The Columbo calendar year of 1974 got off to the most arresting start imaginable in the shape of Publish or Perish.
Not only were the opening credits an extraordinary combination of explosions and freeze frames, but consummate villain Jack Cassidy was back in his second appearance as a killer – this time sporting an evil moustache to accentuate his inherent wickedness.
A publishing backdrop, reassuringly familiar to fans of Murder by the Book, promised to make Publish or Perish a series highlight. But is it a the equivalent of an Allen Mallory best-selling novel, or an amateurish effort set to languish in the bargain bucket? Let’s set our clocks back to 18 January 1974 and find out…
Dramatis personae
Lieutenant Columbo: Peter Falk
Riley Greenleaf: Jack Cassidy
Allen Mallory: Mickey Spillane
Eddie Kane: John Chandler
Eileen McRae: Mariette Hartley
Jeffrey Neal: Jacques Aubuchon
David Chase: Alan Fudge
Wolpert: Jack Bender
Directed by: Robert Butler
Written by: Peter S. Fischer
Score by: Billy Goldenberg
Episode synopsis: Columbo Publish or Perish
Sleazy publisher Riley Greenleaf is up to no good. He has assassination in mind as he meets ice-cold hitman Eddie Kane at a garbage dump – the assassination, no less, of best-selling novelist Allen Mallory.
Psycho ‘Nam veteran Kane is indulging in his favourite past-time – lobbing homemade explosives around the dump with gay abandon. In between explosions, he and Greenleaf confirm the details of their fiendish plan. At 10.30pm that evening, Kane will slay Mallory in his office with a single shot to the heart. He will leave a door key on the floor and a .38 revolver in the basement car park – taking great care not to smudge Greenleaf’s prints from the gun.
As a crazy sweetener, Greenleaf also agrees to publish Kane’s book How to Blow Up Anything in 10 Easy Steps, much to the lunatic’s delight. The two then part, Greenleaf jimmying the lock of his car door and overtly scratching the paintwork before screeching away. Yes folks, it’s an opening scene packed with detail – and the plot’s only going to get thicker!
We next encounter Greenleaf at a swanky party thrown by his presumably arch-nemesis publisher, Jeffrey Neal. ‘Big Jeff’ (as no one calls him in the episode) is trying his best to impress ill-fated author Mallory, who has agreed to ditch Greenleaf and jump ship to the Neal Publishing house when his contract expires in three weeks – and he’ll be bringing his as-yet unfinished secret new novel with him. Mallory, you see, has made his name writing sex novels for Greenleaf. He’s hankering to turn his talent to more serious writing.
Greenleaf, seemingly sh*t-faced, creates a scene. When Mallory confirms he can’t wait to sever ties with his one-time publishing pal, Greenleaf gets nasty. “My dear friend, if you do you will die,” he hisses. And just in case witnesses hadn’t been paying enough attention, he squares up to Neal saying: “He’ll never write for you or anyone else, and I’ll see to it,” before shambling away. A shaken Mallory, meanwhile, heads off to his lonely vigil of dictating the final pages of said new book.
Our story now unfolds via an innovative three-way split-screen editing technique, where Mallory, Greenleaf and the skulking Eddie Kane go about their respective tasks. One moment the focus is on Greenleaf shouting vitriol at a barkeep in some dive in the Valley; the next we’re watching Kane glide ever closer to his unwitting prey.
At the critical moment Mallory hears a noise, spins round in his chair and is confronted by a gun-toting Kane, who fulfils his obligations by firing one shot to the heart. He then drops the key on the carpet, plants the gun in the basement and splits. Greenleaf, meanwhile, is hilariously securing his alibi by deliberately backing into the VW Camper of an elderly couple in the bar car park. He then spends the night in the drunk tank after challenging police officers to a rumble when found illegally parked.
