Columbo - Prescription: Murder (1968) Review

hello everyone and welcome to my channel in this video I'm going to review the TV movie prescription murder from 1968. it was directed by Richard Irving and was the first time we saw Peter Falk as our favorite Lieutenant Colombo in prescription murder the Killer is the psychiatrist Dr Fleming played by Dean Berry he kills his wife and to get a great Alibi he gets held from one of his female patients who happens to be an actress and also and he also has an affair with her she is disguised as his wife and after making a scene on a plane Dr Fleming is taking a vacation and thinks he has committed the perfect murder until the day he returns again and meets Lieutenant Colombo Peter Paul was actually not the first actor to play Colombo it was actually adapted as a stage play before this movie and prescription murder was actually made three years earlier than when the series started and you can clearly see the differences not only in the way the the film looks but also in the way that Peter Falk is playing the character he still has his sense of humor but he plays the character a bit more sarcastic and aggressive Colombo is also not using his famous code and card that is very characteristic about him in the 70s series and here he also his hair is also much more clean so in that way it's fun to see Colombo before he's the Colombo that we all know and love so what do I feel about this TV movie to be honest I really like it I think the murder scene itself has a great slow build up to when Dr Fleming is killing his wife and to be honest I think that scene is actually quite brutal the scene is very well edited and it almost feels like a scene you will see in a Hitchcock picture I also think all the actors are great um Dean Berry as Dr Fleming is one of my favorite Colombo villains he is sweetie but also charmingly dangerous I also really like Catherine Justice who plays his mistress and I actually think her character is one of the most underrated characters in this series she is both a villain but in the end she is also the victim and I think Catherine Justice performances very very good if I have a nitpick about prescription murder then I would say that I feel it is a bit too long at the same time I also feel it's a bit stagey it is very well made and filmed but I just feel like the 70s series was a bit more experimental in its direction and a bit more cinematic in a way but besides that I don't really have any complaints about prescription murder even from the opening credits I'm Blown Away by the creativity about the the credits and there's this bombastic jazzy music it's really cool I also really really like the ending where Colombo does the same kind of trick as Dr Fleming did when he committed the murder it's very it's a great it has a great irony to it and I really love that ending the film has great set designs it has a 1960s glamor it has a great murder plot and at last but not least it has Peter Falk as Colombo without him the series would never have existed because only Peter Falk can play Colombo the way he does thank you so much for watching this video let me know in the comments what you think of prescription murder and I hope you will all have a very nice day bye

Channel: The Film Classic

Views: 366

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Id: vESfMQjJVyI

Length: 4min 36sec (276 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 03 2023