Having just viewed Columbo Goes to College (again) and read the IMDb reviews here, I wish to add my thoughts about why this is one of the absolute best of the ABC Columbos.
We start off by seeing a college student, Cooper Redman, getting harshly warned by his father that any more foul-ups will cause him to be out on his own, no longer supported by his father. Then we follow Cooper and his close buddy, Justin Rowe, as they are called into their professor's office after class, where the prof reveals that he knows they stole the last exam and he is trying to decide which of two disciplinary acts to take.
The two talk about wanting to get rid of their problem, but don't make it clear what they plan to do. We see them borrow keys from the campus policeman they know, make a copy, and later break into a home and steal a pistol.
We later see Justin pleading with the prof to meet with his father—an influential person at the university, for a few minutes, across campus that night—while the professor's class is having a guest lecturer—Lt. Columbo.
We see Professor Rusk leave the classroom and head to the parking garage. Back in the classroom, one of those two students pulls out a miniature TV screen and a remote control car door locking/unlocking device (rare in 1990) and we see on his little screen Prof. Rusk as he leans to insert his key into the door, being suddenly shot—dead. After class, several students, including Justin and Cooper, are walking with Columbo into the parking garage, where Columbo happened to park about four spaces down from Rusk, and they discover the body. Justin volunteers to call 911, and instead of running back up the stairs, he jumps into his pickup, parked across from the professor's car, and wheels around to the garage entrance area, then runs to the security guard, Joe and tells him about the murder.
Much of the show has Columbo talking with the "helpful" students, as they try to lead him toward the basketball coach's wife, who had been having an affair with Rusk, and eventually to the possibility that someone with organized crime connections, named in one of the professor's books, was responsible. They think Columbo is a fool and they can lead him any way they want.
Like most Columbos, we don't know when the Lieutenant first suspects these two students. That's always a fun part for us viewers, trying to see what little thing seems to get him focused on the killer(s). The first clue he seems to find is a shell casing—on the driveway outside the parking deck, which, of course, shouldn't have been there, making him wonder how it was dropped there instead of where the gun was fired.
Right then it's apparent to the viewer that the gun was rigged to the two students' truck, which was conveniently driven out of the garage before there was a chance it could be searched and the gun discovered. Security videotapes show only the shooting from an angle different than what we saw at the time of the murder. One thing I would have fixed with the script is made it clear that there were other cameras that would have shown other angles that would have helped, but that their footage at that time was erased as the system is set to re-record over all tapes every hour unless someone intentionally saves it. For most of the film, we are led to believe that there were no cameras that might have helped. They do establish that the gunshot must have come from a spot just out of sight of any camera, but the other angle would have made it more clear about the escape of the murderer—or lack thereof.
One thing that makes it clear that Columbo is on to the two killers is how he seems to be extra friendly to them, sharing what he knows more than usual. He even agrees to have a beer with them, although he conveniently avoids drinking it.
I enjoyed seeing Bridget Hanley play the professor's wife. I remember her well from her starring role as Candy on Here Come the Brides. Most enjoyable are a few scenes with Robert Culp as Justin's father, as he seems apoplectic that Columbo hasn't researched the professor's life at all, or the background of the security man on duty.
The most revealing clue came late in the show, and it didn't directly lead to one or both of the killers, but it did let Columbo figure out a big part of how it was done. Viewers in 2014 need to be aware that the technology demonstrated here was far less common in 1990, making the method used even more intriguing.
To me this was one of the best Columbo episodes in the post-NBC group. The murder was intricately planned, motive was clear, and mistakes were so few that we had to have Columbo spend much of his time pursuing false leads. Columbo didn't seem to suspect these two men, but, we viewers asked, "Why was he being such a buddy to them, letting them know so much about his investigation?"
In this case, if Columbo let them know he suspects them, they would stop talking to him. The prof wasn't killed at their frat house and they weren't relatives, so there would be no other reason for Columbo and the two to keep communicating at all. While they seem to be leading Columbo around by the nose, it is they who are on the end of Columbo's fishing line, as he plays with it before reeling them in. The way he tricks them is quite like a couple of other episodes, but I suspect many longtime Columbo fans were also fooled, at least on first viewing.