Back at the Mallory murder scene in the small hours of the night, we find a weary Lieutenant Columbo desperate for a coffee pick-me-up. The investigations are disturbed by the appearance of a young transcription services pick-up boy, Wolpert, who turns up every night at the same time to collect Mallory’s tapes. This will be important later on. The police also uncover the planted murder weapon, which is whisked off to ballistics.
The following morning, brusque lawyer David Chase is demanding Columbo releases his client, Riley Greenleaf, from custody. But Columbo has need of Greenleaf’s input. He plays the Mallory tape, and Greenleaf is easily able to identify the voice, and is making to leave when the gunshot rings out.
Columbo confirms that Mallory was slain the night before, cue a marvelous example of faux grief from Greenleaf who bellows: “But WHO? WHY?” like any grieving BFF should. He can’t confirm where he was at 10.30pm the night before due to his heavy drinking, though. He also can’t identify the door key found at the scene, nor be sure whether the type of pistol he owns is a match for the murder weapon.
It’s looking grim for Greenleaf, but his smug lawyer shuts down the conversation and whisks his client away before he does anything more to incriminate himself. Columbo, instead, heads off to see Eileen McRae, a cohort of Jeffrey Neal, who was at the publisher’s party the night before and is set to become Mallory’s new agent.
Miss McRae spills the beans about how Mallory was planning to leave Greenleaf in the lurch to join Neal Publising, bringing his new novel with him. Such is the sensitivity surrounding the switch, McRae doesn’t believe Mallory would ever have mentioned the book to the greedy Greenleaf. Indeed, she seems to be the only person Mallory has discussed any part of the plot with, and then only in broad terms.
It’s an intriguing mystery, and will become even more so during Columbo’s next stop: Greenleaf’s palatial home. The publisher is decidedly more sheepish now, apologising for his earlier conduct and presenting an altogether more humble face to the police.
“Despite his lawyer begging him to keep his mouth shut, Greenleaf admits that he must have killed Mallory in a drunken haze.”
Instead of being angry, he seems resigned to his fate when Columbo reveals that the murder weapon is registered to Greenleaf, and that his prints were the only ones found on it. Despite his lawyer begging him to keep his mouth shut, Greenleaf admits that he must have killed Mallory in a drunken haze.
The three men then head outside to inspect Greenleaf’s car. There Columbo discovers that the door lock is broken, and there’s a big scratch on the paintwork. Greenleaf hadn’t even noticed, but then has a lightbulb moment of his own. He kept a spare key to Mallory’s office, as well as his gun, in the glove box. Both are missing. Could someone have stolen them to commit the crime?
These thoughts are put on hold by a phone call from Greenleaf’s insurance agent, which Chase goes to take. In his absence, Columbo asks about the damage to Greenleaf’s rear fender. Again, Greenleaf claims to have no notion of how this occurred. It is then that Chase returns, smugger than ever, to shut down the conversation once more. It turns out that Greenleaf has an alibi that even he doesn’t know about. At 10.30pm the night before, he was involved in a prang in the car park of the dive bar in Encino. It means he can’t have killed Mallory after all.
A relieved Greenleaf seems overcome with emotion. “All I can say is thank God those people contacted my insurance agent.” It’s only a tiny slip of the tongue, but Columbo picks up on it. Chase hadn’t mentioned whether there was one or more people involved in the prang, but Greenleaf referred to ‘those people’. Perhaps he’s starting to recall elements of the night before, the detective suggests?
“Perhaps he is. Subconsciously,” replies Chase, as deadpan as you like. “That’s probably it. His subconscious,” replies the Lieutenant. But regular viewers will know that the wily Columbo has filed this little snippet away for future reference.
Still, it looks for all the world as if someone is trying to frame Greenleaf, and that’s the line of investigation Columbo is duty bound to follow. During a brief visit to Greenleaf’s publishing HQ, the Lieutenant seeks info on who might have reason to do such a thing. Greenleaf has no answers, but Columbo leaves a parting thought in his ear: the door key left at the crime scene didn’t fit the lock. Why? Because Mallory had changed the lock 3 weeks earlier.
