Even though George 'Norm' Wendt seems to have only one facial expression, he is always fun to watch somehow. Of course, he is legendary for playing the barfly postman in 'Cheers', but in the horror films 'King of the ants' (2003) and 'Family' (2006) he did a real nice job as well. Here, he does so, too. It's a lot of fun watching how he plays a calculating, down to earth villain who slowly loses control of his 'perfect' plan.
Rod Steiger as the big crime boss was impressive, too, and Columbo opposes both actors with plenty of verve, even if it seemed a little far fetched that he would immediately eye Graham McVeigh (Wendt) as if he knew he did it without any proof or indication of guilt at that time. I guess that's part of the show.
What usually is nót part of the show, is that Frank teams up with the mafia (he will do it again in a later episode as well) to catch his guy. This does not make him any more sympathetic, at all. It is actually something that really stings. This crime boss initially says he wants justice, but later on just wants a load of money back. Truly reprehensible, in spite of Frank's refusal to have drinks with the guy in the end. I don't really understand how they came up with this sort of writing, or what purpose they thought it would serve.
A rather big blemish on an otherwise pretty good episode (the plot is just fine otherwise), so I don't want to go any higher than 6 out of 10.
P.s.: it is a little strange that Frank claims he does not speak Italian, when he clearly did perfectly in several episode before this. Maybe he was trying to fool the crime boss? But if so, to what avail?
Rod Steiger as the big crime boss was impressive, too, and Columbo opposes both actors with plenty of verve, even if it seemed a little far fetched that he would immediately eye Graham McVeigh (Wendt) as if he knew he did it without any proof or indication of guilt at that time. I guess that's part of the show.
What usually is nót part of the show, is that Frank teams up with the mafia (he will do it again in a later episode as well) to catch his guy. This does not make him any more sympathetic, at all. It is actually something that really stings. This crime boss initially says he wants justice, but later on just wants a load of money back. Truly reprehensible, in spite of Frank's refusal to have drinks with the guy in the end. I don't really understand how they came up with this sort of writing, or what purpose they thought it would serve.
A rather big blemish on an otherwise pretty good episode (the plot is just fine otherwise), so I don't want to go any higher than 6 out of 10.
P.s.: it is a little strange that Frank claims he does not speak Italian, when he clearly did perfectly in several episode before this. Maybe he was trying to fool the crime boss? But if so, to what avail?