User Reviews

I love Columbo, and am currently watching all the episodes back to back. This is the first episode I have to ask: why did the murder happen? As we watch the murderer commit the crime--as all Columbo episodes begin--I was never quite sure why this person "had" to be murdered. Many episodes show just how the victim was an obstacle to the criminal, but not this one. I think it robbed this episode of some of its impact. We have to see something of why the crime was committed to be drawn into the story.

That said, Hector Elizando was excellent as Columbo's foil. That smooth, oily voice has a very nice criminal ring to it. And I particularly liked the fact the young king immediately liked Columbo. We usually see just the opposite in other episodes--Columbo is usually making friends as he talks to the little people, like maids and gardeners. It was a hoot to see him befriended by a king.

This episode of the COLUMBO Series is one of my favorites, because it deals with a trick of international law that we all acknowledge but rarely think about...except in wartime. Anytime you pass an embassy or consulate of a foreign state in your city you technically are looking at territory of that country. Our nation's diplomatic missions are exactly like that too. But you have to recall that this is a fragile right by all nations to help diplomatic relations flourish. For the idea is that the representatives and their visiting government leaders have the privilege of reviewing policy and diplomatic give-and-take in the relative security of their own nation's boundaries.

Of course, nations being what they are, much goes on that is less friendly and amicable. Spying for example (which was one of the reasons that embassies like our own in Iran were attacked). Also there is the chance that political problems in a fatherland country are affected by conspiracies in the embassies and consulates. Such was the secret at the bottom of the assassination plot in the second version of Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. It is also at the center of this film.

Hector Elizondo plays Hassan Salah, a high ranking diplomat from a Middle Eastern Kingdom, who is plotting the overthrow of his King. He is working the plot out of his consulate in Los Angeles, with the assistance of an aide Rachman Habib (Sal Mineo). The King (Barry Robins) is going to visit the U.S. and it may be opportune to kill the young monarch. But Elizondo is a slippery character and he is not planning to be uncovered in his duplicity prematurely. Rachman is seen by Hassan to be a threat, so he sets him up to commit an act, and while it is going on he shoots him.

But the murder is off the territory of the consulate. Enter the L.A. Police, and our favorite rumpled police Lieutenant detective. Colombo slowly unravels the inconsistencies about the killing of Rachman, and he soon comes to realize that it is Hassan who is guilty. But questioning the diplomat is next to impossible (he has diplomatic immunity outside the consulate, and he controls who comes to see him in the consulate). Colombo does his best, countering these obstacles by becoming friendly with the boy - monarch, and occasionally straying a bit (like crashing a diplomatic soirée). Elizondo is oily perfection as the put-upon diplomatic villain, refusing to acknowledge any suspicions, and even putting the detective off the territory of the consulate (after the crashing of the soirée). For once, the Lieutenant's normal control over questioning his suspect is jeopardized.

It is a sparring match between organized politeness and rumpled stick-to-it-ness to the end. It is indeed the very nice safety niche that Elizondo uses skillfully against Mr. Falk that ends with him falling on his diplomatic face.

Columbo has his hands full when the security chief at an Arabian legation in Los Angeles is murdered during an apparent robbery. The case has too many holes however, the killer is a slippery target, and there are political niceties to contend with.

This is an intriguing Columbo story, with a unique setting and a highly unusual ending; the killer basically bests Columbo, but is duped into a confession with a clever trick at the end. Columbo has plenty of evidence - ceiling-dust where it shouldn't be, a patsy wearing both glasses and contacts, a hotel reservation someone couldn't have made - but none of it he can pin squarely on his target. Making the killer a dignitary from the fictitious country of Suaria (which seems to be some thawb/keffiyeh-wearing Arabian Peninsula state) with immunity from prosecution is an interesting device; it allows Columbo to make his usual faux-pas but also to absorb some culture and make friends. Elizondo is the wrong ethnic type for the role (he's Puerto Rican-American), but his bright blue eyes and formidable intelligence make him an excellent choice and and a fine adversary for the ever-reliable Falk. Nicely directed by TV veteran Post, this is perhaps not the best Columbo TV-movie, but one of the most offbeat and interesting.