If this is the case, how did the killer get in to the office? The transcription tape proves that Mallory didn’t stop his work to let anyone in. In an echo of Death Lends a Hand‘s contact lens bait-and-switch, Columbo then slips a sucker punch to Greenleaf: there must be another key. If Columbo can find the person who has that key, he’ll find the killer.
Foolishly thinking this plays into his hands, Greenleaf gets a new key for the office cut and then arranges a rendez-vous with Kane at his suitably weird apartment. The publisher rigs a bottle of Champagne with poison, and suggests they drink a toast to Kane’s impending success as an author. The wild-eyed loon knocks back the good stuff like there’s no tomorrow – which indeed there won’t be, as the poison soon reduces him to a lifeless heap on the floor.
Not batting an eyelid, Greenleaf then uses Kane’s typewriter to poduce a book synopsis entitled Sixty Miles to Saigon (the title of Mallory’s secret book), which he addresses to himself under Kane’s name, backdating it by 9 months. Dropping one copy into a filing cabinet and tucking another in his jacket, Greenleaf merrily departs – having planted the newly cut key in Kane’s jacket. He’s also rigs a little explosion of his own: one which will leave police in no doubt that weirdo Kane has blown himself apart with one of his own devices. Got all that? Good…
Cut to the next day. Columbo is at a posh restaurant for a catch-up with Neal and McRae. Conversations surround the manuscript of Mallory’s book. The plot has been a tightly guarded secret, so much so that only Miss McRae has any real insight on its content. Indeed, she had suggested a crucial change to the conclusion of the book only a week before. Rather than kill of the central character, as Mallory had planned, she suggested a good alternative would be to send him off to a monastery.
While this might sound to us like the lamest story edit in history, there’s method behind the madness. Given Mallory’s sky-high profile, Universal Pictures had purchased the rights to the novel intending to use it as a Rock Hudson vehicle. As Neal explains: “For $100,000, you don’t kill off Rock Hudson.”
At that point Columbo is called away as word of Eddie Kane’s death reaches him. At the crime scene, he predictably finds both the book synopsis addressed to Greenleaf, and the key to Mallory’s office. All the pieces are falling into place.
Interrupting Greenleaf as he giggles through a (presumed) porn film in his private cinema screen, Columbo confronts the publisher about this new evidence. It’s clear Greenleaf knew Kane, so how does he explain having been sent the manuscript 9 months earlier?
The complexity and depth of Greenleaf’s scheming is highlighted here. He claims to have received the synopsis as dated, but realised that Kane was far too cuckoo to actually write it. Instead, he claims, he passed the idea on to Mallory. Naturally Kane was furious, and vowed revenge. Who knew he’d actually live up to his threats?
Seemingly painted into a corner, Columbo seeks Miss McRae’s advice on the manuscript. “It’s as if Alan dictated it himself,” she says after reading. And that throwaway comment sets off a trillion watt light in Columbo’s head.
Summoning Greenleaf to Mallory’s office, Columbo prepares to spring his trap. First off, he addresses the enduring problem of the key. They found a key in Kane’s pocket, and guess what? It fits the lock of the office door! Case closed then, says Greenleaf. That proves that Kane did it.
No sir, replies the Lieutenant. Because the lock on the door was changed again the day after the crime at Columbo’s insistence. There’s no way Kane could have had a copy of that key. And wasn’t Greenleaf the only person that knew about the importance of finding a key to fit the lock?
Greenleaf is swiftly losing his cool. Who cares about these little details? Surely all that matters is that Kane killed Mallory. He storms away, only be stoped in his tracks as Columbo yells: “Mr Wolpert!” down the corridor after him.
Greenleaf freezes, and the young transcription service lad emerges from a side door. Greenleaf denies knowing the lad, but Columbo calls him a liar outright. He’s been looking into Wolpert’s bank account, you see, and has seen some significant sums have been transferred in. Turns out that Wolpert has been slipping an extra tape of the transcripts to Greenleaf, who therefore knows every word of the secret book. Wolpert agrees that he’ll help police with their enquiries, and Columbo sends him home.
