Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case (1977) Directed by Sam Wanamaker

(Review originally written at 31 January 2009)

"Columbo: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case", how great sounding is that? If it weren't for its title though this would be a pretty forgettable Columbo movie entry. It just isn't the most interesting or best written Columbo entry around.

It's a slightly odd Columbo movie, that features a bunch of people with a brilliantly high I.Q. Those kind of people often are a bit eccentric and off, as gets portrayed in this movie. It makes the movie overall entertaining to watch. This however goes a bit at the expense of the movie its story.

It's just not the best written story to ever be featured in a Columbo movie. Its murder plot is far from tight, which is odd, since it's being committed by a man with one of the highest I.Q. in the world. It's also not a story that is being made interesting by it's main plot, that is pretty average and follows the usual familiar Columbo-formula. Columbo doesn't have to do much detective work in this movie to unravel the murder-plot and capture the killer. This is a bit disappointing and doesn't give the Columbo character enough room to be his usual self.

For a '70's Columbo movie it also surprisingly is lacking in stars, playing opposite Peter Falk. Not that Theodore Bikel is bad in this movie but having a big name playing opposite Peter Falk often gives the movie something extra and also makes the movie more interesting and entertaining to watch. Sure, the movie features Kenneth Mars and Jamie Lee Curtis but their roles are very small and insignificant. It actually was one of Jamie Lee Curtis her first acting jobs, before she reached fame one year later by playing the lead in John Carpenter's "Halloween".

It's a quite slow Columbo movie and even though the movie is barely over an hour long, the movie feels much longer. It doesn't help to raise this movie above the level of average. It has a nice ending on the other hand though, which quite honestly is among one of the best to be ever featured in a Columbo movie.

Watchable but not quite as good and interesting as most other Columbo-entries.

6/10

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