Once again, we have a series about the brave Lieutenant Colombo shot by such a talented man as Vincent McAvety. This time, the director did not surprise the audience and present the famous story in an unexpected way, but decided to focus on the visual component and not only convey the spirit of the seventies, but also pay tribute to old English plays. Intrigued? Well, then let’s, together with the hero of Peter Falk, do another investigation and try to get to the truth.
Freddy Bravo is a young man who has no luck in life. He has many friends and relatives, he is quite talented in himself, but the trouble is that the young man has not a penny behind his soul. Or rather, he has some savings, like any normal person, but these are mere pennies. He is constantly forced to borrow from others, and the only truly close person, Uncle Leon Lammer, looks at the young man as a tramp and occasionally makes expensive gifts to look like a kind of patron in his own eyes. As you can see, life in Freddie Bravo is already not sugar, but this is not all bad news. Freddie is divorcing his wife and the latter is not that she is not going to help the young man pay off debts, so she demands fifteen thousand dollars from him. Whether or not Freddie has that kind of money, history is silent. It is important that Freddie wins the lottery. It would seem like a big deal, but just listen to how much he won - thirty million dollars. Apparently, the drunken guardian angel Freddie finally sobered up and did a good deed, or maybe Lady Luck took pity. And everything would be fine, but if Freddie announces that he is the lucky owner of the winning ticket, he will have to give half the amount to his bitchy wife, and who will agree to this? So Freddie decides to make another adventure. He asks Uncle Leon for help and asks him to get money on the ticket, promising him ten percent of the amount.
That's just Uncle Leon, when he heard about the amount of winnings, then immediately lost the speech. When the opportunity to think sanely returned to him, Rip Thorne’s character came to the conclusion that he would find a better use for money, since he himself was effectively bankrupt. Having received the money, and with it the glory of the winner, Uncle Leon, dressed in the costume of the English king and wearing a black cape with a hood over him, comes to visit Freddie and kills the latter, making everything look like an accident. Scoundrel? He's a scoundrel. After all, if he had only asked and his nephew would have given the six million necessary to pay off debts, he did not want his soul in his uncle, but alas, money blinds even the best of people, let alone the hero of Rip Thorne, who was written to play villains in his family.
In fact, the situation will be quite typical: Colombo will in every possible way unnerve the suspect and simultaneously get into comic situations to the delight of the viewer. But this series is notable for the fact that it appeared a small and thieving chimpanzee named Joe. Yes, I agree, in the series Colombo often appear animals and they usually play an important role in the investigation, but as a rule, all this is limited to the appearance of an animal for a minute or two. Here Joe acts as the only witness to the murder and let him not be able to tell about what he saw, but the monkey can help in the investigation ... if the hero of Peter Falk still catches up with the monkey and takes his badge from her.
The second feature is that the director of the picture, one way or another, tried to devote more screen time to the life of the main character. Still, we all love Colombo for its manner of speech, awkward squeezing, a worn cloak and smelly cigarettes. The hero of Peter Falk is so well-registered that you catch yourself thinking that he is your close friend, or even a member of the family, for nothing that every appearance brings a warm smile? In this episode, Peter Falk is looking for a gift. This time to his wife on the twenty-fiveth anniversary of the wedding. Of course, Colombo has an idea to go to a cabin in the woods, make a fire near the house and poison until the morning bikes, but something tells him that his wife is unlikely to appreciate this approach, and therefore it is worth finding an inexpensive but elegant gift. Will she? Let the film answer that question, not me.
As for the visual component, which I mentioned at the very beginning of the picture, it bribes. Freddie’s friends gather in his apartment and sing songs to the guitar, remembering a good friend. It's a costume party hosted by Uncle Leon. But most of all bribes naked wife Freddie, holding in one hand a glass of champagne and in the other phone and laughing at the same time. No, forget the last thing I said.
Outcome? Yes, the same as usual when it comes to "Colombo" - a high-quality and interesting series for which it is not shameful to pass the evening, both alone and in pleasant company.
8 out of 10