A seething Greenleaf isn’t about to give in, though. There’s still nothing to prove that he killed Mallory. That’s when Columbo delivers the sucker punch. “For $100,000, you don’t kill off Rock Hudson.”
Close scrutiny of Kane’s supposed book synopsis had revealed the book ended with the chief protagonist heading off to begin life in a monastery. It was the very ending Miss McRae had suggested to Mallory just a week before.
“How could Eddie Kane have written an ending 9 months ago that was only written last week?” Columbo asks. Greenleaf can only look away from Columbo’s steely gaze as credits roll…
Publish or Perish‘s best moment: Riley on the rampage
Interspersed over a period of 14 minutes, Riley Greenleaf’s faux drunk shenanigans as he aims to both incriminate and exonerate himself from the killing of Allen Mallory is some of the most enjoyable television ever recorded. Lurching from shambling aggression, outright rudeness and wicked fun, this is Jack Cassidy doing what he does best.
“Madame, in your condition I should call a plastic surgeon!”
Among the highlights of his drunken spree are him tossing money at a barkeep and suggesting he buys himself a personality. Better is to follow as he accosts lily-livered ‘Ralphie’ in the bar car park and delivers a glorious riposte to the nagging wife: “Madame, in your condition I should call a plastic surgeon!”
The joy of these scenes is that Cassidy delivers the lines with a mischevious smile on his face throughout. He’s clearly having a blast filming these scenes, and that sense of fun is absolutely contagious.
Read about the top 5 scenes from Publish or Perish here.
My opinion on Publish or Perish
An explosive episode – literally – from the opening credits to the last moments, Publish or Perish is a thrilling roller-coaster ride of an episode that gets better with every viewing. But be warned – it requires close attention throughout.
This is a complex crime. Following all the aspects of the key, the fingerprints on the gun and Greenleaf’s drunken alibi is tricky enough. Add to that the layers of intrigue that are revealed as the episode goes on (including the office lock changes, plot update to Mallory’s book and Greenleaf intercepting the transcription tapes) and you have a very tangled web.
“Publish or Perish is a thrilling roller-coaster ride of an episode that gets better with every viewing.”
Publish or Perish is a faster-paced Columbo than we’re used to – particularly at a stage in the series’ development where the more ponderous 90-minute episodes were padded out mercilessly, slowing the pacing (Any Old Port in a Storm and Candidate for Crime chief examples). Here, if the viewer lets their attention wander they may well lose a thread and find it hard to pick up again.
Some critics, including the legendary Mark Dawidziak, author of Columbo Bible The Columbo Phile, have suggested that Publish could have benefitted from the longer running time. I respectfully disagree. It’s an intricate plot, but the pacing is terrific. An extra 15 minutes would have hurt it, and the storytellers got creative when they needed to to shoehorn it all in.
Case in point: as the tension rises and the storyline switches from Greenleaf out drinking to assassin Kane and victim Mallory hard at work, the editors adopted innovative split-screen techniques allowing each perspective to be advanced in real-time alongside the others. It’s brilliantly done – as good as the iconic montage effect on Robert Culp’s glasses in Death Lends a Hand.
So, yes, it’s complex but is handled extremely well. Just don’t switch off, because you will miss something important – probably related to one of the central clues about keys that don’t fit in locks, or later do when they shouldn’t. If that sounds confusing, it is, making the lead up to the ‘gotcha’ moment less accessible than in some other episodes.
“To my mind Publish or Perish is Jack’s Cassidy’s finest Columbo hour. He’s at his very, very best here.”
Those factors could be one reason why Publish is generally regarded as the least of Jack Cassidy’s three Columbo outings. And in fairness the competition is red-hot, with Season 1’s Murder by the Book a seminal piece of TV by anyone’s reckoning, and Now You See Him from Season 5 a firm favourite due to the enduring appeal of the magic act theme.
