As for those critics here who have pointed out the incredible 'luck' in finding clues, I don't think that is the case at all. He finds them primarily because of his extraordinary awareness and astute recognition, not because of luck. Most other people simply would not notice a tag hanging from someone's clothing. His cat and mouse games with the suspect are highly enjoyable. As always, he accords respect for an esteemed person even after he suspects them of murder, and is more apt to put off any direct suggestions of guilt until he pretty much has it all in the bag. Finally, his manner of setting her up in the final scene, as well as her concerns regarding what he thinks about her and his eloquent and sensitive response, introduce an interesting psychological layer to the story. Thoroughly entertaining and absorbing.

Dr Joan Allenby is a successful sex therapist whose book and radio show has captured the imagination of free-minded Americans. In her own love life things are great with lover Simon Ward but, when a cancelled flight sees her return home unexpectedly, she learns that Ward is seeing another woman. Planning her revenge, Allenby offers to act out a fantasy of being a call girl for Ward. Meeting him in a bar in a wig and provocative clothes she gets the dual benefit of enticing him while also convincing witnesses that Ward paid a woman for sex. Back in his room she shoots him and then slips back to a corporate party unseen to keep her alibi up. Columbo is put on the case and starts to follow up the leads, although he can't help but be interested in the world of sexual therapy that he is suddenly exposed to and something about Allenby and the murder just doesn't ring true.

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. Saying this is not a spoiler – it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. With this film though, I wasn't sure what I was going to get because this is the first of the "new" Columbo's that I had seen and I wasn't sure if it was going to be a good thing or not. The opening set-up to the crime doesn't have the feel of a Columbo film but it is more down to the feel and look of the film rather than the material. The plot unfolds as per formula but the comic asides (the tuba etc) don't fit in very well and they tend to break up the development of the case.

Part of the problem is the direction of the actors and the performances themselves. Falk appears to be playing Columbo rather than being Columbo; it is a difficult distinction to describe but it is occasionally quite off-putting and this is far from being his best performance (I'm not sure if this is the case with all the modern films). Crouse is pretty average, both by herself and also in her ability to play off Falk. She is all a bit bland and certainly not the flamboyant and eccentric type of character that the story suggested she would be. Support is roundly unimpressive except for a nice turn from the barman with a good eye. The direction of the film is so-so but the weakest place is the music – it is seedy and unimaginative and lacks the class that the delivery of the series in the 1970's had.

Overall this has just about enough going for it to keep Columbo fans happy but don't think for a minute that this is of the standard of the series made in the seventies because it isn't. The delivery is off, the plot is OK but the additions don't always work and, surprisingly, the performances are not all they could be and even Falk seems to be lacking something in his delivery.