profh-1

Mac & Sally are invited to a seance at which a murdered man appears accusing his widow of the crime! Mac, refusing to believe in ghosts, wracks his brain for most of the story, trying to figure out who could be impersonating the dead man, who benefitted from his death, would benefit from driving his widow insane, and... is the dead man REALLY dead in the first place?

You know, if they'd swapped this story and the next one, this could have easily aired as a HALLOWEEN episode.

Sharon Acker is "Evie Kendall", the grieving widow. I had to look her up before I realized I'd seen her in a STAR TREK and 2 episodes of HEC RAMSEY.

Paul Richards is "Dr. Eli Spake", who's trying his best to help Evie avoid a nervous breakdown. Every time I see his face or hear his voice, I'm always reminded the most memorable line the actor ever spoke in his career was, "Glory be to the bomb and to the holy fallout" (from BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES).

Cameron Mitchell is "Harry Hastings", a semi-retired stage magician who admits he's in love with the widow. When spooky stuff happens at night designed to scare Sally, it became a bit too obvious that he was probably involved. (The previous season, he'd played a man who faked his own death in the McCLOUD episode, "Somebody's Out To Get Jennie".)

Eileen Brennan is "Nora Dane", friend of the family, who may know more than she says. I always mostly remember her for THE CHEAP DETECTIVE (1978) with Peter Falk.

Martin E. Brooks makes his 2nd appearances as "Deputy D. A. Chapman", convinced Evie DID kill her husband, accuses Mac of helping a murderess go free, and hopes to hit her with at least a purjury charge.

John Astin makes his debut as "Skyes", the eccentric police scientist who tries to determine if the body they buried a year earlier is in fact Evie's husband, or not. I always enjoyed him on this show, and was surprised that he didn't appear in that many episodes.

Philip Carey is "Arthur Kendall", the dead husband (or is he?) seen (mostly) in flashbacks. In the 1950s, he starred as PHILIP MARLOWE on TV.

This episode opens with a high-speed chase (WHAT, AGAIN???), once more causing me to ask, "WHY is the Police Commissioner taking part in chasing a bad guy?" I guess Mac must really like being that involved. Later, as Mac works to figure out the mystery, I'm reminded that this show really tended to have some of the most unusual murder mysteries ever seen on TV, and it's clear that Mac's mind does not work like normal people's. There's Charlie Chan, there's Hercule Poirot, and then there's Stewart McMillan-- and each of these characters' thought processes are unique. Time and again, when a new twist is revealed, or a new plot point suddenly figured out, it feels like my head is exploding as I watch. It's no wonder I like this show.

Sally, oddly, doesn't get to do much in this one, except look beautiful. I was reminded that, when this episode was made, Susan St. James had only recently become a new mother in real life. (But, very strangely, this was not reflected in the series-- despite Sally being pregnant in the PREVIOUS story. I guess there was a miscarriage.)

Drug lord Miguel Ortiz thanks his business partner Salazar for his help, but right after, Salazar is gunned down at an art gallery. Soon after, Ortiz has his men bumping off DEA agents, and plans to then murder civilians, all of whom were involved in the death of his brother. Luckily, 3 of the good guys targetted AREN'T killed, and one of them, cowboy "L. G.", gets in touch with his "Agency" friends and gathers them together for a massive assault to "arrest" (or, just plain KILL OFF) all the bad guys involved. Along the way, we have the usual helicopters, fast cars, speed boats, motorcycles, martial arts fights, high-powered guns, gimmicky exposives... oh yeah, and HOT NAKED BABES. All in beautiful, gorgeous, STUNNINGLY-photographed locations. Writer & director Andy Sidaris is on the loose again!

The 5th (yeah, 5th!) of Sidaris' sexy action flicks brings back several cast members from both HARD TICKET TO HAWAII (1987) and SEVEN (1979), the latter of which was apparently a victim of some legal rights problems for decades, and so never included in Sidaris sets or reissued on disc until 2018! But it's my FAVORITE of his films, so I was thrilled to see not only "Cowboy" / "L. G." (Guich Koock ) and "The Professor" (Richard LePore) return from that film, but also the near-identical fight scene and method of killing used wherein a drug boss is shoved thru a high window out of a tall office building!

Returning from HARD TICKET are Dona Spier ("Donna"), the adorable Hope Marie Carlton ("Taryn"), Cynthis Brimhall ("Edy"), Patty Duffek ("Pattycakes"), Harold Diamond ("Jade"), Wolf Larson (golf pro "Jimmy-John Jackson"), and Andy Sidaris ("Whitey"). Several other actors return in different roles, including John Aprea (crime boss "Salazar", nick-named "Picasso Trigger"), Rodrigo Obregón (crime boss Miguel Ortiz), Nicholas Giorgiade (white slaver "Schiavo"), and John Brown (DEA agent "Juan", previously hired thug "Luke" in MALIBU EXPRESS). It's fun how Sidaris' films has a stock company of actors not unlike the Universal Rathbone Holmes films of the 1940s. New Playboy Playmate additions this time are Liv Lindeland ("Inga", the Professor's Swedish girlfriend), Kym Malin ("Kym", Pattykakes' dancing partner), and the incredibly-beautiful Roberta Vasquez ("Pantera", who says she was once in love with the film's hero Travis).

Steve Bond is "Travis Abilene", and like Cody and Rowdy, CAN'T hit a moving target! The joke has gotten old and tired by here. Bond is all grown up since his appearance in TARZAN AND THE JUNGLE BOY (1966, released in 1968), and of all the guys in this film, I thought he was the only one who was, frankly, as hot-looking as the girls were. But his acting wasn't half as good as his 2 predecessors. I kept wishing Sidaris had brought back William Smith.

I was somewhat surprised that neither Hope or Roberta ever showed their breasts in this film. Sidaris once hilariously said, comparing his films to the 007 series, "Our girls are prettier, and they show their stuff." But I guess Donna & Cynthia made up for it.

I've repeatedly read this film's plot was "hard to follow". MAYBE. By halfway in, I was actually reminded of The Monkees' film HEAD (1968), in that both seemed to have a "stream-of-consciousness" feel about the way events played out. You MAY not know for sure what's going on at any given moment, but, keep watching, and it WILL all make sense as it goes.

Daniel Briggs, leader of a mysterious covert government group known as the "IMF" (Impossible Missions Force) is assigned to go to the Central American country of Santa Costa, break into an impregnable vault in a lavish hotel, disarm and REMOVE a pair of atomic bombs to prevent their threat of use by the military dictator, "General Rio Dominguez", and get out alive with the bombs.

This is certainly as different as you could get from the movie WRONG IS RIGHT (1982).

Bruce Geller had a dream: get into feature films by producing a TV pilot that was SO complex, SO tight, SO involved, it would act as his resume to become a film producer. And there was no way this thing could ever get on TV. But the plan backfired when the seeming-impossible happened: the pilot SOLD! Suddenly-- he had to do it EVERY WEEK. I suppose we can "thank" Lucille Ball for this, as that year she used every bit of her power and influence in the business to virtually strong-arm network executives into buying not one but TWO of the shows created by her small, family-owned studio, DESILU. The other show was STAR TREK. Does it blow anyone else's mind that both these series debuted on TV the SAME week?

Very much following in the footsteps of such earlier productions as RIFIFI (1955), 21 BEACON STREET (1959-- there was actually a lawsuit involved!), THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN (1960) and especially TOPKAPI (1964-- check out not only the similar format but the similar characters), the series showcased incredibly-complicated plots, storytelling and editing-- usually at the expense of characterization, as Geller wanted his team members to be ciphers, as most of the time they would be undercover portraying fictional people.

Steven Hill is "Daniel Briggs", who each week gets his assignments in odd places via recordings that "self-destruct" after use (in the pilot, it's a record LP that "decomposes" one minute after the air seal is broken). In his long career, he appeared in many things, but no doubt will always be remembered for his 28 episodes of M:I and his 230 episodes of LAW AND ORDER.

Barbara Bain is "Cinnamon Carter", who admits her job mostly uses her "natural talents". I honestly don't remember her being as sexy as she was in this, so I'm really looking forward to the rest of her 78 episodes here. I've also seen her as David Jansen's girlfriend in 5 episodes of RICHARD DIAMOND, appearances in both the Darren McGavin AND Stacy Keach versions of MIKE HAMMER, an early GET SMART (done shortly before this), as well as her unfortunate 2 seasons on SPACE: 1999 and the final GILLIGAN'S ISLAND movie in 1981.

Greg Morris is "Barney Collier", the tech wizard who's usually working in the shadows and rarely has much dialogue. Ironically, he's the only actor on the series who appeared in all 9 seasons (including guest-appearances in the late-80s revival, for a total of 174 episodes). He also was a regular for 57 episodes of VEGA$. Crazy enough, his son Phil, a regular playing his son in the revival, made his acting debut in a 1st-season STAR TREK not many weeks after this.

Peter Lupus is "Willy Armitage", a strongman who gets to lift 2 suitcases, which will contain not only the nuclear weapons, but also a man, without anyone watching being the wiser. He lasted 161 episodes, and also made 4 appearances as "Norberg" on the short-lived POLICE SQUAD! With Leslie Nielsen.