But to my mind Publish is Jack’s finest Columbo hour. Not only does it deliver a fascinating murder mystery, it’s also extremely droll, satirical, sharply scripted and allows Jack to have a whole heap of fun.
As referenced above in the ‘Best moment’ section, you just know that Jack was having a ball throughout. I really think he’s at his very, very best here. Every scene he’s in is SOLID GOLD, and it really makes the heart sing to see him tackling the role with such gusto.
As a result all the other stars, including Peter Falk, take something of a back seat. It doesn’t hurt the episode, though. In fact this is one of the best ensemble performances of any episode. Everyone adds value and does their bit to elevate proceedings.
Take John Chandler as Eddie Kane. He’s superbly cast as the loony Vietnam veteran, whose demeanour switches from ice cold killer to cuddly puppy in the opening moments when Greenleaf confirms he wants to publish his book on bombs. This guy’s got a serious screw loose.
Alan Fudge (in the first of three Columbo outings) is excellent as Greenleaf’s condescending lawyer David Chase, while young Wolpert’s palpable sense of fear at being implicated in a murder is well portrayed by Jack Bender – better known for his directorial efforts on shows including Lost, Alias and The Sopranos.
In the role of Jeffrey Neal, Jacques Aubuchon offers us a pleasant slice of upper class affability. Neal’s relationship with Mariette Hartley’s Eileen McRae is an interesting aside. Was he wanting to wine, dine, 69 her? Or were they simply good friends? Greenleaf describes McRae as a ‘concubine’ early in the episode, so there’s more going on than meets the eye. It all adds to the plausibility of the story, giving depth to the characters.
Finally, in a very nice touch, real-life mystery writer Mickey Spillane was cast as Allen Mallory. His shocked expression when confronted with certain death really tugs at the heart strings, providing an emotional punch to off-set all the fun.
And this episode really is fun with a capital F. Quite aside from Jack chewing up the scenery, there are a lot of laughs to be had. The episode takes a satirical swipe at the sleazy world of sex publications, highlighted with Columbo wondering what type of book the cover shoot he’s interrupted is for. “Anthropology,” is Greenleaf’s poker-faced response.
The joke’s on Columbo several times at the flashy restaurant, too. First the snooty valet ignores the Lieutenant to oil up to a higher-value customer, not even giving him a coupon. “Listen mister, I’ll remember your car,” he says.
Inside, after ordering a chilli and an ice tea, Columbo is stung by the high price of the bill – $6 (equivalent to $30 today). “Excuse me, uh, no, I think there’s a mistake,” he tells an officious waiter. “I had the chili and the iced tea.” The waiter adjusts the bill, realising his mistake. But the price goes up to $6.75. “I forgot to add the ice tea,” the waiter explains.
As always, no review is complete without looking at the flipside of what didn’t work so well. And in Publish or Perish, the convoluted plot takes as well as gives, with the central and oft-referred to OFFICE DOOR KEY clue never fully realised.
Greenleaf’s clever plotting has managed to secure him an iron-clad alibi. His deft use and disposal of Eddie Kane is essential to his claims that a wronged Kane was out for revenge against he and Mallory. Columbo’s excellent police work ultimately has Greenleaf cornered, but it ends up not being because of the key – bizarre when the dashed key has been referenced about a thousand times throughout the episode!
The key should be the thing that hangs him. After all, only Greenleaf knew that when Columbo found a key to fit the lock, he’d find the killer. The insinuation, therefore, can only be that Greenleaf planted the key on Kane, as they certainly knew each other. Yet when Columbo references the key at the episode’s conclusion, it simply peters out, Greenleaf agreeing that it’s suspicious without it seeming crucial.
Only the incongruity with the backdated manuscript featuring Miss McRae’s ending is really damning. That combined with the other circumstantial evidence might well be enough to convict, but I feel like this evidence is really delivered to the viewer in the wrong order.
“Publish or Perish isn’t perfect, but it does boast that most wondrous thing: Jack Cassidy in full flight.”