Inside a Middle-Eastern embassy in Los Angeles, Diplomatic Secretary Hassan Salah murders his head of security and sets the scene to make it look some a break-in was disturbed with tragic consequences. Columbo is sent to investigate but when Salah sets up and murders another of his colleagues to look like the murderer the case looks closed. However too many little things don't ring true and he continues his investigation while the State Department 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. Here we have a plot that basically takes the strongest aspect of the formula and plays it well – the cat and mouse relationship in the lead. The mystery is not totally known to us, so although to a degree we are watching Columbo uncover what we already know, there is also an element of the story where Columbo is ahead of us. The story unfolds well and the film uses the limited locations well – making the film feel rather contained and involving.

This limited movement around other characters and threads means that more time is spent with the two leads and this makes the film even stronger. Columbo is slightly harder than usual; he doesn't play up the "bumbling" side of his character but is rather more just persistent. He does not allow Salah to overwhelm him, nor does he kowtow to him in the way he often will to fool the murderers. Small moments show him up to have confidence – the best moment being him handing his "official apology" to Salah while he is being thrown out of the Embassy! Salah is wonderfully impatient and aloof and it makes for good tension with Columbo – helped by the film making this very much the focal point of the whole film. The two actors make it work really well. Falk seems to enjoy playing a stronger character than usual and Elizondo does the "arrogant confidence" thing that always builds a good foundation for the mind games that the Columbo films are famous for. The support cast are OK but no more than that and it is to the film's advantage that it mostly rests on the shoulders of the lead two – they are more than up to the task.

Overall this is a strong entry in the series that is worth seeing for the formula pretty much hitting all the marks, a good plot and two fine performances. Fans will definitely want to see it for one specific scene that for me summarises the Columbo personae – the moment he arrives at a party for the King, wearing a very nice tuxedo.....under his usual scruffy mackintosh!

This outing is very good because of the face off through out the show by Columbo (Faulk) and Hassan (Hector Elizondo). Sal Mineo is great in a short role as Habib who is helping Hassan who has convinced him he will become a hero for what he is doing. Barry Robbins does OK in a short role as King of a Middle East Nation here to visit the US.

Hassan is the main coordinator here. He has Habib help him establish an alibi for his murder of an embassy official at the Middle East Embassy just before the King is coming to visit. He sets up Habib at the same time as the guy Columbo is supposed to think did the murder. While Columbo jumps at the bait, he seems to realize almost immediately that something smells about the frame up.

The strength of this one is the face offs but then there is a twist at the end when Columbo faces off Hassan one more time to tell him he has it all figured out. Hassan appears to have himself protected from Columbo because he is a foreign national here. The face off thus becomes more interesting.

I allot this episode extra stars for the acting of Hector Elizondo and Sal Mineo (the latter was tragically shot to death IRL in a botched robbery just a few months after this episode aired). The title alludes to the Middle Eastern characters in the story having diplomatic immunity from any prosecution, an interesting wrinkle but of course not a dealbreaker for Columbo of the L. A. P. D. Homicide division. But by 1975, the subject of unrest and regime change in the Middle East was already starting to figure prominently in the headlines of the time, hence the attempt to construct an episode around it. But this plot is generic enough that the whole safe break-in could've occurred anywhere for any number of different motives/reasons, many/most of which probably wouldn't have necessitated any accompanying murders to cover them up. So 5 stars for its tortured plot line, plus 2 more for the actors, yields a 7/10 rating, a bit generous.

***Please do not read if you do not want to know the ending of this episode!! ***

The Season 5 Box Set recently released in US does indeed have this episode on DVD Disc 1. However, the ending of this episode is not what I remember from its television debut. On the DVD version, Columbo has Hassan Salah sign a confession at the end, allowing him to be properly persecuted in the US. But, on the television debut I recall him signing a confession, which forced him to be punished back in his home country. If anyone can recall this event or perhaps point me in the right direction to find out such information, that would be much appreciated.

I must have watched this episode a dozen times and it's still fresh. This time around, I noticed one amusing thing that Salah did: after being needled relentlessly by Columbo over minutiae regarding the first murder, and his increasing desperation to clear himself, during the second murder Salah goes out of his way to use the minutiae to his advantage, and places the eyeglasses on Habib's face after seeing that he is required to wear them. This backfires spectacularly later on when Habib was found to be wearing contact lenses; Salah might just as well have thrown gasoline on a fire, because it only intensifies Columbo's suspicion. You just don't see writing this good any more except maybe in Breaking Bad or the first six seasons of Game of Thrones.