Martin Landau is "Rollin Hand", a combination stage magician and master of disguise. He gets to play an old man in a wheelchair, and impersonate General Dominguez (who, coincidentally, is also played by Landau). He also flirts quite a bit with Cinnamon in this, which she brushes off while trying to focus on the mission. Landau was originally scheduled for only a certain number of episodes in the 1st season, to allow him to appear in other projects and on stage, and so was listed as "special guest star". But, by season 2, he became a regular like the other 4 team members. Landau almost certainly has the most prestigious list of acting credits, having appeared in such things as NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), CLEOPATRA (1963), 2 episodes each of THE UNTOUCHABLES and THE OUTER LIMITS, THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS! (1970), THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER (1979), CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (1989), ED WOOD (1994), SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999), the hilarious READY TO RUMBLE (2000), as well as all 48 episodes of SPACE: 1999 and 76 episodes of M:I.

Wally Cox is "Terry Targo", a professional safe-cracker who has to figure out how to break OUT of an impregnable vault. Things get really tricky when his fingers are broken during the capture of "el presidente", and Dan has to do his job for him. Mostly known for comedy, Cox appeared in 104 episodes of MISTER PEEPERS, 26 episodes of THE ADVENTURES OF HIRAM HOLLIDAY, 119 episodes of UNDERDOG, as well as THE NIGHT STRANGLER (1972) and a LOST IN SPACE.

Preumably, director Bernard L. Kowalksi's work on this set the whole style and tone for the series. He'd previously done 25 episodes of THE REBEL and later did 10 of BARETTA, 5 of MAGNUM, P. I., 4 of COLUMBO and 4 of BANACEK. It's that last one that grabs my attention, as that show's "heists" were carried out in similarly-complex, mind-blowing fashion to the ones here.

I understand M:I burned out more writers in Holywood than any other series on TV, because of its excess complexity. I came in on the 2nd season, and was instantly hooked. But, strangely enough, until today, I had NEVER seen a single episode of the 1st season. But now I have the 2020 Blu-Ray set. Suffice to say, I've got a lot of "work" in front of me!

A pair of ex-con punk brothers are mugging people and terrorizing others to keep them quiet, which make it hard for the police to charge them. This doesn't stop tough, old, grizzled Detective Dan Madigan from rousting them on petty misdemeanors to try and keep them off the streets at least for a night here and there, even if it does come under the heading of "police harrasassment". While this is going on, he's saddled with a new partner, fresh out of college with a degree is Sociology, who thinks "new-fangled" methods like communication and "encounter groups" may be able to help at least one of the brothers.

MADIGAN had to be the most "different" of all the NBC Mystery Movies series. Filmed entirely on location (at the insistence of lead actor Richard Widmark), it's like a tougher, grittier version of McCLOUD with nearly all of the humor surgically removed. I came in a bit late, but for most of the 1972-73 season, it became one of my favorite shows, despite how deadly-serious it often was. Re-watching this episode, it feels like it stepped out of a time warp. On the one hand, the attitude of his partner screams of the era it was made more than anything on any other Mystery Movie series, while the look and style seems at least 20 years ahead of its time. A shame that like too many of the series that came after the initial 3, it didn't last. In an interview in TV GUIDE at the time, when asked what he thought the show's chances were, Widmark replied, "All I know is, whenever I like a show, it only lasts one season." He called that one right.

What a cast! Richard Widmark (KISS OF DEATH, THE ALAMO, JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS) is "Dan Madigan", a cop who claims to hate his job, but keeps doing it because it's the only thing he knows, and, he's so good at it. I always remember being shocked when I got around to seeing the 1968 feature film MADIGAN, and found he was married in it, and, more, got KILLED at the end. This episode mentions he's divorced, and, as for the other thing, I guess he "got better". The nerve of whoever was responsible for taking a DEAD character and reviving him for a TV series.

Ronnie Cox (ROBOCOP) is "Norman Fields", the all-too-sensitive college boy with the way-too-long hair who isn't sure he's made the right career choice, tries to reach the younger mugger (and his sister), and oddly lies to his parents about what his older partner does on his time off.

Murray Hamilton (JAWS) is "Charlie Kane", Dan's ex-parter who's moved up to a desk job, and understands him better than anyone else. Hamilton replaced James Whitmore from the 1968 film, and while I know they only made 3 episodes set in New York City, it's very odd that Hamilton didn't come back for the other 2.

William Prince (THE GAUNTLET) is "Mr. Fields", Norman's father who asks Dan to "watch over" his son.

Tony Lo Bianco (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) is Joe Lakka, a scum if there ever was one, who mugs and terrorizes old people, but also brutalizes his own brother to keep him in line. Suffice to say, things don't end well, but he really had it coming.

James Sloyan (BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY) is Tommy Lakka, the annoying younger brother who does whatever his older sibling tells him to, no matter how much trouble it means.

Earle Hyman has a brief part as "Detective Clark", who we see at the grimy precinct house. He later appeared in 40 episodes of THE COSBY SHOW!

Ann Wedgeworth is "Angie", the waitress Dan is friendly with. She later appeared in 99 episodes of EVENING SHADE!

I strongly suspect the location used for the police precinct was the SAME one that appeared in both the 1968 MADIGAN film and the 1968 COOGAN'S BLUFF. I found it interesting at the time that MADIGAN and THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO debuted the same month, and both featured grizzled old detectives partnered with young college boys (on the other show it was Karl Malden & Michael Douglas). STREETS ran 120 weekly episodes; MADIGAN, a mere 6 tv-movies. So it goes.

At the moment, the series is available as bootlegs from OnesMediaFilms. The prints, taken from French copies (with the important credits altered to read in English) are a bit too dark and grainy, but at least they're watchable. I really wanted to upgrade from my own videotapes recorded off The CBS Late Movie in the early 80s, when they skipped my favorite episode, "The London Beat". But I would really love it if Visual Entertainment Incorporated (VEI), who put out the boxes of McCLOUD, McMILLAN & WIFE, and THE SNOOP SISTERS, would get aorund to doing MADIGAN, HEC RAMSEY, COOL MILLION, and the other later NBC Mystery Movie series.

A symphony conductor who married his wife because her mother ran the orchestra is cheating on her, until his mistress demands he get a divorce or she'll cause a scandal, which would get him fired from his position. So he sets up an alibi, sneaks off, murders her, and makes it look like suicide. Too bad he dropped a carnation at the scene of the crime, which he realizes only when he's performing on live TV! When Columbo shows up to investigate, he sees the man pick up the flower from the floor, but we never learn for certain if Columbo SAW it there before that moment, or not. Meanwhile, I rather expected Columbo to check the mileage on the man's car almost a half-hour before he admits he did. The big surprise was when he asks the help of a young girl living next door if she can identify the man she saw leaving the scene of the crime, and when she does, it's SOMEONE ELSE! I didn't really find the relentless sparring harrassment amusing this time out. My favorite moment is when Columbo has a car mechanic who specializes in foreign cars look at his ancient Peugeot, and the man says, "There are limits!"

Dean Hargrove, veteran of THE MAN FROM UNCLE and fresh off the 2nd "oddball" season of McCLOUD, takes over as Producer of COLUMBO. And right from the start, someone decided, at the last minute, to expand this episode from the usual 90-minute format to 2 hours. BIG MISTAKE. I don't mind long stories, but stories PADDED-OUT after-the-fact are always a problem, and this one is no exception. A great number of the NBC Mystery Movies suffered when NBC decided a couple years later to make them all fit a 2-hour slot, but I'd guess at least some of them were written that way from the start. According to the trivia section here at the IMDB, Hargrove wound up writing the extra half-hour, and, overseas, this was actually broadcast in its original 90-minute format, and those who've seen that consider it the superior version. Too bad that wasn't included as an extra on the DVD.

John Cassavettes (DEVIL'S ANGELS, TEMPEST) is "Alex Benedict", the usual arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic murderer who's less likable than usual. He gets really fed up with Columbo's incessant appearances, though he calls him a "genius detective" after he's been NAILED for his crime.

James Olson is "Paul Rifkin", a trumpet player deeply upset by the death of the woman who, until Benedict came along, he was very much in love with.

Myrna Loy is "Lizzy Fielding", owner of the orchestra, who reveals to Columbo that NOTHING is more important to her (apart from her daughter), and that anyone even remotely causing a scandal would be fired-- EVEN her son-in-law.

James McEachin has a small role as "Billy Jones", Benedict's assistant, who has to straighten things out when their star pianist fails to show up for a concert scheduled to be televised live. A year later McEachin got his own short-lived Mystery Movie series, TENAFLY, and then in the late 80s became a fixture on the PERRY MASON revival-- no doubt thanks to Hargrove.

Dawn Frame is "Audrey", next door friend of the murdered woman, who taught her "how to handle men". It's somewhat amusing when Columbo is trying to be polite with her, while she keeps looking for ways to stay in control of their conversation. Among other things, she harrasses the Lieutenant about how to treat his dog, not knowing that he only just rescued the guy from the pound the day before! Frame only had a short career in Hollywood, but she really stood out in her brief scenes here.

Charles Macauley has a cameo as "Durkee", a friend of Lizzy Fielding. Like McEachin, he also became a regular on the 80s PERRY MASON revival.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this more, but then, they can't ALL be favorites. My bigger problem tonight was having to use a pair of pliers to bend part of the spindle in the DVD box to prevent cracking the disc while trying to remove it from the box. I love this 2018 VEI set, all 69 movies in one place, but the spindles holding the discs in place are simply the WORST I have seen in 5 years of collecting DVDs and Blu-Rays. Both the McCLOUD and McMILLAN & WIFE boxes use SLEEVES instead. MUCH better!