Still, while the ending isn’t ideal it doesn’t damn the whole piece. Many of the best Columbo episodes have relatively weak conclusions. Conversely, some poorer ones have sensational gotchas. The viewer must weigh up how much the plot holes get in the way of their enjoyment. When it comes to Publish or Perish, the ride to get here is such a blast that its shortcomings can largely be forgiven.
So there we have it. Publish or Perish isn’t perfect, but pay it close attention and the rewards are there for all to see – not least that most wondrous sight of Jack Cassidy in full flight.
Did you know?
Contrary to what we’re shown in the episode, Chasen’s Restaurant, where Columbo met with Miss McRae and Jeffrey Neal, is famed for its chilli!
The restaurant was a well-known hang-out for the great and the good of Hollywood and its chilli was such a hit that no less a star than Elizabeth Taylor reportedly had 10 quarts of it shipped out to Rome to see her through the filming of Cleopatra.
Someone should tell this waiter about the restaurant’s fine chilli heritage, eh?
How I rate ’em
Jack Cassidy’s tour de force performance makes Publish or Perish so enjoyable that it achieves that most difficult of tasks and even outshines Murder by the Book, slipping into a rostrum position!
Nearly a third of the way through the Columbo catalog and Suitable for Framing stays out in front, largely due to the strength of its gotcha moment. Will it ever be toppled? Stay tuned! And you can read any of my past episode reviews via the links below.
- Suitable for Framing
- Publish or Perish
- Double Shock
- Murder by the Book
- Death Lends a Hand
- A Stitch in Crime
- Double Exposure
- Lady in Waiting
- Any Old Port in a Storm
- Prescription: Murder
- The Most Crucial Game
- Etude in Black
- Candidate for Crime
- Greenhouse Jungle
- Requiem for a Falling Star
- Blueprint for Murder
- Ransom for a Dead Man
- Dead Weight
- The Most Dangerous Match
- Lovely but Lethal
- Short Fuse
- Dagger of the Mind
This episode splits opinion, so do let me know how you rate it in the comments section below! Thanks a million for reading, and I’ll be back soon with the next chronological Columbo outing – the robot-tastic Mind Over Mayhem.
I really enjoy this episode (all three of Jack Cassidy’s appearances are delicious, and I would agree that this is the most enjoyable of the three).
The replacement office key is an interesting twist – Columbo changing the lock was a great trap that Greenleaf walked right into! And yet, that wasn’t enough for an arrest right then and there? It might have been, but I could see a good defense attorney undermining it. The same might apply to the inclusion of the revised ending in the fake Eddie Kane version of the manuscript. But the two together show a clear pattern of evidence tampering that points directly to Riley Greenleaf. I’k OK with Columbo using the first revelation to essentially tell Greenleaf “I know it was you” to rattle him, and to then finish him off with the second revelation.
Also a big fan of the three-image scene early in the episode. This kind of multi-picture within-picture was popular in the ’70s, but it seems to have died off. It’s a shame, because it really allows a viewer to see two story lines simultaneously in a way that isn’t equaled. The last movie I can think of that did something like that is Timecode, and that was already 20 years ago.
But wouldn’t Columbo figure that there was all too good a chance Greenleaf would try to place the key on a corpse?
This was an enjoyable episode for me, and I appreciated CP’s detailed summation and analysis as usual. I noticed that CP mentioned in an earlier episode (can’t recall which one) that Columbo referenced that he was tired after staying up late working on the Hayward case, (from the episode “Candidate for Crime”).
What’s interesting is that in “Publish,” right before Columbo proves to Greenleaf that he can prove the murder in Mallory’s office, he’s at the typewriter and talks about how he’s having trouble writing a book, and he provides the fact pattern for the Hayward case to a tee.
I thought this was a fun wink to the audience, but what is the fascination with “Candidate for Crime?” Can anyone provide some insight?
