Columbo: Season 03  (1973)

Theatrical Release Information:
Columbo: Season 03

Season three of Columbo finds the series still a rotating component of the NBC Mystery Movie, still starring Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo, a homicide detective whose sloppy appearance and scattershot methods adroitly hide the fact that he has a mind like a steel trap. Just as in the two previous seasons, Columbo invariably lulls murderers into a sense of security by appearing to be miles away from solving their crimes, only to be hoodwinked into tipping their hands by episode's end. The first of this season's eight episodes (each running between 90 and 120 minutes) is "Lovely But Lethal", featuring Vera Miles and Martin Sheen (guess who plays the title character). "Any Old Port in a Storm" finds Columbo zeroing in on wine producer Donald Pleasence, who after killing his brother arranges the evidence to make it seem as if the victim tied in a swimming accident. Jackie Cooper plays a politician who kills his campaign manager in a phony assassination attempt ostensibly directed at himself in "Candidate for Crime". In "Double Exposure," Robert Culp makes his third Columbo appearance, this time as a doctor-turned-filmmaker who pulls off a murder during the screening of a new production. Jack Cassidy, who appeared in the first Columbo episode back in 1973 shows up as a publisher who murders his best author while arranging an airtight alibi in "Publish or Perish." "Mind Over Mayhem" finds Columbo trying to prove that a brilliant scientist (José Ferrer) killed an associate to protect his plagiarizing son. Johnny Cash makes a rare acting appearance as a country & western star who arranges his wife's death in a plane crash in "Swan Song." And in "A Friend in Deed," Columbo is faced with the dilemma of bringing a police commissioner (Richard Kiley) to justice for committing murder to cover up another crime; this last episode was directed by Peter Falk's longtime friend, actor Ben Gazzara. ~ All Movie Guide