Also, this particular disc has advertisements for other movies (I hate whenever anyone includes stuff like that), and they also include the "preview" at the beginning (with no gap between it and the actual start of the film), but, oddly, while they include the "Universal" logo at the start of the disc and at the start of the episode, there's no "Universal" tag at the end. Which just feels WRONG.

On live TV, a football player is tackled by 4 guys. But when they up, the man they tackled is GONE. The police and the insurance company both believe it's a publicity stunt, but, the team owner tries to convince Banacek it isn't. He agrees to look into it because, as he says, "I'd like to know how they did it."

I'm not big on sports, especially football, but this is a mystery show, so, I did my best to pay attention. It wasn't easy, as somehow, the connections, how certain facts came together to steer the investigator in the right direction, weren't always obvious or clear. And I watched this twice back-to-back this week, something I never do! Still, my late best friend used to say, that COLUMBO and BANACEK share in common, that, to him, the crime at the beginning, and the solution at the end, are the ONLY parts worth watching. Everything in between is just scene after scene of people standing around talking. I never really agreed with that, and found his cynical attitude kind of sad. Of course, he was also a speed-reader, and often went through an entire novel in one sitting-- getting the plot, but NO human element out of any story in the process. Too bad. I'd rather take my time and enjoy the ride.

Robert Webber (12 ANGRY MEN, REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER) is "Jerry Brinkman", the team owner, who at one point, Banacek suspects is behind it all, since he's got the best motive.

Stefanie Powers (THE GIRL FROM UNCLE) is "Angie Ives", ex-wife of the vanished player. She says she just wants to know he's alright, while slowly becoming interested in the Polish guy trying to find him.

Madlyn Rhue (STAR TREK: "Space Seed") is "Holly Allencamp", a rather flaky barfly who may hold a key piece of info to solve the mystery.

Conrad Janis (one of those ubituitous character actors you've seen in everything without knowing his name) is the video technician who helps Banacek view the original films of the game where the mystery occured.

Jock Mahoney (TARZAN GOES TO INDIA) is "Albert Bates", an ex-military guy responsible for a KIDNAPPING pulled off in such a way that until a ransom note arrived days later, nobody even realized was a kidnapping.

A curious piece of trivia, never mentioned in the episode itself, is that the office of the team owner is in the SAME building that houses the Insurance Company that winds up paying Banacek for finding the missing player.

How did they do it? WATCH THE MOVIE! I'm not gonna tell you.

2 years after THE UNTOUCHABLES did an episode about "Mad Dog" Vincent Coll, came this gripping low-budget thriller. Sure, they got pretty much ALL the details wrong. Sure, 95% of the people in front of the cameras and in back of them had incredibly-SHORT careers. But on the other hand, aside from headliner John Davis Chandler, you also had terrific spotlights for Telly Savalas (the tough cop who gave Coll too MANY chances), Vincent Gardenia (who makes Dutch Schultz seem more civilized than he probably was), and a very young Jerry Orbach (who tortures over whether to stick with his lifelong "friend", OR, help the cops PUT HIM DOWN. There's even a wordless cameo by Gene Hackman in his screen debut, as a uniformed cop.

There's also the loud, powerful, in-your-face score from Stu Phillips, whose work I know from countless things, including McCLOUD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA and BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY. Its nice to know some people made it out of this piece of obscurity and had long, successful careers.

Hey, I gotta hand it to the people who made this film for the simple fact that THEY MADE THIS FILM. And, it's watchable! That in itself is quite an accomplishment, no matter how you look at it.

For comparison, try watching this and the 1959 UNTOUCHABLES episode with Clu Gulager as Coll and Lawrence Dobkin as Shultz. Or, check out the 1981 mini-series, THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES, that had David Wilson as Coll and Jonathan Banks as Schultz (my personal favorite). My Dad always said that show had the MOST-authentic casting he'd ever seen for all the real-life characters involved. I always remember in that version of events, Coll & Schultz were the only 2 gang leaders who refused to sign the Atlantic City 'peace treaty' between all the major gangs-- and Coll got rubbed out soon after.

A quick Google search reveals there's also several other film versions of Coll's story. Hey, why not watch 'em all and compare?

A Russian diplomat is stirring up tensions between East & West, and Mr. Waverly wants him taken out-- in a way that will not make him a hero. When Solo asks his boss if he has any ideas how to do this, Waverly replies, "Oh, I'm sure you can come up with something." (If this were a McCLOUD, the hero would have replied, "'preciate yer confidence, Chief!") They decide to recruit the owner of a struggling exterminator company to pose as a government scientist who's invented a new form of gas that will all but eliminate regular warfare-- and the diplomat, though suspicious as he could be, can't help but eventually want to get his hands on it.

This episode is arguably one of the BEST in the entire series. It's so good, SO well-written, well-directed, well-acted, it hurt to watch it, knowing how the show began to drop off in quality in its 2nd season. And, it didn't depend on car chases or fight scenes! Writer Henry Misrock had a shockingly-short career, and this was his only UNCLE-- a CRIME! This was director Joseph Sargent's 1st of 11 UNCLE episodes, which ranged from deadly-serious to hilarious farce. There is so much style in this one, and it's played so straight, it's the incessant twists of plot & character that make parts of it funny as hell. This is how I wish more of the series had been-- and all of the '66 BATMAN as well. I was also blown away by the moody piano score of Walter Scharf, his 1st of 10 for UNCLEs, all in the 1st season. Scharf's long resume also includes THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES (1939), several Jerry Lewis films, 5 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLEs, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC and JACQUES COUSTEAU specials.

William Shatner (STAR TREK) is "Michael Donfield", the reluctant recruit who soon dives in full-throttle with so much enthusiasm you'd think he did this before. It's one of the best acting jobs I've ever seen from him, which happened with quite a few guest-actors during UNCLE's 1st season. Werner Klemperer (HOGAN'S HEROES) is "Laslo Kurosov", the trouble-making diplomat who is the target of Solo's con game. Woodrow Parfrey (who I've seen in countless movies & tv shows) is a Russian agent who's conned by Waverly into switching sides. Leonard Nimoy (also STAR TREK, heh) is "Vladeck", Kurosov's henchman who Kurosov never passes up an opportunity to insult, leading Vladeck to try that much harder-- with surprising results.

One of the best scenes is when Vladeck supplies evidence that the Russian spy Ilya is posing as in disguise, is not who he claims to be, and right then, Ilya takes cyanide and KILLS himself. Instead of grabbing Donfield, they tell him to get rid of the body or they'll pass on evidence to the cops that Donfield murdered him. At that point, Donfield is terrified, until Ilya reveals that, NO, he didn't REALLY kill himself. But they fear their plan has gone astray... until those devious wheels in Solo's head start spinning. "Unless..." This episode really should be a course in how to play a story DEADLY serious, while still being hilarious.

The finale, when Solo, Ilya and Donfield are all standing there at the airport as Kurosov is being escorted back to Russia to face charges of embezzling one million dollars (!) is the sort of "twisting the knife" that Jim Phelps on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE always avoided doing... until the late 80s, when he got much older and meaner (heh). When Donfield's wife says to Solo, "That's DIABOLICAL!", he smiles and replies, "We try."

An armored car carrying over one million dollars in gold somehow vanishes in the middle of a texas desert. Tire tracks go off-road and end at a sheer cliff. After 60 days, the insurance company is obliged to allow "anyone else" to try and recover the truck and the money... but what one company man is really afraid of is... "Banacek". He makes a living-- actually he makes a TON of money-- by collecting 10% of what he saves the insurance company from having to pay out. He's smooth and suave and BRILLIANT and never, ever seems to lose his cool.

About 3 weeks after the 1st season of The NBC Mystery Movies ended, this 2-hour pilot movie aired. I guess it was successful, as the following September, when NBC expanded the Mystery Movies to 2 nights a week (Wednesday AND Sunday), BANACEK became a regular series, rotating with MADIGAN and COOL MILLION. I came in a bit late to the party, but I eventually got hooked on the first 2 of those. MADIGAN only ran one season, but BANACEK ran two-- until its star had "creative differences" with the network. (I'm not sure what that means, but the same problem also ended HEC RAMSEY after two seasons.)

Anyone who saw THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968) before this would probably recognize where a big part of it came from. In that, Steve McQueen played a bored rich guy who plans a bank heist, while Faye Dunaway played an unscruplulous investigator bent on getting the money back. McQueen's "Thomas Crown" and George Peppard's "Thomas Banacek" could have been brothers separated at birth. The series essentially took the villain of the movie and turned him into the hero.

But there's more! It was pointed out that the plot of an armored car vanishing in the desert was resued from another film from 1968-- THEY CAME TO ROB LAS VEGAS. I've seen that recently! The main difference is, that film focused mostly on the bad guys, this one sees it from the point of view of the investigator. I'll also mention one other film about an armored car heist, GUNS GIRLS AND GANGSTERS (1959), which also involves someone with a rifle shooting out a tire as part of the heist. I just love tracking down "influences" like this.

This episode reveals how Banacek's father worked for a company for 20 years before suddenly being fired and replaced by a machine. We then find out it was the very same insurance company he takes such pleasure out of being paid HUGE sums of money for doing their work for them.

Murray Matheson plays "Felix Mulholland", owner of a rare book store who provides his friend Thomas all sorts of obscure information. I've seen him in countless things, but the ones that stand out are a McCLOUD ("The Disposal Man") and a BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ("Greetings From Earth"). He's sort of "Rex Harrison-lite".

