Anthony James, Gene Barry, Katherine Justice, Nina Foch, Peter Falk ...( see more  see more... ) , Virginia Gregg , William Windom

Psychiatrist Ray Fleming is having a passionate affair with actress Joan Hudson, and uses her to help him murder his wife Carol, and to make it appear the work of a vandal. Fleming and Hudson pull off...( read more  read more... ) the murder and deception, but when Fleming returns from a vacation (which served as the prerequisite for the deception), he encounters a rumpled LAPD Lieutenant, Columbo, whose seeming bouts of attention-deficit disorder and meandering questioning mask a devilishly skilled investigator who soon recognizes the murder of Carol Fleming to be the work of her husband, but who must work diligently to find the proof needed. This is the first Columbo movie.

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80% liked it

269 ratings

Unrated, 99 min.

Directed by: Richard Irving

Release Date: June 1, 1967

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Flixster Reviews (30)


  • March 20, 2008
    The pilot for a candidate for the best TV detective series ever made, this sees the scruffy sleuth in a battle of wits with a coldly arrogant psychiatrist who plots with his mistress to kill his wife. Columbo is one of those characters you cannot imagine being played by anyone el...( read more)se. Peter Falk IS Columbo (although would you believe the original casting choice was Bing Crosby...?!) The unique thing about Columbo was the fact that it was never a whodunnit. In fact the who, how and why are always shown at the outset; the joy is in seeing how Columbo sets about proving his suspicions. This is not the best of the series, but it solidly establishes the familiar formula; in fact two of the best examples were made by little known young directors called Steven Spielberg and Johnathon Demme...
    But there's just one more thing that's been bothering me...
  • November 6, 2007
    There are way to many of these, and I have seen them all.
  • December 1, 2009
    Starts like a James Bond film, but with a hero practically Bond's direct opposite. The stumbling distraught lieutenant is not without force though, and this first episode shows it well. As the first James Bond film, this one is also not quite 'tuned in' to the style of the series...( read more), but is a really great start.
  • November 13, 2008
    Really, this is a stand-in for all the Columbo films....
  • November 7, 2007
    Peter Falk = Want to see it.

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  • omzo1981
    March 8, 2009
    someone can advise me a good webTv for detectives series please!!!!

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