This episode first aired October 27, 1971
Major General Hollister’s house in this episode actually belonged to Peter Falk and is located in Newport Beach, California.
At one point, when Columbo flashes his badge, the first name “Frank” can be glimpsed. Series creators Levinson and Link later denied ever giving Columbo a first name. This was probably something the props department whipped up without running it through proper channels.
Helen Stewart tells the police her phone is 985-4321 which was the number for Universal Studios.
Some of the Mrs. Melville books featured in “Murder by the Book” appear as part of Hollister’s library. The General clearly enjoys his cozy mysteries.
Eddie Albert, who played Hollister, was a WWII hero himself. He rescued 70 wounded marines, while under fire, at the Battle of Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands in November of 1943.
Peter Falk and Universal were warring when this episode was shot. Falk, incensed because he felt the studio was reneging on its promise to let him direct, walked off the set and pretended to be sick, halting production. Universal threatened to sue him, so he grudgingly returned – to a very resentful crew and guest cast. The production had shot around him as much as possible (which explains the lack of chemistry in most of his scenes). When he asked to reshoot said scenes, the director and crew flatly refused.
Suzanne Pleshette, who had been friends with Falk since the age of 14, was incredibly disappointed in his behavior given she had another job lined up after the show, a job she desperately needed at the time. Despite their friendship, Pleshette didn’t talk to Falk for a year after this episode was shot.
In a later interview, Pleshette revealed that Eddie Albert was equally incensed with Falk’s behavior. According to her, Albert told Falk: “I always wanted to meet you, I always wanted to work with you, but you’re a real asshole.” Oof.
My thoughts on the episode in chronological viewing order…
All those pistols and machine-guns casually lying around Hollister’s place. Who does he think he is? Jake Paul?
When Colonel Dutton pays him a visit, Hollister offers him a drink. My first reaction was “What time is it?!” Hollister is still in his bathrobe. I noted a heck of a lot of drinking in this episode.
Once again, a bloodless murder as we cut away before seeing the B-side hit. And, again, a stylistic choice I didn’t really mind it.
Were garish yellow and red standard sailing colors for women at the time?
How good are this woman’s eyes that she can spot a guy in a bathroom shooting another guy in military uniform from that distance?
I like the little moment where the cop informs Columbo that the parking spot is reserved for police. Once again, everyone underestimating the little guy.
Why is Columbo dispatched here? This isn’t an official murder investigation yet.
I found it odd that the General didn’t notice the police cars parked outside his home. Or maybe he did and chose to act cool under pressure. Which brings me to Eddie Albert’s performance. Despite this episode’s shortcomings, I think he is absolutely terrific.
Wouldn’t Hollister immediately ask Columbo about the reason for his inquiry? I’m thinking an innocent man surely would.
This is the third time in four episodes Columbo uses the murder suspect’s fancy desktop lighter. Will this become a running gag?
I think Hollister’s tuxedo is so black that it’s blue, and I absolutely love it.
I rolled my eyes when Hollister conveniently remembers stumbling over the crate with the gun in his hand. It was at this moment that I could tell the writing would be a drop down in quality from previous episodes.
“Mistakes have no gender.” How topical.
This line made me laugh: “Mrs. Stewart. Did it look like she could’ve been drinking?” She was sailing! Of course she was drinking!
Hollister tracking down the witness to the shooting and then wooing her makes absolutely no sense. Why is he doing this and unnecessarily completing things for himself? What is his motivation here?
Columbo pays the women a visit and they are, of course, drinking. I guess that was the 70’s.
I thought it an odd directorial choice to have the mother carry the carving knife to answer the door. I mean, who does that? And it certainly didn’t add any sense of suspense to the moment.
Man, if I was Helen, I’d be looking for a new place to live after her mom says: “No wonder he asked for a divorce.”
Columbo sure loves his chili!
Ah, the old secret compartment behind the bookcase trick. How very Get Smart of Hollister.
Why would Columbo find it suspicious that Hollister’s boat is coming in while other boats are going out? Boats go in and out all the time. In fact, it’s more likely that you’d be going out early if you were going fishing, no?
This whole prized missing pistol beat and ensuing thru-line feels incredibly contrived.
Why the hell didn’t he weigh the body down when he dumped it out at sea? You think Big Pussy washed up on the Jersey Shore?
Columbo’s boat trip with Hollister is amusing, but ultimately feels like a lesser riff of the plane-ride scene from “Ransom for a Dead Man”.
Hugely coincidental that the owner of the chili shop happens to have a bunch of war memorabilia he can’t bring himself to throw away.
I like the fact that Helen’s “Some men, lieutenant, do not want to look like an unmade bed.” prompts Columbo to adjust his tie.