Ralph Manza is "Jay Drury", an Italian limosine driver who becomes friends with his new employer, and likes to guess how things may have been stolen. I've also seen him in countless things, including an episode of THE NANNY where he was friends with "Grandma Yetta".

George Murdock is "Cavanaugh", the head of the insurance company who realizes that in the long run, it's cheaper to pay Banacek than keep wasting money on his own investigators, or, worse, paying out the full amount of whatever is stolen. He appears in several episodes of the series.

Charles Robinson is "Arthur Patrick McKinney", a young, arrogant, insurance investigator who absolutely hates Banacek, and would do anything to see him fail. I worked with someone like that in the 80s-- a real scum. He seems set up to be a recurring foil, yet somehow never returned after the pilot movie.

Christine Belford is "Carlie Kirkland", another employee of the insurance company, who winds up getting romantic with Banacek... before she goes behind his back. When he forgives his chauffer for doing the same thing, but doesn't forgive her, he says, "All Jay and I shared was a limosine." She returned in several episodes of season 2, but by then had become just plain annoying. Murdock and Belford also later turned up on BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, he as the ship's doctor, she as a dangerous convict assigned to a suicide mission.

Ed Nelson (a very familiar face on TV for decades, including 514 episodes of PEYTON PLACE) is "Geoff Holden", a rather-crooked rich land developer who is just so much of an obvious main suspect, you kinda start hoping he WASN'T behind the robbery and several murders.

As with too many of the NBC Mystery Movies, I never got to see this pilot until some years after the series ended! It's a good film that sets up a lot, but it's never been one of my favorites, perhaps because of that extra half-hour. To me, the 90-minute format (including commercials) was perfect for these kind of movies, but when NBC started wanting them all to fit a 2-hour slot, too many of them felt terribly-padded. I'm afraid that includes this one.

Sally is pregnant! And just then, an old (and formerly-serious) girlfriend of Mac's calls to ask for help, because her abusive, cheating and embezzling husband wants a divorce. That's when the cops suddenly show up, having found evidence-- including a tape-recording-- that indicate she may have murdered her husband. The problem is, nobody can find a body. Both the D. A. and Sgt. Enright think she's guilty, but Mac believes she isn't, and goes far beyond the call of duty to find evidence that he's right.

McMillan & Wife often had some very unique mysteries in its run, and I'd say this was definitely another one... except for 2 things. One: just 3 WEEKS earlier, COLUMBO had an episode where no one could find the body, so most people didn't believe there even was a murder. Two: it seems writer Brad Ranitz actually REUSED his script for a 1968 episode of IRONSIDE and expanded it here. The nerve of some people!

I also suspect Radnitz may have been at least partially paying tribute to a bit of Chandler's "The Big Sleep", as we never see the murder victim, and, another murder victim's body is found in a lake.

Martin E. Brooks makes his first of 6 appearances as "District Attorney Chapman", who accuses Mac of being too personally involved, and warns him that if the press come looking for him, he'll eagerly point them right at Mac.

Michael Ansara (STAR TREK: "Day Of The Dove") is "Ben Matthews", a nightclub owner who may have had reasons to kill the missing husband.

Selma Diamond (NIGHT COURT) has a cameo as a gas station attendant questioned about 2 missing people.

Barbara McNair (THEY CALL ME MISTER TIBBS!, THE ORGANIZATION), a singer in real life as she was in this story, is Mac's old flame "Lee Richards". Reading her bio, it's shocking just how close to home this episode would prove to be, as her real-life husband was murdered by the mob in late 1976, and the following year her accountant was charged with embezzling.

When this episode was made, Susan St. James was pregnant. Rather than hide it or write her out of the episode, her pregnancy was made a big part of the story. Yet when the show returned the next season, it was never mentioned. We have to assume there was a miscarriage, but it really makes you question the integrity of either the producers or the network, who insisted this episode be made after production for the season had officially ended.

Beautiful, gorgeous female private eye "Stacey Hanson" (Anne Randall) is hired to investigate the family of aging "Florence Chambers" (Marjorie Bennett), and discovers infidelity, blackmail, murder, and worse. She and her assistant wind up the targets of paid killers (including Nicholas Giorgiade from THE UNTOUCHABLES), and it all climaxes in one VERY long, VERY fast and violent high-speed chase in the desert. Along the way, lots of nudity and other fun stuff punctuate the proceedings.

I rented Andy Sidaris' first 4 films from my video store back in the 90s and made copies of them. Been enjoying them several times since. Don't know why I didn't continue (job inconsistency the most likely reason), but it's okay, as I JUST ordered the "Girls, Guns & G-Strings" box set on DVD.

It's a toss-up as to which was my favorite, "SEVEN" or "MALIBU EXPRESS". Just re-watched "STACEY" tonight, and it remains a FUN film from start to finish. The copy I have has always been fuzzy- picture and sound- which made the film seem amateurish, compared to the later films. Was the film like that, or was it just a seriously-INFERIOR videotape transfer?

I never connected until tonight that the LONG climactic action sequence involving a shoot-out, a car chase, a helicopter, and another chase and shoot-out on foot parallels the one seen in "SHAFT'S BIG SCORE" the previous year! (Perhaps Sidaris didn't have the budget to actually blow up the helicopter this time- heh.)

I was researching these films this week, and suddenly found out the first 3 films had been co-financed by A- Roger Corman (New World Pictures), B- Samuel Z. Arkoff (American International Pictures) and, C- Hugh Hefner, respectively. However, Hefner argued over the content, then sold his half to someone else behind Sidaris' back. Sidaris was PISSED- and so raised more money, bought back Hef's half, and determined from then on to finance his films entirely on his own. WAY TO GO!

For whatever reason, it took until 2018 for "SEVEN" to be reissued on DVD and Blu-Ray. I wonder if Corman having sold New World, and NW then having GONE UNDER a few years later, is why "STACEY" is currently in some kind of "limbo"? SOMEBODY needs to fix that- and put out a DECENT-looking print of it, after ALL these years.

Solo is kidnapped and replaced by a surgically-created double whose mission is to transport the secret combination lock of a high-security vault in Austria, that protects a powerful energy source designed to fight back against a potential alien invasion from outer space.

SAY WHAT???

UNCLE season 1 generally features the best writing, directing and acting in the entire run of the series. NOT THIS ONE, though.

The plot involving a Thrush doctor (Harold Gould, who's got more charisma than any other guest-actor in this episode) creating a fake Solo (too bad Robert Vaughn didn't get paid double for playing 2 parts, heh), the fake exhibiting virtually NO personality whatsoever (shouldn't anyone have noticed this, especially Waverly, his boss, and Ilya, who was good friends withy him in seasons 1 & 4), is problematic enough.

It's the "McGuffin" part of the plot that makes this fall right thru the floor. Every step-by-step as they go dealing with the security for the code, the attache case, the airplane, the entrance to the base, the descent into the vault area, the techs in charge, the EXPLANATION of what the vault is keeping secure, what it's for, how it "works", what it does if you accidentally aren't wearing protective glasses... it's all INSANE. It is the single WORST writing, directing & acting in the whole of season 1. (I don't even want to compare it to seasons 2, 3 & 3B, they had an entirely-different kind of problem.)

I looked up Clyde Ware. This was one of his earliest scripts, it was his ONLY episode of UNCLE, and the one thing he did the most of was 17 episodes of GUNSMOKE. I'd say he was completely out of his depth here. I also looked up John Newland. AHA. His main claim to fame was the series ONE STEP BEYOND. I wasn't surprised. The whole "Project Earthsave" plot did NOT fit on this show, it felt like it was a rejected VOYAGE script, or a script leftover from the 2nd season of THE OUTER LIMITS. This gives me the impression that Newland was more responsible for the content of this story than the writer was.

I also get the feeling this may have been filmed earlier than it was broadcast, since Ilya has so little to do with the story, it may have been written before they began to expand David McCallum's part on the show.

I've read that this was filmed IN COLOR in order to expand it into a Euro feature film (THE SPY WITH MY FACE). One very odd thing, watching it on DVD, is that somehow, the entire soundtrack sounded like it had been BADLY dubbed onto the episode. The sound quality was so "harsh", I couldn't escape the feeling that something strange had gone on technically behind-the-scenes before it was aired. (I wonder if it was like this back in 1964?)

A serial killer known on the news as 'The Asylum Killer', who likes to make his victims die slowly, has baffled the police, and a particularly-obnoxious news-caster is really getting on The Commissioner's nerves. So no sooner does Mac insists an arrest will be 'imminent', then the killer sends a letter claiming his next crime will have two victims simultaneously.

Sally, returning from a restaurant that Mac did not arrange to have dinner at, slowly discovers that all sharp objects in the house have been stolen. Meanwhile, someone has managed to get Mildred, Sally's mother, and Sergeant Enright out of town at the same time. What can it all mean? The part I found infuriating was that Mac DOESN'T call his own police force in to at least scan the house for fingerprints, or, get himself and Sally out of there.

There's a subplot involving a seeming prowler tampering with their trash cans. The resolution to this also made me want to smack someone. If a harried husband only has 4 trash cans, but needs 5, WHY can't he just go BUY another one? (This is the kind of thing one might just barely accept on an episode of GET SMART-- not M&W.)

