Columbo: Undercover

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.

When you watch this movie, you will immediately notice that it does not follow the standard "Columbo" formula in which you know who the murderer is right from the start. Instead, we get a genuine mystery. That's because this movie is based on Ed McBain's novel "Jigsaw", originally published in 1970. This was one of his 87th Precinct mysteries, which did not originally feature Columbo.

Columbo is substituted for several different characters from the book, alternating from scene-to-scene. Sometimes he's the book's Detective Carella, other times he takes over for Detective Brown, who also appears in the movie. As confusing as this may sound, the movie is actually a very faithful adaptation of the book - even the pieces of the photo are identical to the illustrations in the book.

BTW, this isn't the only recent Columbo movie to be based on an Ed McBain novel -- "Columbo: No Time To Die" is an adaptation of the novel "So Long As You Both Shall Live".

What Peter Falk thinks might be a quick one though the case piques his curiosity turns out to be long and complex when Ed Begley, Jr. comes into his office. The case involved a break in of one criminal breaking into the room of another and each killing the other. The one breaking in has a carefully cut out piece of a photograph.

Begley who plays one Irving Krutch and who always refers to himself in the third person is an insurance investigator who has another piece and wants Columbo and his partner Harrison Page to look into this jigsaw puzzle like photograph which shows the location of stolen bank loot from a robbery several years earlier.

The usual Columbo formula departs radically as the man himself goes undercover and without the usual rumpled raincoat. It nearly gets him killed which sets up a very funny scene when a nurse won't let him out of the hospital.

In the meantime two other murders occur of piece holders, eight pieces in all. Breaking an alibi witness is at the climax of this story.

Burt Young is one of the piece holders and later a victim. Peter Falk goes undercover to smoke him out among others. Watch Falk assume a different guise to relate to Young on his level.

All in all a fine episode.

I was astonished to watch such a Columbo episode, so different from all the others. And since the beginning of the whole show, which I have seen every episode, I have often seen some elements different from the usual and recurrent schemes: for instance Columbo appears before the crime is committed: a crime committed by two persons; Columbo lets the murderer gets away; even one episode when there is no murder but only a disappearance... But here, there is a real mystery scheme, the audience doesn't see the murder occurring, a mystery scheme as we could see in any other mystery crime scheme. Columbo doesn't look like Columbo, different outfit, he carries a gun and handles it, he receives a hit in the face, he kisses a gal - Tyne Daly - on the mouth...

That's totally different, but after all why not?

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.