Columbo review: “Prescription: Murder” (1968)
by Mrak!
by Mrak!
This first installment of “Columbo” is interesting for a number of reasons. 7 reasons actually:
1. It’s the first appearance of Lt. Columbo, which is awesome. Columbo’s character changes in interesting ways from Mystery Movie to
Mystery Movie, but it never gets better than in this one. In future Mystery Movies he may be more brilliant, funnier, and sometimes even delightfully strange, but in this first appearance he is funny and strong and mysterious, all without theatricality. Peter Falk just meanders about quietly, establishing the mythic character with almost no effort. As the movie progresses, you slowly get the sense that Columbo is much more than what he seems, and I can imagine audiences like myself seeing him for the first time and getting excited as it goes on, realizing this unassuming guy is concealing his identity as the fucking Nobel laureate of detection.
I’m also going to venture to say, even though I don’t have any evidence, that this is the first ever movie mystery where there is no mystery. For those of you who haven’t seen a Columbo, this is how all of the movies are (with one exception I think), and one of the things that makes it unique. Rather than a whodunit, it’s a how-catch’em, as they say. First you watch the murder take place, you see everything that happens and who did what, then you watch Columbo figure it out.
So the typical mystery formula is skewed and made fresh, and it’s interesting to note that “Prescription: Murder” is based on a stageplay of the same name, written by the same guys that did the play.
2. The murderer explicitly describes the character of Lt. Columbo, almost like he’s talking to the writers of future movies about how to proceed. It happens late in the movie, as Columbo gets closer and closer to nailing his ass. He’s a psychiatrist who fancies himself an intellectual behemoth, and he laughingly describes Columbo as a genius of detective work, in so many words, and goes on to reveal just about every element of Columbo that makes him Columbo. I’d repeat the
monologue here, but it’s more fun to watch it. Columbo just says something like, “I gotta say, doc, I think you got me figured pretty good.”
3. Columbo is emotional, a quality which is sometimes lost in later movies. There is a scene in which he interrogates the murderer’s young female accomplice and basically starts screaming at her. I think he even makes her cry. But this movie gives Columbo some leeway in a lot of areas, which I like. There was no formula just yet.
4. Columbo’s bumbling is minimal and endearing rather than hilarious, and you get the sense that he can turn it on or off and use it as a tool. You get the feeling that his mannerisms are a genuine element of his personality, so it's not an act, but they don't overshadow his brilliance, which happens occasionally in later movies.
5. Peter Falk’s hair is short and neat. This is related to number 4 and may seem like a small point, but Columbo’s future persona becomes almost entirely anchored by his disheveled appearance, sometimes reaching almost clownish proportions in his wild uncombed head, overly wrinkled raincoat and basically broken Peugeot (“That’s a French car!”). But here it is just a small function of his blue collar nature, which I actually prefer, despite the comic potential of villains mistaking him for a homeless man, which thankfully happens more than once.
6. The title sequence is great and unusual. It’s a nifty little animation involving blooming Rorschach tests, and has a quality musical theme to go with it. Most future movies get lazy and just have a large yellow font that says Columbo, and then the title of the movie, which comforts me, but I can't say it's very fun.
7. Nearly every piece of the Columbo formula is established here. The how-catch’em structure, the intellectual cat-and-mouse, the tense
rapport between Columbo and murderer, the series of small incongruent details that leads eventually to a nifty “gotcha” moment, and most importantly, the various elements that make up the lovable savant detective, Lt. Columbo: The raincoat, the cigar, the villain’s underestimation of him, his thoughtful shuffle, the trademark line “Just one more thing” (though he rarely says it just like that), the sense of a blue-collar victory over the amoral ruling class (which I may write about here in the future) and a host of other details that recur in just about every Columbo movie to come.
Columbo: "Prescription: Murder": 4 1/2 out of 5 More Things
See Mrak!'s review over at This Coleslaw Makes Me Sick: Columbo: Prescription Murder
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