I'm be honest. I gave this a higher rating than it probably deserved, only because, of the entire 1st season, this was the only story I really vividly remembered from when I saw it first-run. While most episodes of M&W are complex, confusing puzzles, this was more a simple SLOW-BURN of building suspense, right up to the finale.

Seriously, though-- both Sally & Enright should have known better than to take at face value messages allegedly from Mac that were "not his style".

An arrogant architect, financed by the wife of a rich horse-lover, suddenly finds his dream project cut-off just as it's getting off the ground. When the millionaire-husband suddenly disappears, allegedly on a business trip, it's his FIRST, ex-wife who calls the cops and suggests foul play. Thus, Columbo begins an investigation in which, for all intents and purposes, there may NOT have been a murder. But then he notices that the radio station in the missing man's car is tuned to a classical station-- when the man listened to absolutely NOTHING but country. And that's all it took to get his wheels spinning.

During the 90s, I always appreciated when this series would "play" with the format, so that every episode didn't just seem like variations of the exact same plot every time. Re-watching the early stories for the first time in around 50 years, I've been repeatedly surprised that, during the 1st season at least, they had already been "playing" with the format. I guess that's why I enjoyed it when I first got hooked, but began to get bored as the 70s went on.

Patrick O'Neal is "Elliot Markham", the brilliant but egotistical architect who seems closer to his client's wife than his client is (and, oddly, nobody ever mentions it). O'Neal had just played a ruthless businessman who had a contract put out on him by a member of his own family in a McCLOUD episode a mere 5 weeks earlier!

Forrest Tucker is "Bo Williamson", the financier who doesn't like his wife spending all his money behind his back, and winds up murdered for it-- OFF-CAMERA! I'll always remember him as "Sgt. O'Rourke" in the western military comedy, F TROOP.

Pamela Austin is "Jennifer Williamson", the younger "trophy wife" who's so busy hanging out with the architect, she doesn't seen the least concerned that her husband MIGHT actually be dead.

John Finnegan, a recurring supporting actor of many parts over the course of the series, is "Carl", the construction foreman.

John Fiedler (who I've seen in countless things, from STAR TREK to BUFFALO BILL) is the heart doctor who explains how the missing man's pace-maker made it imperitive that he come in for his yearly visit as soon as he turns up... and while he's at it, firmly urges Columbo to QUIT SMOKING!

Bettye Ackerman is "Miss Sherman", the overly-loyal secretary who, while interacting with Columbo, seems to have an absurdly-limited vocabulary.

Janis Paige is first wife "Goldie Williamson", who does all she can to convince Columbo her ex is really dead, repeatedly flirts with him and calls him "lover", and provides moral support when it looks like the Lieutenant may be following up a false-- and VERY-expensive lead. Paige was 50 when she did this episode, and all I could think was, she looked DAMNED good for 50, and I would asked her to dinner if I'd been there.

After a very slow boil for most of the story, the final act genuinely keeps you on the edge of your seat, wondering HOW exactly is this going to turn out?

Colonel James Parker, an African trader, is broke, but Harry Holt, on hearing of a legend of an "elephant's graveyard", is determined to find it, and make himself, Parker & Parker's daughter Jane rich. En route, they encounter rogue elephants, hostile natives, and a refugee from "Muscle Beach" who doesn't talk much, but has a bachelor pad in the trees, hangs out with Chimps, and takes a shine to Jane. After their entire safari is killed or run off by savage natives, the remaining party make a dangerous trek over a mountain range, one of them falls to his doom, and the rest are nearly killed by blood-thirsty pygmies (or the nearest equivalent on a low budget) who use ropes to drag Jane's father to a firey death, before an elephant herd breaks up the party. Finally, Harry finds the elephants' graveyard, but Jane, crazy enough, decides to stay behind in "paradise" with the un-named "ape man".

If all this sounds familiar to you, it's because MGM-- that once-great studio-- inexplicably decided to remake their 1932 classic epic TARZAN THE APE MAN, in color, but with virtually NO budget (or talent) at all. Most are familiar with the stock footage reused from TARZAN THE APE MAN, TARZAN AND HIS MATE (both filmed in B&W, by the way) and KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1950), plus a major prop recycled from THE PRODIGAL (1955). But let's dive further...

The producer was Al Zimbalist. This is the man responsible for such "classics" as ROBOT MONSTER (oh, geez!!!), CAT-WOMEN OF THE MOON, KING DINOSAUR and VALLEY OF THE DRAGONS. Need I say more? WHAT was MGM thinking? Across town, Sy Weintraub was kicking A** reinvigorating the Tarzan series with TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE, and followed it up with TARZAN THE MAGNIFICENT, and MGM gave us THIS? Why? WHY? (Yes, I know, "remakes" always seem like a good idea to soul-less, talent-less accountants.)

THIS was the film, no doubt, that inspired me to often yell at my TV while watching jungle movies, "SEE Tarzan battle the STUFFED LEOPARD!"

Denny Miller, a handsome, likable enough guy, surprisingly had quite a career doing mostly supporting roles in TV shows for decades after this. A shame this wasn't a MUCH-better film than it was.

Cesare Danove, whose "Harry Holt" isn't one fraction as likable as Neil Hamilton's was in the original, also had quite a successful career, but in my mind, will forever be remembered as "Carmine", the Mayor in ANIMAL HOUSE (1978).

Robert Douglas, almost invisible as Jane's father, actually appeared in some prestige films over the years, including THE FOUNTAINHEAD, IVANHOE, the 1952 remake of THE PRISONER OF ZENDA, KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERs, and much later, was the voice of "Prince Barin" in the epic Filmation cartoon FLASH GORDON: THE GREATEST ADVENTURE OF ALL (1979).

Joanna Barnes, who's almost lifeless as "Jane", also had quite a career in TV over the years, but the one thing she really stands out in my mind for is something I was never able to see until last year: 21 BEACON STREET, a short-lived summer replacement series that apparently helped inspire MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE. I doubt this film did her any favors.

One thing (among countless others) I couldn't figure. Since Denny's (they never once call him Tarzan) "tree-house" was much-more cozy & civilized than the tree-bound lean-to in the 1932 film was, WHY did Jane act so terrified of him when she woke up there? (Let's just call it "bad writing" and leave it at that.)

A spoiled, self-centered, egotistical and highly-erratic heir to a chemical company, is about to be pushed out by his uncle-by-marriage, who's had enough of trying to clear up his nephew's endless screw-ups and scandals. So he concocts a box of Cuban cigars set to explode one minute after they're opened, puts them in his uncle's car, and has a night on the town with his uncle's secretary to have an alibi when the inevitable happens. But before anyone finds what's left of the car, his uncle and the man's combination chauffer-private eye, his aunt calls the police because her husband's gone missing... and they send their "best man" to investigate... Columbo. (What, you were expecting someone else?)

All the company politics involved in this story I found over-complex and boring. But the murderer is so bizarre, exagerated and over-the-top in his attitude and behavior, he gets the wheels spinning in Columbo's head, while everyone else merely assumes the car that went over a cliff was due to an exploding gas tank. There's so much insistence that it couldn't have been a murder, it had to have been an accident, that, when the climax arrives-- and Columbo actually CONS the killer into believing it WAS an accident-- and that he's holding the UNEXPLODED box in his hands-- it actually kinda makes sense, if just barely. I've seen enough people with NPD to know, a lot of them are that unstable.

Roddy McDowell (BATMAN: "The Bookworm Turns") is "Roger Stanford", an overgrown child playing at being an adult, who really could not keep his mouth shut every time Columbo was around, practically telling the Lieutenant what he did when the detective merely had suspicions. His total freak-out at the end was absolutely the highlight of the episode.

Anne Francis (FORBIDDEN PLANET) is the secretary Roger is having a secret affair with. Did he ever care, or was she just a tool to get at his uncle? (Probably) Still very attractive here, she seems to be playing a character much-younger than her then-age of 40.

James Gregory (STAR TREK: "Dagger Of The Mind") is "David L. Buckner", who runs the company for his owner-wife, and used his former-PI chauffer to dig up dirt on his incessantly-troubling nephew, which results in both of them getting blown to pieces on a dangerous mountain road. Gregory had an outstanding role (as "General Ursus") in the only original PLANET OF THE APES movie that McDowell did not appear in. I always remember him for the line, "The only GOOD human, is a DEAD human!" Well, he certainly ended up dead in here.

Ida Lupino (THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES) is "Doris Buckner", owner of the company, who's convinced her fears about her nephew were unfounded... just before Columbo NAILS the punk.

William Windom (STAR TREK: "The Doomsday Machine") is "Everett Logan", next in line to run the company, until Roger convinces his aunt he was working against her and her husband. When Roger flips out, Everett clearly realizes (without any words being said) that he's no longer fired. (Windom had previously played one of Columbo's superiors in the pilot, who was misled into trying to remove Columbo from an investigation-- which only made the Lieutenant MORE suspicious.)

In a callback to the 2nd pilot, when Columbo was seen to have a fear of flying, here we see him suffering from a serious fear of heights while riding in a cable-car through very high, dangerous-looking mountains. I can only figure that he took that first ride deliberately, to try to overcome said fear, knowing he'd probably need to take a 2nd ride later. (In Jules Verne's "Journey To The Center Of The Earth", Professor Lindenbrook has his nephew Axel climb to the top of the tallest church steeple in a town, several times, to help him overcome a similar fear of heights, knowing he'll have to face even worse when they begin a descent into a volcano crater.)

