COLUMBO: FADE INTO MURDER {SIXTH SEASON PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas in which Los Angeles homicide detective Lt. Columbo's unassuming manner masks his keen intelligence and sharp investigative abilities.
Ward Fowler, star of "Detective Lucerne," a highly popular television series, is being blackmailed by Clare Daley, the producer of his show. One night Ward breaks into the studio to steal clothing and a gun from the prop department. He invites his assistant Mark over to watch a baseball game, and then drugs him into unconsciousness. Clare stops at a deli for a sandwich and Ward enters, disguised as a robber. He sticks up the place and beats the deli owner into unconsciousness before shooting Clare in the back, killing her. He disposes of the clothes and hides the gun before returning to his house, adjusting the time on his clocks and continuing the video-taped baseball game before awakening Mark, who is convinced only a few moments have passed. While putting him to sleep, Ward changes Mark's watch as well.
Columbo is on the scene. He finds out Clare was the producer of "Detective Lucerne," his favorite television show. Columbo visits the set of "Detective Lucerne," inadvertently disrupting their shoot. He questions Ward, who appears to be in extreme shock about the whole incident. He and Mark have the alibi of watching the baseball game during the time of the murder. Ward demonstrates some knowledge of police procedure owing to his experience playing Lucerne, and collaborates with Columbo on his investigation to a degree. Columbo is seemingly impressed by Ward's apparent detective skills. Ward introduces Columbo to Sid Daley, Clare's estranged husband and co-producer of "Detective Lucerne." Sid claims he was at a monthly chess game with his lawyer at the time of the murder. He leaves, but not before a thread from his sweater becomes snagged on Ward's cuff. Columbo questions Mark, still hung over from the night before. He notices his watch has the incorrect time; Mark always sets his watch five minutes ahead of the actual time.
Columbo catches up with Sid and questions him further. He and Clare have been separated, but he does not know of any affairs she had going on. His and Clare's business partnership was continually marred by their constant arguments, particularly over Ward and his salary. Clare discovered Ward and looked after his career almost obsessively; Sid notes that they were an item before he and Clare got married, but that their relationship was over long before he met Clare. Columbo meets with Ward again; Ward posits that Clare may have unwittingly brought about her own death by being "victim-prone." Ward helps Columbo deduce that the killer had a military background, and Columbo tells Ward that forensics has determined that Clare had her hands up when she was shot, thus she was not running away.
That night, Ward replaces the gun in the prop room, wiping his fingerprints and planting a thread from Sid's sweater on the handle. The next day, Columbo snoops around Ward's dressing room, discovering that he wears platform shoes on television to make himself look taller. Ward catches him in there; Columbo is mortified. They talk and Columbo reveals that the mask the robber used had traces of actor's makeup left on it. Columbo has determined the origin of the burglar's outfit: the studio wardrobe department. He and Ward narrow down the list of suspects to four: Clare's secretary, Sid, Mark, and Ward, although Ward discounts himself by claiming that he had no knowledge of Clare's whereabouts until after her death. Before he leaves, Columbo reveals that the gun has been located as well.
Columbo questions Ward further about his official studio biography, which has some details missing. Ward claims that he was doing theatre in Canada when Clare discovered him, saying that he is sensitive about that period in his life. Columbo visits Sid and talks to him about Clare's safe deposit box. It turns out she had receipts for a large number of silver certificates, which now belong to Sid. He claims to have no foreknowledge of their existence. Sid has recently discovered that Ward owed a great deal of money to Clare. Columbo finds out from Sid that his alibi about playing chess with his lawyer is false; instead he spent the night with his secretary, which she confirms.
Once again, Columbo visits Ward at his house. Columbo did some background checking and it turns out Ward owed a considerable sum of money to Clare and that his real name was John Schnelling, an American deserter from the Korean War who moved to Canada. Ward was in an artillery unit, and thus had enough skill in marksmanship to shoot Clare the way he did. However, Columbo admits that Ward and Mark's alibi is airtight, bringing him back to Sid. He mentions that he found the thread from Sid's sweater on the gun. The police bring Sid and his secretary to Ward's house, and it appears that Columbo is about to incriminate Sid. However, at the last minute he turns the tables on Ward, revealing that he figured out that Mark was drugged and that Ward changed the clocks to fool Mark, as evidenced by the discrepancy in Mark's watch. Columbo then reveals the final piece of evidence: Ward forgot to exchange the real bullets in the gun for the blanks usually used on a movie set. Left without any other options, Ward concedes defeat. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 10, 1976 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:13:28
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:74416
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1968-1978; ABC - 1989-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Everett Chambers … Producer
- Joseph D'Agosta … Associate Producer
- Bernard L. Kowalski … Director
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Lou Shaw … Writer
- Peter Feibleman … Writer
- Henry Garson … Writer
- Bernardo Segáll … Music by
- Henry Mancini … Theme Music by
- Peter Falk … Cast, Columbo
- WIlliam Shatner … Cast, Ward Fowler
- Bert Remsen … Cast, Mark
- Alan Manson … Cast, Sid Daley
- Lola Albright … Cast, Clare Daley
- Danny Dayton … Cast, Director
- Timothy Agoglia Carey … Cast, Tony
- Walter Koenig … Cast, Sgt. Johnson
- J. P. Finnegan … Cast, Assistant Director
- Victor Izay … Cast, Conroy
- Shera Danese … Cast, Molly
- Jimmy Joyce … Cast, Camera Operator
- Frank Emmett Baxter … Cast, Walter Gray
- Fred Draper … Cast, Joseph