The Most Dangerous Match
- Episode aired Mar 4, 1973
- Not Rated
- 1h 14m
IMDb RATING
7.4/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
A chess player murders his opponent before a big match. Lt. Columbo must out-maneuver this crafty, but craven, killer.A chess player murders his opponent before a big match. Lt. Columbo must out-maneuver this crafty, but craven, killer.A chess player murders his opponent before a big match. Lt. Columbo must out-maneuver this crafty, but craven, killer.
Photos
Heidi Brühl
- Linda Robinson
- (as Heidi Bruhl)
Oscar Beregi Jr.
- Proprietor
- (as Oscar Beregi)
Richard Drout Miller
- 1st Reporter
- (as Drout Miller)
Ray Ballard
- Mr. Williams
- (uncredited)
Benjie Bancroft
- Chess Match Observer
- (uncredited)
Richard Boyer
- Chess Match Observer
- (uncredited)
Robert Buckingham
- Diner Patron
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAlthough Clayton is one of the best chess players in the world, during his simultaneous exhibition, one of the people he is playing beats him after playing only two moves, a losing combination known as the "Fool's Mate" and notorious for being the fastest possible way for a player to be checkmated. This, presumably, is meant to demonstrate how much Columbo is unnerving him.
- GoofsThe list that Clayton is re-creating from memory shows digitalis and digoxin as the first two items on the list. These two are the same thing, and if a person was to take double a life-saving dose, it would be fatal.
- Quotes
Emmett Clayton: Well, chess *is* the ultimate test of the human mind, isn't it?
Tomlin Dudek: You think so? I always thought it was women.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 25th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1973)
Featured review
Columbo outwits a chess champion in this superior effort
Columbo often plays a kind of chess game with his opponents, but this time his adversary is an actual chess champion.
Emmett Clayton (Laurence Harvey, with echoes of his tormented character in "The Manchurian Candidate") has a nightmare before an important chess match, a nightmare the director helpfully visualizes for us as a giant fog-filled chess board, on which Clayton and his opponent are chess pieces. Clearly, he's worried about his match with Tomlin Dudek (Jack Kruschen, who looks a bit like Captain Kangaroo), a kindly old fat Russian. Later, the two meet, not coincidentally, in a French restaurant, where they begin using the salt and pepper shakers and other objects on the table as chess pieces. The game continues in Clayton's apartment – secretly, because both Dudek's doctor and his coach would throw fits if they knew the diabetic Russian was out late, eating rich foods with his opponent. Clayton loses the impromptu game and has a nervous fit, from which Dudek tries to calm him down.
Meanwhile, Columbo appears before there's even a murder: Dudek's coach had panicked and called the police when the champion didn't show up in his hotel room on time. So Columbo is aware of this man even before something serious happens.
The next day something does. Clayton decides he must murder Dudek before the match. He concocts a scheme that makes it look as if Dudek met with an untimely accident in the hotel's trash compactor. But our rumpled and seemingly disorganized Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Clayton makes for an interesting adversary. He refuses to play along with Columbo's pretense, forcing our resourceful detective into some quicksilver improvisation. Clayton won't pretend for a moment that Columbo is just interested in clearing a few things up, and he calls him on it immediately. He also won't stand for Columbo's usual forgetful routine. Wonderfully, he demonstrates his own superior memory in a way I'll leave for you to discover. Clayton is also nearly deaf, a handicap that has both unusual advantages and unexpected perils.
The script is not as quite as sure and deft as the great "Columbo" episodes, like "Murder by the Book" and "A Stitch in Crime." But it comes very close. I particularly loved the scene where Clayton plays chess with a series of fawning opponents as Columbo grills him. And then there's the ending, which is very satisfactory. This is a must-see for "Columbo" fans and good entertainment for anyone else.
Emmett Clayton (Laurence Harvey, with echoes of his tormented character in "The Manchurian Candidate") has a nightmare before an important chess match, a nightmare the director helpfully visualizes for us as a giant fog-filled chess board, on which Clayton and his opponent are chess pieces. Clearly, he's worried about his match with Tomlin Dudek (Jack Kruschen, who looks a bit like Captain Kangaroo), a kindly old fat Russian. Later, the two meet, not coincidentally, in a French restaurant, where they begin using the salt and pepper shakers and other objects on the table as chess pieces. The game continues in Clayton's apartment – secretly, because both Dudek's doctor and his coach would throw fits if they knew the diabetic Russian was out late, eating rich foods with his opponent. Clayton loses the impromptu game and has a nervous fit, from which Dudek tries to calm him down.
Meanwhile, Columbo appears before there's even a murder: Dudek's coach had panicked and called the police when the champion didn't show up in his hotel room on time. So Columbo is aware of this man even before something serious happens.
The next day something does. Clayton decides he must murder Dudek before the match. He concocts a scheme that makes it look as if Dudek met with an untimely accident in the hotel's trash compactor. But our rumpled and seemingly disorganized Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Clayton makes for an interesting adversary. He refuses to play along with Columbo's pretense, forcing our resourceful detective into some quicksilver improvisation. Clayton won't pretend for a moment that Columbo is just interested in clearing a few things up, and he calls him on it immediately. He also won't stand for Columbo's usual forgetful routine. Wonderfully, he demonstrates his own superior memory in a way I'll leave for you to discover. Clayton is also nearly deaf, a handicap that has both unusual advantages and unexpected perils.
The script is not as quite as sure and deft as the great "Columbo" episodes, like "Murder by the Book" and "A Stitch in Crime." But it comes very close. I particularly loved the scene where Clayton plays chess with a series of fawning opponents as Columbo grills him. And then there's the ending, which is very satisfactory. This is a must-see for "Columbo" fans and good entertainment for anyone else.
helpful•145
- J. Spurlin
- Apr 14, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Schach dem Mörder
- Filming locations
- 3803 Riverside Dr, Burbank, California, USA(Paul's French Cuisine, demolished)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 14 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3
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