Why did Columbo invite Helen to the gotcha moment? In order to humiliate her? Reminder her of her terrible luck with men?
This whole convoluted deal regarding the duplicate gun doesn’t really make any sense.
So, not one of Columbo’s stronger outings. I’d rate this one dead last of the five episodes we’ve watched so far. #1 Death Lends a Hand, #2 Prescription: Murder, #3 Ransom for a Dead Man/Murder by the Book (tie), #4 Dead Weight.
Now to the question of whether Columbo has enough evidence against General Hollister to put him away. In this case, I believe the ballistics match and witness testimony in addition to clear motive makes this one an open and shut case. GUILTY!
Discover more from Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
This is one of my least favorite episodes. Perhaps it’s that lack of chemistry you mentioned because of Falk’s hissy fit and absence. But that’s not why I don’t care for it (and I don’t even have to rewatch it because – for some reason – I’ve seen it more than most.
Firstly: I really hated Helen’s character. I can see why she was divorced. 🙂 So needy, so insecure, so under her mother’s thumb. Yeah, did not care for her at all.
Secondly: You cannot easily see into a house through a glass window in broad daylight – from a distance – unless there are some really bright lights inside. It would have made more sense if that scene happened at night. Because of that, this one starts off with my suspension of disbelief already in shatters.
Thirdly: There is an ongoing ‘joke’ woven throughout many episodes regarding Columbo’s motion sickness (or motion discomfort). My favorite is a line from the episode, Swan Song. I won’t spoil it in case we get that far.
Fourthly: Hollister wooing Helen. It makes perfect sense. He quickly picked up on her self-doubt, neediness, and gullibility. By wooing her he made her question her own convictions. His false charm was more palpable than what she saw with her own eyes. In today’s world, Helen would be a conspiracy theorist, certain sure.
Fifthly – Fashion in the 70s was weird.
Sixthly: Drinking in the 70s at any time of day was fashionable.
Seventhly: Smoking in the 70s was so fashionable that everyone had a desk lighter, or matches at the ready. You were expected to smoke, drink, and wear tacky clothing. It is what defines the 70s.
Eighthly: Columbo had Helen tag along because she was so enamored that she couldn’t see reason…she needed a hard, figurative slap upside the head to bring her back down to earth. Columbo, unlike her own boozy mother, was trying to give her confidence in herself and in what she saw. He HAD to, otherwise she would be a terrible witness on the stand. I can just imagine her saying, “Well, if Lt. Columbo says I saw it, then I must have seen it.” Ugh…that would be SO Helen!
Ninthly: The unmade bed look works well for Johnny Depp. Just sayin’…
Tenthly: Definitely guilty. But – considering the decade – would it be swept under the rug in order to avoid putting a black spot on the military (especially on a war hero?) I say he claim it was an accident, disposed of the body in order to save his own – and the military’s – reputation make a plea deal so that the whole thing quietly goes away.
Additional thoughts (because I don’t know if ‘eleventhly’ is a real word, or not): I like the idea of Columbo’s name being Frank. I think I’ve heard that before, but I’ve never noticed the name on his badge. It fits him. Now I’m going to keep my ears perked for any time in an episode that he may have said something like “let me be frank”, or I’ll be frank”. That would be hilarious!
And lastly (that is a real word), my favorite exchange in the episode:
Hollister: “A man with the name of Columbo, shouldn’t he be more at home on a boat?”
Columbo: “Must have been another branch of the family.”
😀
das
Hollister wooing Helen still doesn’t make sense to me. What is he hoping to achieve? Even if she recants her earlier eyewitness statement, she is still on record as having viewed a man in a bathrobe shoot a man in military uniform in Hollister’s home.
Mebbe he wanted to gain her trust, take her out for a romantic midnight boat ride, and do her in a la Lilly?
I mean, it’s not the first time such a thing was done. (See A Place In The Sun – 1951)
das
If she recanted, she wouldn’t be called as a witness?
Would it necessarily matter if she’s already filed a police report saying she witnessed a shooting of a man in military uniform?
I don’t have high hopes for Helen’s second marriage, either. She has terrible taste in men.
Definitely the weakest episode so far for all the reasons you mention.
It would be impossible to have seen anything from out on the water looking into the house. Hollister tracking down Helen and then gaslighting her into thinking she was imagining things was just stupid (Stupid behaviour and stupid writing). I feel sorry for Helen. She was just lonely and Hollister took advantage of that.
Hollister did try weighing down the body. There’s a shot of the body on his boat tied up with big candlesticks or something attached. Columbo even mentions that the sharks must have bitten through the ropes.
I tried spotting Columbo’s name on his ID but it was too quick and too unclear in the potato version I’m watching. I have been wondering if his first name was ever revealed. Now I know.
