A rich but weak-willed man's wife is cheating on him, and so his scheming uncle conceives a plot to fake a kidnapping in order to "break" his trust fund and get enough money to win his wife back, while also buying off her current boyfriend. But once the money's acquired & paid... the uncle kills his nephew so HE can keep it all.
This is the 2nd time in the series that a kidnapping was involved in the first act, but neither time was there a real kidnapping! And yes, it's odd how Lt. Columbo was assigned to this case when he's in Homicide. I guess they just weren't killing enough people in L. A. that week.
Bradford Dillman (ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE ENFORCER) is "Tony Goodland", who takes all of his Uncle's advice without once suspecting murder was part of the plan from the beginning.
Sandra Smith (STAR TREK: "Turnabout Intruder") is "Cathy Goodland", who freely admits she and her husband live separate lives, and whom Columbo compliments by telling her she's not a hypocrite... moments before he breaks up her current love affair. (OOH, NASTY!)
William Smith (Andy Sidaris' SEVEN) is "Ken Nichols", the hunky boyfriend who is said to "get a tan for a living", who is unfazed and amused at Columbo's antics... until the Lt. Passes on the rumor that Tony offered him $50,000 to get out of his wife's life.
Arlene Martel (STAR TREK: "Amok Time") is "Gloria West", Tony's former secretary, who says he's the only man she ever met who "only wanted to talk". When she gets the idea that the wife may have done in Tony, and she confides it to his Uncle, she has NO IDEA how close she came to becoming a 2nd murder victim!
Bob Dishy makes his 1st of 2 appearances as "Sgt. Wilson", a real go-getter assigned to help Columbo on the case. On hearing this, Columbo comments on his boss, "I guess he wanted to expose me to modern police methods." I laughed myself silly when he said this, as I was sure he was being sarcastic.
Ray MIlland (THE UNIVITED, THE PREMATURE BURIAL, THE PYJAMA GIRL CASE) is "Jarvis Gooodland", who, with the bank, is in charge of Tony's trust fund, and a fanatical horticulturalist, who takes "arrogance" to entirely new levels. Not only does he think he's smarter than anyone else, he also demanded Columbo explain why he's around more than any previous murderer that I can recall. Sgt. Wilson mentioned at one point "We're dealing with amateurs here", in reference to getting rid of a murder weapon, and the guy was RIGHT. If Jarvis knew what he was doing, he would have bought a brand-new gun, used it ONLY for the crime, and dropped it in the Pacific right after... NOT tried to frame the wife with it.
As an aside: a glass-walled structure for growing plants IS a "greenhouse". A SOLARIUM is used for people, NOT for plants! (I looked it up!) So he's not even right when he's trying to act superior. TSK!
Odd bit of trivia: Robert Karnes plays "Det. Grover", only 2 WEEKS after Ken Lynch made his debut as "Sgt. Grover" on McCLOUD.
This is the 2nd time in the series that a kidnapping was involved in the first act, but neither time was there a real kidnapping! And yes, it's odd how Lt. Columbo was assigned to this case when he's in Homicide. I guess they just weren't killing enough people in L. A. that week.
Bradford Dillman (ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, THE ENFORCER) is "Tony Goodland", who takes all of his Uncle's advice without once suspecting murder was part of the plan from the beginning.
Sandra Smith (STAR TREK: "Turnabout Intruder") is "Cathy Goodland", who freely admits she and her husband live separate lives, and whom Columbo compliments by telling her she's not a hypocrite... moments before he breaks up her current love affair. (OOH, NASTY!)
William Smith (Andy Sidaris' SEVEN) is "Ken Nichols", the hunky boyfriend who is said to "get a tan for a living", who is unfazed and amused at Columbo's antics... until the Lt. Passes on the rumor that Tony offered him $50,000 to get out of his wife's life.
Arlene Martel (STAR TREK: "Amok Time") is "Gloria West", Tony's former secretary, who says he's the only man she ever met who "only wanted to talk". When she gets the idea that the wife may have done in Tony, and she confides it to his Uncle, she has NO IDEA how close she came to becoming a 2nd murder victim!
Bob Dishy makes his 1st of 2 appearances as "Sgt. Wilson", a real go-getter assigned to help Columbo on the case. On hearing this, Columbo comments on his boss, "I guess he wanted to expose me to modern police methods." I laughed myself silly when he said this, as I was sure he was being sarcastic.
Ray MIlland (THE UNIVITED, THE PREMATURE BURIAL, THE PYJAMA GIRL CASE) is "Jarvis Gooodland", who, with the bank, is in charge of Tony's trust fund, and a fanatical horticulturalist, who takes "arrogance" to entirely new levels. Not only does he think he's smarter than anyone else, he also demanded Columbo explain why he's around more than any previous murderer that I can recall. Sgt. Wilson mentioned at one point "We're dealing with amateurs here", in reference to getting rid of a murder weapon, and the guy was RIGHT. If Jarvis knew what he was doing, he would have bought a brand-new gun, used it ONLY for the crime, and dropped it in the Pacific right after... NOT tried to frame the wife with it.
As an aside: a glass-walled structure for growing plants IS a "greenhouse". A SOLARIUM is used for people, NOT for plants! (I looked it up!) So he's not even right when he's trying to act superior. TSK!
Odd bit of trivia: Robert Karnes plays "Det. Grover", only 2 WEEKS after Ken Lynch made his debut as "Sgt. Grover" on McCLOUD.
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