At the climax, in a very-unusual scene, Columbo, without any real, hard evidence for once, instead plays a psychological game with his prey, loudly proclaiming nothing's wrong, as a way of convincing the killer that any moment, everyone in the cable-car could get blown to bits. Peter Falk apparently said he didn't care for this one, but I found the ending not only tense, but extremely-enjoyable to watch. As it happens, way back in January 1972, this was the very first COLUMBO I ever turned on-- just at the climax, in fact-- while waiting for NIGHT GALLERY to come on at 10 PM. That one scene got me HOOKED on the whole series, and I rarely missed an episode after that.

For the 2nd episode this season, the plot involves a series of jewel thefts at expensive parties, where the identical list of jet-setters always turn up. A retired boxer friend of Mac's says he saw the mysterious "Dutchman" once, and could identify him if he ever saw him again. Soon after, someone tries to shoot the guy dead with a machine-gun while they're flying in a small plane across the desert, injuring the pilot and forcing Mac to try to land it safely. Next, Sally is kidnapped, with a demand that Mac swap the boxer for his wife. During the swap, the kidnappers try to run the man down, miss, but he winds up getting shot dead by accident by a police officer. WHAT? I wondered about this, until Sally got the idea to hold a "real Irish wake" in his memory, Mac had a surprised look on his face about it, and Enright says, "Isn't that the kind that has an OPEN casket?"

Sure enough, Mac had his men fake the "accident", the boxer is alive, and will get a try to identify the unusually-murderous jewel thief. And meanwhile, Sally goes to insane lengths trying to identify a perfume (or is it a cologne?) worn by one of her kidnappers. If the phrase, "Who writes this stuff?" comes to mind, join the club.

A wide and varied guest cast includes Claude Akins (RIO BRAVO), Edward Andrews (SIXTEEN CANDLES), Hazel Court (THE RAVEN), Jon Cypher (HILL STREET BLUES), Richard Deacon (THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW), Dick Wilson (Charmin' commercials), Stafford Repp (BATMAN), Robert Dowdell (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA), Barbara Rhodes (SOAP) and Sidney Klute (McCLOUD). I suppose a big enough crowd of decent actors can sometimes make up for deficiencies in a script.

As usual, the regulars are always top-notch. Nancy Walker gets smashed at the wake, John Schuck is amazingly efficient, Rock Hudson gets to BEAT THE CRAP out of a couple people involved in his wife's kidnapping, and Susan St. James is just ADORABLE-- as usual. The tense scene where Mac tries to land a plane reminded me that not long after, Rock Hudson played a WW1 biplane fighter pilot in the movie DARLING LILI. (Am I the only one who genuinely LIKED that film?)

Well no it wasn't. A repressed woman decides to murder her brother, who announces he's standing in the way of her marrying the man she loves. She plans it all out in advance, even daydreams of exactly how it will go. Except, it DOESN'T. He comes in through the wrong door, she shoots him dead BEFORE setting off the burglar alarm, her boyfriend arrives moments later, her brother left a LATE-edition of the newspaper in the living room he supposedly didn't walk through... It occured to me, the instant her brother walked in, she should have calmed down, waited, and planned to murder him at a later date. Too bad she didn't. Columbo arrives, and after that, well, the ending was inevitable, wasn't it?

Susan Clark (MADIGAN, COOGAN'S BLUFF) is "Beth Chadwick", the 2nd woman murderer in the series (after Lee Grant). They must have gone to some length to make her look plain and average early in the story, after the murder she gives herself quite a make-over, in more ways than one. Her fiance comments it's like she's become an entirely-different person, and she eventually becomes openly-hostile to Columbo's incessant appearances with not-so-trivial questions that never seem to end.

Richard Anderson (THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN) is the domineering brother who goes too far and winds up shot 3 times for it. Some people in real life do seem to spend years practically begging to be murdered, but it's still not a good idea to actually do it.

Richard Bull (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) and Garry Walberg (QUINCY M. E.) are 2 homicide cops who show up after the shooting but are never seen again. Marcia Wallace (THE BOB NEWHART SHOW) is an astrology nut who tells Columbo that Chadwick will definitely get off, based on the positions of the stars. Jon Lormer (PEYTON PLACE, STAR TREK) is the judge at the inquest.

Leslie Nielsen nearly steals the show as "Peter Hamilton", Chadwick's fiance who angrily raced to the house determind to confront her brother, only to find him DEAD when he got there. One would almost expect most cops to suspect HIM of the killing, and indeed, he asks if Columbo suspects he & Beth planned it together. After, he has more discussions with Columbo than she does, and with his friendly demeanor, anyone walking in halfway thru might mistake HIM as the killer. I've seen him in so many things over the decades, and frankly, this was one the most-relaxed performances I've ever seen him give, right up there with NIGHT TRAIN TO PARIS (if you haven't seen that, by all mean, check it out!). He got so much better after FORBIDDEN PLANET.

Mac & Sally befriend football quarterback Billy Benton, who made a pass at her before learning she was married. But soon a young "gofer" at the stadium is mysteriously murdered, and the investigation suggests illegal football betting was involved, especially when it's learned someone placed a $75,000 bet against the team. Bodies start piling up before Mac figures out which of multiple suspects might be behind it all, and it climaxes when the killer tries to murder both Mac & Sally at the empty stadium!

I'll admit, I'm not big into sports, especially football, yet even I could follow what was going on during scenes when the teams were playing. This was John Astin's 2nd time directing a M&W story, and I've seen enough of his work to know he was every bit as good a director as he was an actor! The guest cast includes Jackie Coogan, who Astin worked with on THE ADDAMS FAMILY.

Don Stroud (COOGAN'S BLUFF, JOE KIDD, MIKE HAMMER, LICENSE TO KILL) is "Billy Benton", who is either the top suspect or someone the real killer is trying to frame. Sally's faith in him inspires Mac to believe in him as well, and the growing friendship between the three is rather heart-warming.

John Anderson (who had a long career, mostly in westerns) is "Sandy King", the sports commentator who seems to be around too often when bad things happen.

Andrew Duggan (51 episodes of LANCER) is team owner "Harlan Royce", who acts as a weird sort of comic relief when he keeps asking for a cigarette despite his insistence that he's trying to quit.

Peter Bonerz (THE BOB NEWHART SHOW) is a rather pushy hair-stylist (DON'T call him a "barber"!) who aggressively gives Sgt. Enright a "make-over" that winds up having him resemble a pudgy John Kennedy!

Once again, for a Police Commissioner, Stuart McMillan gets into more action, more scrapes, more running and fighting and shooting than it seems a normal Police Commissioner ever should (certainly, BATMAN's Jim Gordon would never do all this stuff). Meanwhile, it struck me that between her hairdo, and nearly every one of the outfits she wore in this story, that Sally DOESN'T look at all like she did in every previous episode to this point. It's not until the final scene when we see her wearing a football jersey (in bed, where else?) that I could be sure it was the same Sally. I have to keep saying it. I just think she's ADORABLE.

For only the 2nd time in the series (after "Ransom For A Dead Man"), the story OPENS with the murderer shooting his victim dead. An egotistical art critic kills his rich uncle, and with the help of a young art student, sets up an alibi to make it look like it happened later than it actually did. It turns out, the killer learned his uncle had changed his will to leave his entire art collection to his EX-WIFE-- and so he sets about trying to frame HER for the killing, with the idea that if she's convicted, he'll get the paintings after all. But the man is SO obnoxious-- especially dealing with Columbo-- how can the Lieutenant possibly suspect anyone else? And, when the killer uses his lawyer to "pull strings" and have Columbo taken off the case (even as happened in "Prescription Murder"), that's practically a confession in our hero's one good eye.

Ross Martin (THE WILD WILD WEST) is "Dale Kingston". I have to agree with several other reviewers who said he was one of the most arrogant murderers this series ever saw, and you just can't wait to see him NAILED for not one but two murders, plus, trying to frame a sweet, innocent lady.

Don Ameche (TRADING PLACES) is "Frank Simpson", the well-meaning family lawyer who foolishly allows himself to be conned into taking part in what he doesn't realize is a frame-up job.

Kim Hunter (DEADLINE-USA, PLANET OF THE APES) is "Edna Matthews", who NOBODY suspects of anything, despite having an obvious motive. She's the kind of nice, endearing sort of middle-aged lady that I'd love to have someday as a home care client.

Barney Phillips (THE TWILIGHT ZONE) is "Captain Wyler", Columbo's boss, who seems so familiar it's a shock to see this was his only appearance on the show.

Vic Tayback (STAR TREK: "A Piece of the Action") is Sam Franklin, an eccentric artist who Kingston shows utter contempt for. An amusing scene is when Columbo is trying to get some info from him while avoiding looking at the man's obviously-NAKED young female model. (Funny, that sort of thing never bothered me when I was in art school.)

This is probably a cleche, but it strikes me that COLUMBO as a series may have been as popular as it was, because you had normal people watching characters in every episode who were OBSCENELY-RICH, wallowing in their wealth and power, get TAKEN DOWN every episode by a guy they always mistook for an uneducated schlep. This episode's finale, involving finger-prints, put the BIGGEST smile on my face. "But I thought..." "We KNOW what you thought."

I suspect, judging by the producer credits, that this episode was filmed before the previous one, "Dead Weight".

No, it's not THE PINK PANTHER, but it sure made me think the writer had that in mind.