We start off by seeing a college student, Cooper Redman, getting harshly warned by his father that any more foul-ups will cause him to be out on his own, no longer supported by his father. Then we follow Cooper and his close buddy, Justin Rowe, as they are called into their professor's office after class, where the prof reveals that he knows they stole the last exam and he is trying to decide which of two disciplinary acts to take.
The two talk about wanting to get rid of their problem, but don't make it clear what they plan to do. We see them borrow keys from the campus policeman they know, make a copy, and later break into a home and steal a pistol.
We later see Justin pleading with the prof to meet with his father—an influential person at the university, for a few minutes, across campus that night—while the professor's class is having a guest lecturer—Lt. Columbo.
We see Professor Rusk leave the classroom and head to the parking garage. Back in the classroom, one of those two students pulls out a miniature TV screen and a remote control car door locking/unlocking device (rare in 1990) and we see on his little screen Prof. Rusk as he leans to insert his key into the door, being suddenly shot—dead. After class, several students, including Justin and Cooper, are walking with Columbo into the parking garage, where Columbo happened to park about four spaces down from Rusk, and they discover the body. Justin volunteers to call 911, and instead of running back up the stairs, he jumps into his pickup, parked across from the professor's car, and wheels around to the garage entrance area, then runs to the security guard, Joe and tells him about the murder.
Much of the show has Columbo talking with the "helpful" students, as they try to lead him toward the basketball coach's wife, who had been having an affair with Rusk, and eventually to the possibility that someone with organized crime connections, named in one of the professor's books, was responsible. They think Columbo is a fool and they can lead him any way they want.
Like most Columbos, we don't know when the Lieutenant first suspects these two students. That's always a fun part for us viewers, trying to see what little thing seems to get him focused on the killer(s). The first clue he seems to find is a shell casing—on the driveway outside the parking deck, which, of course, shouldn't have been there, making him wonder how it was dropped there instead of where the gun was fired.
Right then it's apparent to the viewer that the gun was rigged to the two students' truck, which was conveniently driven out of the garage before there was a chance it could be searched and the gun discovered. Security videotapes show only the shooting from an angle different than what we saw at the time of the murder. One thing I would have fixed with the script is made it clear that there were other cameras that would have shown other angles that would have helped, but that their footage at that time was erased as the system is set to re-record over all tapes every hour unless someone intentionally saves it. For most of the film, we are led to believe that there were no cameras that might have helped. They do establish that the gunshot must have come from a spot just out of sight of any camera, but the other angle would have made it more clear about the escape of the murderer—or lack thereof.
One thing that makes it clear that Columbo is on to the two killers is how he seems to be extra friendly to them, sharing what he knows more than usual. He even agrees to have a beer with them, although he conveniently avoids drinking it.
I enjoyed seeing Bridget Hanley play the professor's wife. I remember her well from her starring role as Candy on Here Come the Brides. Most enjoyable are a few scenes with Robert Culp as Justin's father, as he seems apoplectic that Columbo hasn't researched the professor's life at all, or the background of the security man on duty.
The most revealing clue came late in the show, and it didn't directly lead to one or both of the killers, but it did let Columbo figure out a big part of how it was done. Viewers in 2014 need to be aware that the technology demonstrated here was far less common in 1990, making the method used even more intriguing.
To me this was one of the best Columbo episodes in the post-NBC group. The murder was intricately planned, motive was clear, and mistakes were so few that we had to have Columbo spend much of his time pursuing false leads. Columbo didn't seem to suspect these two men, but, we viewers asked, "Why was he being such a buddy to them, letting them know so much about his investigation?"
In this case, if Columbo let them know he suspects them, they would stop talking to him. The prof wasn't killed at their frat house and they weren't relatives, so there would be no other reason for Columbo and the two to keep communicating at all. While they seem to be leading Columbo around by the nose, it is they who are on the end of Columbo's fishing line, as he plays with it before reeling them in. The way he tricks them is quite like a couple of other episodes, but I suspect many longtime Columbo fans were also fooled, at least on first viewing.