Bernard L. Kowalski was one of the best directors the Columbo series ever had. Of course basically all of the Columbo movies are more or less the same and all feature its usual typical distinctive ingredients, so the only way for Columbo movie to truly distinct itself from the others is trough its style of directing. With Bernard L. Kowalski you can't really go wrong. He handled the series really well with his directing and provided the movies with style, class as well ass with all of the usual ingredients. Besides this Columbo movie, he directed 3 other ones as well.
It's not like this movie its story is any better or worse than the usual typical Columbo movie but it gets handled very well by its director, making this movie a better one than most Columbo movies. The movie also features all of the other typical Columbo ingredients, which also means that there is some good relieving humor present again. And the humor is really great in this one, making this an entertaining Columbo movie to watch as well.
It doesn't really follow the rules of a good Columbo movie though, since the character Columbo shows up fairly late into the story and the killer is not being played by a big well known movie star. With its 96 minutes its also quite longer than the usual Columbo movie. Nevertheless its one of the best entries in the long successful series of Columbo movies, with still the unique distinctive Columbo style attached to it.
Despite the fact that Robert Conrad is not a big well known actor, he simply does a great job in this movie. His character is a great and charismatic one. All of the very best Columbo 'villains' are like that. Conrad is still perhaps best known for his role in the '60's hit series "The Wild Wild West". As you would expect also Peter Falk plays his role just great. He of course already had played the part many time prior to this movie and would carry on playing him, right till this very decade.
A great Columbo movie entry!
8/10
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