Forgotten Film Friday (on a Saturday): Prescription: Murder (1968)

 A retrospective by Brooks Rich

A sophisticated Los Angeles psychiatrist murders his wife and then, with the help of his mistress, creates a near air tight alibi. He is seen boarding a plane with his “wife,” (really the mistress). They have an argument, she leaves, very much alive, and he flies to Mexico. A week later he returns to his apartment and is greeted by a man in a gray suit smoking a cigar, who introduces himself as "Lieutenant Columbo, police."

While the greatest TV detective is hardly forgotten, I think people forget this movie from 1968 was actually the first time the legendary Peter Falk played the character. For those who don't know the formula of a Columbo episode, it's not a whodunit at all.

Most episodes open with the killer plotting the murder, carrying it out, and then covering his tracks. A lot of times, Columbo doesn't show up for a good twenty minutes or so. Once he does though, the game is on, and we watch as he slowly breaks everything down – whether it's through his keen observations or his pestering of the suspect with an endless barrage of question. He comes off as a buffoon and puts the killer at ease. “How could this clown catch me?” they think, and start feeling better about their prospects of not getting caught. Then Columbo's pestering questions begin and he never stops. He won't give up. Peter Falk once said… “Being chased by Columbo is like being pecked to death by a duck.” 

Prescription: Murder very much follows this iconic formula. Columbo doesn't show until around thirty-two minutes in, and the first act of the movie is watching the murderous Dr. Ray Fleming,  carry out the murder. Fleming is played by the exquisite Gene Barry, the first of many fantastic actors to square off with the detective. Barry is doing the heavy lifting for most of the film as far as the acting goes. Columbo is really his co-star, as most scenes he has he shares with Barry. Falk and Barry are terrific together and their chess match is just too much fun. Each move is calculated, and when Fleming thinks he has Columbo off his back, the detective hits with another question. 

If you have never seen Columbo before, my God fix that immediately. Prescription: Murder is a great way to start. It's on Peacock if you have that service or Tubi if you don't. Tubi is free. In fact, all of the episodes are on both. Columbo is truly the greatest television detective of all time and if for some reason you're a whodunit and detective fan and have never dived into the series… well, that's just doing it wrong.