In the most off-kilter, confusing episode so far, a former client of Mac's (from when he was a defense attourney) warns Mac there's going to be a robbery... but gets the house wrong, and when the police arrive, the house has been broken into, the safe is open, but nothing appears to be stolen. But due to gossip squeezed out of a reluctant Sally, he finds several people in his social circle are having financial troubles, and begins to suspect the very-expensive necklace in the safe may be a fake... despite the jeweler who made it special insisting it's real ("I know my own work.") All of this revolves around a costume party Mac refuses to get dressed for... until his Chief of Police insists, as part of an undercover stake-out. Sure enough, not only is there a robbery during the party, but also a shooting, followed by a chase on foot, all climaxing in the real culprit openly threatening to murder Sally for knowing too much. OY!

Was there ever a Police Commissioner who did so much actual dangerous policework himself? Was there ever a more obviously-happy married couple on TV? Was there ever an episode with more completely-insane dialogue (outside of a GET SMART)? I'm sure writer Robert Lewin meant it all to be hilarious, but, frankly, the only laugh I got out of this one was the scene where Mac throws Sally over his shoulder and carries her upstairs to the bedroom. Lewin only did two 1st-season M&Ws, but he also did four 1st-season STAR TREK: TNGs, which may explain some things. Let's just say I wish I enjoyed this one a lot more than I did.

For the 2nd story in a row, Mac (the POLICE COMMISSIONER!) is pulled over by his own cops for SPEEDING. Tsk! And, once again, poor Sgt. Enright is repeatedly interrupted by phone calls just as he's about to do something important (like eating). I would hope that Mac would be giving that guy regular raises in salary, for all the determined loyalty above and beyond whatever that he keeps displaying.

The guest cast this time included Cesare Danova (ANIMAL HOUSE), Lorraine Gary (JAWS, 1941), Tyne Daly (THE ENFORCER, though I must admit I didn't recognize her in this), John Abbott (STAR TREK, LOST IN SPACE, THE SAINT IN LONDON) and Monte Landis (THE MONKEES-- in a bizarre bit of type-casting, the guy who once played "Mr. Zero" shows up at the party dressed in a DEVIL costume).

This "mystery" show sure had a LOT more action in it than COLUMBO... sometimes, more than McCLOUD! As usual, my focus is often on Sally (Susan Saint James). After not seeing most of these since they were first-run (more than 50 years ago), I'm reminded of just how adorable I always found her to be, and the fact that if I ever met someone like her in real life, I could fall for her so easily.

4 little old ladies with too much time on their hands and a habit for crazy fun ideas to avoid boredom, decide to sign up with a computer-dating agency by creating a fictional 23-year-old blonde applicant... and then see what happens. Rather amusing until one of the potential suitors turns out to be dangerously mentally-unstable. When they suddenly realize the MURDERED girl in the newspaper may be the one they saw at a singles bar the night before, they set out to determine if the man they saw with her might actually be the killer... and somehow wind up ahead of the cops investigating the crime.

Not a mystery so much as a comedy-thriller, this ABC Movie of the Week (an anthology series I really loved back in the early 70s) starred a quartet of adorable characters. There's Helen Hayes (AIRPORT), Myrna Loy (THE MASK OF FU MANCHU, THE THIN MAN), Mildred Natwick (McMILLAN & WIFE), and Sylvia Sidney (DEAD END, WKRP, BEETLEJUICE, MARS ATTACKS!), plus, almost unrecognizable, Vince Edwards (BEN CASEY, STAR RAIDERS). In supporting roles are John Beradino (GENERAL HOSPITAL), Larry D. Mann (POLICE SURGEON) and, also almost unrecognizable, John Mitchum (DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, THE ENFORCER). Paul Smith (who I've only ever seen on an episode of BATMAN) plays a man the police insist is NOT a "prime suspect", especially when it turns out he's a regular customer for the murdered woman (who turned out to be a cut-rate hooker).

The film was based on the novel by Doris Miles Disney, while the director was Ted Post. I have a really hard time connecting that this wonderfully-goofy bit of fluff was done by the same guy who did HANG 'EM HIGH, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, MAGNUM FORCE and GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK! I guess people shouldn't be judged via type-casting. Jerry Goldsmith did the music, and the "theme song" (or whatever it was) is just one of the WEIRDEST things I've ever heard from him. And he scored PLANET OF THE APES!

A year later on a different network, thanks to Leonard Stern (GET SMART, McMILLAN & WIFE), Hayes & Natwick were reunited in the pilot film THE SNOOP SISTERS, which, the following season, led to the short-run series as part of the NBC Mystery Movies. Previously availalble as a DVD-R from MOD Cinema, it has recently been added as an extra to the newer 2020 VEI box of THE SNOOP SISTERS: The Complete Series. The color on the print is a bit faded, and there's some HISS on the sountrack, but the picture is clear, and exceedingly-watchable.

What nobody else has mentioned is that, with 4 older ladies as this film has, it's very much like THE GOLDEN GIRLS-- 14 years early!

Ever since 1973, Helen Hayes has really cracked me up. I wish I'd had an aunt like her when I was growing up.

A war hero-turned-arms manufacturer has been ripping off the Federal Government, and his partner in crime informs him the Feds are investigating. The younger man, fearful of getting caught, decides to run, but the retired General, not wanting any chance of being connected in the embezzlement scheme, decides on the spur of the moment to kill the man, then get rid of the body. But by chance, a woman sailing by his house sees the murder and calls the police. When Columbo arrives, there's no body, no murder weapon, and no immediately-apparent motive. When the General locates the woman and begins to break down her confidence in what she saw-- coupled with the woman's horribly-abusive, narcissistic mother incessantly tearing her down, her resolve begins to give way. But then the body turns up, having been dumped in the bay... and a lot of pieces begin falling into place.

For the 2nd time in the series (in fact, in broadcast order, the 2nd story IN A ROW), we have an abrupt murder instead of a planned-out, calculated one. (I guess that's what NBC gets for running the 2 previous stories in the reverse order. In fact, based on production credits, I suspect this may have been filmed after the NEXT one!) Myself, I like that this early in the run, they're still "playing" with the format (even as they did much later in Season 11 and after), so that not every story has the exact same structure. Writer John T. Dugan's 1st of only 2 episodes, judging by the IMDB, is over-run with goofs and logic problems. Oh, well, nobody's perfect. I mainly know him from the 2nd-season STAR TREK story "Return To Tomorrow", though he also did 25 episodes of ADAM-12, 7 of KUNG FU and 18 of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE.

Eddie Albert (GREEN ACRES) is "Maj. Gen. Martin J. Hollister", a man so cool and confident he figures he can get away with anything, even NOT getting rid of the murder weapon, which was a proud part of his career and winds up on display in a museum exhibit commemorating his military service. Albert was one of many stars of 60s TV shows who no doubt wound up having fun playing baddies in the 70s, including here, and on a later McCLOUD.

John Kerr (PIT AND THE PENDULUM) is "Col. Roger Dutton", who's shot dead OFF-camera, leaving the audience to wonder what happened to his corpse. An amusing moment is when Columbo arrives and sees a coffin-size wooden crate being nailed up, and the murderer says, "That would be a little too obvious, wouldn't it?" (But as soon as he then drew the Lieutenant's attention to the bedrooms in the opposite direction of where he was looking, I suspected WHERE the body was actually hidden. I was right!)

Suzanne Pleshette (THE BOB NEWHART SHOW) is "Helen Stewart", the witness who's so relentlessly beaten down by her mother's harping and insults, on top of already losing confidence in herself from going through a divorce, that she becomes far-too-easy prey when the General begins stalking, then complimenting, then dating her. (How creepy can you get?)

Kate Reid (THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN) is "Mrs. Walters", a determined, shrewish harpy so nasty, so vile, she made the murdering General seem like a nice guy by comparison. I've had so much personal experience with various people with "NPD" (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) that I get deeply offended and incensed whenever I recognize the behavior on film or TV. No, there was nothing "fun" about her or her behavior.

Also in the cast were Val Avery as the man renting sail boats, and Timothy Carey as "Bert", who tells Columbo he has "the best chili in town".

The scene where the General takes Columbo out for a "test drive" of his boat was so similar to when Lee Grant took him up in a one-man plane, that I figured writer Dugan had watched the previous episodes for ideas.

I liked the fact that the General NEVER actually admitted his crime at the end. A really smart criminal would know to say NOTHING.

I suppose one might say this story was a bit ahead of its time. The plot involving government military contracts would crop up again only 4 NBC Mystery Movies later, in the McCLOUD episode, "Somebody's Out To Get Jennie". This sort of thing is so horrifically-rampant these days, The Pentagon has actually FAILED multiple audits in a row. One of these days... that needs to STOP.

4 Thrush assassins manage to break into UNCLE HQ in NYC, attempting to kill the #1 man, Alexander Waverly. Top agent Napoleon Solo shoots him 3 times-- very dead. It seems they've intercepted a transmission indicating that when the Premier of a newly-formed African nation is visiting an industrial plant owned by a known Thrush agent, someone is to be assassinated. The only way to get close to the man in charge, insanely enough, is to recruit an innocent married woman with 2 kids... who used to be the guy's girlfriend in college. As is to be expected in situations like this, things don't quite go as planned!