Interesting to hear about Falk walking out. I actually thought he was quite charming in this episode. I guess I mistake lack of chemistry as charm . . . that might explain a lot of things in my life. 😛
I’m loving the retro decor and fashion. The constant smoking and drinking is more of a hold over from the ’60s I reckon. It’s the air quality that gets me. Some of those LA shots are disgusting!
Who has a pottery kiln in their living room?
Do you think Columbo is well respected in the Homicide division? Perhaps that’s why he was sent to investigate this one? The cops who first responded wanted someone from Homicide to talk to Hollister since he’s such a bigwig. Perhaps the head of Homicide sends Columbo to deal with the crackpot cases because they think he’s a bit of a joke. You can’t argue with his results, though!
Everybody who answered a doorbell had something in their hand that they refused to put down. Hollister was holding the electric shaver when Dutton arrives. Helen was holding a drink. And Helen’s mother was holding the carving knife. It’s either deliberate or they’re all students of the “always be doing something with your hands” school of acting.
The secret cupboard was Hollister’s gun safe. You see it holding a couple of rifles in the opening shot.
“Mistakes have no gender” was a great line.
Definitely got plane ride vibes during the boat ride. As someone who gets seasick easily even I was feeling queasy during this scene.
I’m glad it was not a premeditated murder with an elaborate plan again. But Hollister was far too stupid to get away with this one. He was cool under pressure but he over-thought the whole thing. If he hadn’t gone after Helen and had just weighted the body down better he might have gotten away with it. But I think a rookie detective fresh off the beat would have been able to solve this one. Guilty as hell!
—
I’m travelling at the moment. Just had dinner in a fancy restaurant and paid $100 for a Wagyu steak with a marbling score of 5+. It was a nice steak but not $100 nice!
“I guess I mistake lack of chemistry as charm . . . that might explain a lot of things in my life.” – Hmmmmm
“Columbo even mentions that the sharks must have bitten through the ropes.” – How could the ropes be tastier than human flesh?
“Who has a pottery kiln in their living room?” – There was a pottery kiln in the living room? I’m assuming it was at Helen’s place and not the General’s.
“Do you think Columbo is well respected in the Homicide division?” – I believe so. I think this was suggested in a previous episode.
“It’s either deliberate or they’re all students of the “always be doing something with your hands” school of acting.” – Ah, yes. Prop actors.
I was eating a lot of steak and mom’s place. I do love that marbling!
True story…
Rodney Fox, early 1960s, Australian spear fishing contest. Long story short, Fox was tethered to a raft on the surface (to put his fish in and to keep the blood out of the water). Great White got him, let him go, he surfaced and got a gulp of air, shark came back and bit down on the tether and started to dive, dragging Fox down to the depths. Suddenly the line broke, Fox managed to surface, people – alerted by the blood in the water – were right there to snatch him up. By some miracle, someone brought a vehicle onto the beach, enabling them to quickly rush Fox to the hospital. By the time he got there his circulatory system had nearly collapsed, but they were able to save him, partly due to the quick response, and partly due to his wetsuit holding him together.
After he recovered, whenever he went in the water he took a bang stick and used it on any shark that got near him. But one day he got talking to a woman who was advocating shark conservation, and she explained that, because they are apex predators and carrion eaters, if the sharks die off, the sea will die, too. So Fox turned his attention to the study of sharks and conservation. He helped develop the shark observation cage, and later worked on the first Jaws movie as an advisor, and was even tasked with the job of painting bullet holes on real sharks for shots in the movie that required a real shark instead of the mechanical one.
Last I read ( https://www.facebook.com/rodneyfoxsharkexpeditions ) he’s still alive, in his 80s, and still advocating for sharks and sea life in general. For a glimpse of his injury, you can check out this article here (not for the queasy – remove the link if it’s not appropriate): https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/2022/1/9/how-real-life-shark-attack-survivor-helped-film-jaws
You are a wealth of information!
Right after I saw Jaws I got a book about shark attacks, and it had Fox’s story in it. I was about 13 or 14, and the story intrigued me so much, pictures and all, that it has stuck with me all these years. I remember you saying that you saw Jaws in Wildwood, NJ. That’s where I saw it, too. My dad did HVAC service work the Brittany Motel in WW, and the owner always invited our family to the hotel’s weekly open pool night. I can remember being in the pool with my sister at night, worried that a huge great white could somehow fit through the filtration system, get into the pool, and eat me. lol. I sure wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer back then. 😛
das
Hollister wooing Helen – Isn’t it the case that a spouse cannot ( be made ) to testify against the other partner?
He was going to marry her?!
Why not? Sillier things have happened in real life!
das