Columbo: Murder, A Self Portrait

Although I haven't seen every Columbo episode there is, I'm certain the pattern is the same: A wealthy and intelligent individual (who is sometimes a celebrity) plans and executes a perfect murder. Then, Columbo enters the scene and since there are no witnesses he has to rely heavily on circumstantial evidence. Columbo finally out-smarts his suspects and arrests the criminal. At this point I always think that in real life this individual will hire a high-paid lawyer who will rip Columbo's case to shreds, but that's material for another movie.

Max Barsini fits perfectly into that typical criminal profile: wealthy and intelligent. But there's one more thing to add: a super-inflated ego, strong enough to dominate three women. Nevertheless, by the second half of the movie his character and his ego starts deflating, and at the end he just simply surrenders without putting up a fight. And that's the disappointment that I had with this episode, and many other episodes, where the person who was smart enough to plan an almost perfect homicide, suddenly succumbs under Columbo's pressure. Of course, not all Columbo's movies end up this way, and therefore I consider them my favorites. Unfortunately this one is not one of them.