Producer Norman Felton had an idea to do a show that for legal reasons, they couldn't refer to as "James Bond On Television"-- especially after consulting with Ian Fleming, who contributed 2 character names: "Napoleon Solo" and "April Dancer". Fleming withdrew when EON Productions threatened a lawsuit, so writer Sam Rolfe "developed" the show, initially named SOLO but then (also for legal reasons) renamed the much-cooler THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

Robert Vaughn (THE MAGNIFICENT 7, THE LIEUTENANT) was cast as "Solo" because they wanted someone who looked "normal" who also could look really good in a tuxedo. When it comes to 60s spies, I find him infinitely more-likable than James Bond ever was! (Come to think of it, he's a lot closer to Fleming's version of Bond from the novels to that sexual predator Sean Connery helped co-create for the Bond movies.)

Leo G. Carroll (Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actor-- see REBECCA, SPELLBOUND, and most notably, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) is "Alexander Waverly", a guy so cool, so laid-back, at times he can seem cold-blooded when he sends his men out on dangerous missions. ("I sometimes wonder which side Mr. Waverly is really working for.", one of the heroes said in a later story.) He was apparently cast at a very late stage of the game, because Will Kuluva's "Mr. Allison", who was in the unaired pilot (and, crazy enough, the expanded theatrical movie version) was replaced due to a happy mix-up. (Kuluva would eventually play baddies in 2 much-later episodes.) Oddly enough, these days I find Waverly reminds me an awful lot of one of John Steed's bosses on THE AVENGERS, "One-Ten" (Douglas Muir), a cultured older gent who still has a thing for much-younger ladies. He was on that show 2 YEARS before UNCLE debuted!

In fact, similar to NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), Steed also had recruited a total innocent to help him, lounge singer "Venus Smith" (Julie Stevens), but unlike Solo, Steed didn't bother to tell Venus what was going on. THE CAD! (Again, 2 years before UNCLE debuted.)

David McCallum (THE OUTER LIMITS: "The Forms Of Things Unknown") has a tiny part as Russian UNCLE agent Ilya Kuryakin. Some network exec wanted him gone (even as some other network exec initially wanted "Mr. Spock" gone from STAR TREK!) but he survived and soon had such a building fan base that he became HALF of the show (even as Spock did on ST).

Guest-stars this ep include Patricia Crowley (THE LIEUTENANT, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES), Fritz Weaver (CREEPSHOW: "The Crate"), William Marshall (TARZAN, STAR TREK, BLACULA, ROSETTI & RYAN), Ivan Dixon (HOGAN'S HEROES), Rupert Crosse (THE MONKEES, THE PARTNERS), with Roy Jenson (STAR TREK) and Richard Kiel (THE WILD WILD WEST, THE MONKEES, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) as an assassin and a security guard.

There are actually 3 distinct edits of this one story! Just last week, for the first time, I saw the original UNAIRED pilot, "SOLO", which was filmed IN COLOR. What struck me as bizarre is that it clocks in at 1:09:58. That's 19 MINUTES longer than when it was broadcast as the official 1st episode, "The Vulcan Affair". I know that the STAR TREK pilot ("The Cage") was also much longer than the then-common 51-minute slot. What was going on there? Did someone already have it in mind to expand it to feature length, just in case it wasn't sold as a series? Eventually, it was expanded to 1 hour 32 minutes and run in theatres as TO TRAP A SPY, with the additional 22 minutes of that coming from "The Four-Steps Affair", at least part of which must have been filmed in COLOR to facilitate this.

Re-watching "The Vulcan Affair" today, I noted multiple scenes being cut all over the place to get it down to 50:52. Among them, the bit where Elaine asks Solo if he wouldn't mind getting out of her bedroom. This stood out, as in THE NEW AVENGERS episode "House Of Cards", Purdey (Joanna Lumley) says to Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), "Would you mind getting out of my bedroom?" (Of course, on that show, Gambit WAS always hoping to get closer to Purdey. Here, Napoleon is being much more of a gentleman.)

Other cut scenes include revealing that all 4 Thrush assassins had taken poison before the break-in, and all DIED before they could be interrogated; "Margaret Oberon" (the girl with the gun on the airplane who later turns up at Vulcan's party) is really working for UNCLE; Vulcan taking Elaine for a protracted tour of his plant (and Solo hid in the trunk of his car); the explanation that the plant manufactures PLASTICS; the scene where Vulcan angrily tries to SLAP Elaine in the face, only to be knocked down by Napoleon (in the broadcast version, you can see Solo rubbing his hand after just punching the guy in the face); the bit where Solo & Elaine are hanging from that pipe, where she says, "Will you please STOP doing that?" and he replies, "I'm trying to break this pipe loose."; and finally, the bit on the plane where Solo offers Elaine tickets to a fancy reception at the UN Building, so her family can see her in that gorgeous dress, but she turns him down. (I've probably missed some.)

Oddly enough, after Solo's car crashes, there's a clip of him walking into Elaine's hotel room BEFORE she sees him, that wasn't in the longer version. In that one, she's walking around her room, thinking, when she suddenly looks over and there he is standing in the doorway.

I've seen the theatrical version TO TRAP A SPY more times than the other two, but frankly, the story makes more sense without the footage from the other episode (no matter how hot Luciana Paluzzi looks in there). Having now seen SOLO, I'd say the unaired COLOR pilot is the best version of the 3. I'm sure glad when I decided to go after UNCLE, I sprung for the "Complete Series" box. It's got 5 boxes in it, one for each season, and a fifth consisting entirely of "extras"!

Until recently, I'd never actually seen the bulk of this series. Now that I have seen it from beginning to end, I really wish they'd stuck with the format they had in Season 1. On multiple occasions, I kept comparing it to THE TWILIGHT ZONE, in that nearly every actor who appeared on it that year got one of the BEST scripts of their entire career. I can't say that for Seasons 2 & 3. (Although Season 4 blew my mind. I've never seen a show recover and improve THAT drastically.)

An extremely eccentric friend of Sally's mother is upset. She's received a ransom demand reading, "We have the one you love." They're demanding $100,000 to return... her Pekingese. Oh, yeah, and they nabbed her husband too. But who cares about HIM? He's not even in the will.

Mac picks up a terrible sneeze, but it takes him 40 minutes into the story before realizes that A)he's allergic to the perfume used on the dog, and, B)he had sneazing fits in the vet's office. Therefore, either the vet or his assistant must be involved.

But then the woman turns up dead, and her lavish penthouse apartment has been ransacked. Yet, the kidnappers still want the money. What's going on here?

This plot, which played out like a screwball comedy on steroids, seemed to defy any logical story structure I've seen before. Yet in the back of my mind, I sensed it might be a variation on the COLUMBO episode, "Ransom For A Dead Man", which involved a fake kidnapping but a real murder. Turns out I was right. (But watch the episode to see how.)

This one featured June Havoc as "Francesca Fairborn", who's madly in love with her dog, but dismisses her husband as a "gold-digger", and stuns Mac & Sally when she tells the kidnappers over the phone she's "not interested" in getting her husband back. I wondered at that moment if she didn't have her husband killed (like in the earlier COLUMBO episode). Her lawyer is such an eccentric crackpot himself, I began to wonder if HE was involved in the crime. Then there's Wally Cox (MR. PEEPERS, UNDERDOG) as the vet, who arrogantly dismisses the cops when they arrive to ask him questions. I have to admit, this thing really kept me guessing for awhile.

Also on hand are Linda Watkins in her 2nd appearance as Sally's mother (who we learn is criminally-awful in the kitchen), and Paul Stewart, making his debut as "Chief of Police Andy Yaekel" (replacing Jack Albertson from the pilot). Enright & Mildred are on hand as usual, adding color commentary.

Mac & Sally remain a gloriously in love couple, the likes of which I bet many (if not most) people wish they were part of in their own lives.

While all this is going on, there is one subplot that distracted and infuriated me for the entire length of the story. It seems Mac has decided, as Police Commissioner, to crack down on traffic problems, by insisting that off-duty policemen get tickets like everyone else. Fair enough. But when, upset because the woman whose husband has been snatched flat out REFUSES to allow the police to be involved, he winds up getting pulled over for speeding, the officer in charge, once he's assured it's okay to give a ticket to THE COMMISSIONER, suddenly becomes very arrogant about confiscating his DRIVER'S LICENSE, which will be returned at his court hearing. WHAT??? I have never heard such an INSANE thing in my life! So Mac is barred from driving until he goes to court, and Sally has to do all his driving for him. But this flies in the face of all logic. For most traffic violations, one has the choice to pay the ticket by mail, or, go to court to FIGHT it. Forcing everyone who gets a ticket to have to go to court would clog up the court system worse than it already is, and even in cases (such as two I was involved in over the years) where you had to go to court, how are you supposed to get there (or to your job) if you're NOT ALLOWED TO DRIVE? I cannot believe such a thing was ever the law anywhere, let alone in San Francisco in 1971. I wanted to throttle the writer over this. Otherwise, I might have given this one a higher rating.

The arrogant traffic cop was played by Joey Foreman, who I'll always remember as "Harry Hoo" from GET SMART. One more connection with that show. That and M&W were both from the same production company, and Leonard Stern was GET SMART's executive producer for its first 86 episodes!

It struck me that the title of the story, "The Easy Sunday Murder Case", was a tribute to "The Kennel Murder Case", arguably the single BEST Philo Vance movie ever made. That film starred the best of all the Philo actors, William Powell, who later played "Nick Charles" in 6 movies that clearly were the inspiration for THIS series. And every Vance story had "The whatever Murder Case" as the title, with the whatever being a word with 6 letters (in this case, "Sunday"). But I like Susan Saint James a LOT more than Myrna Loy!