"Columbo" Make Me a Perfect Murder (1978)

Note Générale:

7,0/10   

Réalisateur:

James Frawley

Scénaristes:

Robert Blees (written by)
Richard Levinson (creator) ...
(suite)

Série TV:

"Columbo" (1971)

Date de diffusion originale:

25 février 1978 (Saison 7, Episode 3)

Genre:

Crime | Drame | Mystère | Thriller

Intrigue:

An Emmy-winning TV executive kills her lover (who is also her boss); Lt. Columbo is on the case.

Plot Keywords:

Car As Gift | Detective | Police Detective | Murder | Murderer

Avis des utilisateurs:

The opening sequence is some of the best stuff in the series—but things go slack in this disappointing effort

Ensemble

Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Trish Van Devere	...	Kay Freestone
Laurence Luckinbill	...	Mark McAndrews
James McEachin	...	Walter Mearhead
Ron Rifkin	...	Luther
Lainie Kazan	...	Valerie Kirk
Bruce Kirby	...	TV Repairman
Kip Gilman	...	Jonathan (as Kenneth Gilman)
Patrick O'Neal	...	Frank Flanagan
Milt Kogan	...	Dubbing chief
Dee Timberlake	...	Madge
Don Eitner	...	Pete Cockrum
Morgan Upton	...	Ames
Joe Warfield	...	Al Staley
George Skaff	...	The Producer
Jerome Guardino	...	Sgt. Burke
Susan Krebs	...	Wendy
H.B. Haggerty	...	Masseur
Buck Young	...	Guard
James Frawley	...	Roark
Socorro Swan	...	Nancy
reste de la distribution par ordre alphabétique:
Susan Bredhoff	...	Angela (uncredited)
Shaaron Claridge	...	Police dispatcher (voice) (uncredited)
George C. Scott	...	Television Studio Technician (uncredited)

Réalisé par
James Frawley

Scénaristes
Robert Blees		(written by)
Richard Levinson		(creator) &
William Link		(creator)

Produit par
Tony Kiser	....	associate producer (as Anthony Kiser)
Richard Alan Simmons	....	producer

Musique originale
Patrick Williams

Image
Duke Callaghan		(director of photography)

Montage
Howard Deane		(as Howard S. Deane)

Direction artistique
Howard E. Johnson

Décorateur de plateau
Richard B. Goddard

Création des costumes
George Whittaker		(as George R. Whittaker)

Directeur de production
Jack Cunningham	....	unit manager (as Jack P. Cunningham)

Assistant réalisateur
Mark Sandrich Jr.	....	assistant director (as Mark Sandrich)

Technicien du son
Leroy Joseph	....	sound
Bill Wistrom	....	sound effects editor (as William Wistrom)

Département Musique
James D. Young	....	music editor

Scénaristes (dans l'ordre alphabétique)
Richard Levinson		creator
William Link		creator

Companies de production

• Universal TV

Distributeurs

• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Viasat3 (2008) (Hungary) (TV) (re-release)

Autres Companies

• Universal Title  titles & optical effects

Durée:

USA:100 min

Pays:

USA

Langue:

Anglais

Couleur:

Couleur (Technicolor)

Rapport de forme:

1,33 : 1

Son:

Mono

Classification:

Norway:11 (2007) (DVD) | Sweden:15 (2007) (DVD) | Denmark:15 (2007) (DVD) | Finland:K-18 (2007) (DVD) (self applied)

Société:

Universal TV

Goofs:

Continuité: As Columbo questions Kay for the first time, he is fumbling with some pieces of paper and a notebook. Of course he can't find the one he is looking for. He puts the items on a desk as he goes through his pockets once more. Then he picks everything up and walks away from the desk. When he wonders once more where the piece of paper is he is looking for, he walks back to the desk and the pieces of paper and notebook are on the desk.

Guillemet:

Mark McAndrews: Make me a perfect murder, babe.

Bande son:

THE THUNDERER

The opening sequence is some of the best stuff in the series—but things go slack in this disappointing effort

Kay Freestone (Trish Van Devere) is a West Coast TV executive whose boss, Mark McAndrews (Laurence Luckinbill), is also her secret lover. When he gets promoted to a position in New York, he dumps her—and even denies her the job he's leaving. Her consolation prize is a new Mercedes. She's more interested in the gun he drops on the bed—after he jokingly invites her to shoot him. Joking or not, she takes him up on it. Later, he's found shot to death in his office. Kay seems to have been in the projection room when it happened. She was screening her pet project—a violent TV film called "The Professionals"—for her superiors. When our rumpled, redoubtable Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) investigates, he learns this Emmy-winning producer can commit a bloody act just as well as film it.

This would have been a top-notch "Columbo" episode if about twenty minutes had been trimmed off. The first section of the film—the murder sequence and everything leading up to it—is some of the best stuff in the series. Freestone's use of a tape recording is an especially effective dramatic device.

After the murder there are two impressive scenes—one in an elevator with Freestone and Columbo, and another surreal sequence, where he harasses her via the multiple TV screens in her control booth. Most everything else is slack. There is a long, pointless scene where Columbo fools around with the TV equipment. There's a needless subplot with Lainie Kazan (who is too young to be playing an aging Judy Garland-like has-been). There's a limp scene where Columbo confronts Freestone at her old, now-abandoned home and offers sympathy.

Some of these scenes seem to be an attempt to make the villain more human than usual. That's fine, but the "Columbo" formula demands that any confrontation between detective and quarry be tense. "Columbo" works because of its formula, not in spite of it. The closer it hues to it, the better it is.

The formula also demands that what finally trips up the killer be a surprise. The ending here is very predictable. "Columbo" fans will want to watch this one, despite its flaws. Others, beware.