I think it’s simply because everyone was pleased with how well Candidate For Crime turned out (one of the best “Gotchas”) and a passing reference in Double Exposure adds a little touch of realism and continuity. This was then picked up on in Publish Or Perish as a particularly high profile case that Columbo was particularly proud of solving. There is another example of this in Columbo Goes to College, when he tells the college students about the political case he recently solved in Agenda For Murder. In both instances, Columbo has prevented a murderer from attaining a high political office.
Very helpful thanks!
Columbo’s getting the murderous goods on a candidate for president would have been absurdly high profile, no doubt national or even worldwide news. Just about everyone would have heard of it. Maybe this was a clever dig at Greenleaf, reminding him of just whom he’s dealing with?
Hi Elaine. Nelson Hayward is not a presidential candidate. It’s a mid term election for a vacant senatorial post in California, due to one of the incumbents having died in office.
It would certainly have been a big news story, but I think that you are thinking of Senator Paul Mackey in “Agenda For Murder” running for vice president?
Of course, that really would have been a high profile case, which means that both Mr Rowe Sr and Mr Rowe Jr in “Columbo Goes to College” should have known who Columbo was.
Riley Greenleaf is in no way an admirable character, but my favourite part of the episode is when he says to the arresting officer, “Need help, huh?”. Having once seen four big burly coppers arrest one short underfed skinhead, I have to say, I’m with him there.
Overall a very entertaining Columbo episode, but there is one thing that bothers me. Columbo had the lock changed after the murder, then Greanleaf got a spare key cut after the lock change to incriminate Eddie Kane , I don’t get how Greanleaf got the spare key cut. Unless there’s a serial number of something printed on the lock in order to get a key made, but that would defeat the point of the lock? What am I missing?
He asked a locksmith to make a new key. From what I read here, that’s a relatively straightforward task: https://unitedlocksmith.net/blog/can-a-locksmith-make-a-key-from-a-lock
interesting article thanks. Probably would have been better off not falling for Columbo’s when I find the key I’ll find the murderer trap!
To me one interesting point about this episode is that as far as I remember it is the only one of early Columbo’s that directly references that major generation-defining contemporary event in American history, i.e. the war in Vietnam. Watching the rest of the series you might think it never happened (and producers had all the opportunities to write it in as part of Col. Rumford’s or Gen. Hollister’s background, for instance, but chose not to). And what a reference do we get in “Publish or Perish”! Grotesque Eddie Kane figure and a novel one of the detectives aptly calls “tripe”. So all we get in several contemporary seasons is either total silence or derision. Admittedly it was before Cimino and Coppola made a big splash with Deer Hunter and Apocalypse in late seventies but nevertheless, why?
As a foreign fan I dont’t now much about American culture and history, so can anyone offer an explanation? Was it self-censorship on the part of the network? Was the war so unpopular in the immediate aftermath that the writers didn’t want to touch it (i.e. Greenleaf’s remark to Columbo about a war “that doesn’t sell” was true)? Or should we simply think of Columbo as a show happening in a sort of parallel universe where the war probably didn’t happen but instead you have subliminal cuts that actually work and giant robots who can direct military simulations by punching on a keyboard?
I am American and was 12 years old when this episode first aired. The Vietnam War was actually still going on and I feel safe saying that most Americans thought about it constantly and obsessively at the time, but there were huge conflicts and differences of opinion between people about it. It was discussed and argued constantly in certain areas (“serious” publications, etc), but there was a general understanding that it was too heavy and complicated to bring up in entertainment like Columbo. It was unpopular among many, but many others (Nixon’s “silent majority”) supported it and were filled with rage and hatred for the anti-war crowd. Any mention of the war was likely to trigger anger, arguments, and probably complaints to the network. You couldn’t just drop it in as a casual plot point and then move on. If Eddie Arnold’s character in Dead Weight, for example, had been presented as a veteran commander in Vietnam, it would have been impossible not to view the whole episode as a political allegory, and a commentary on the US military in general.
As the 70’s went on, my recollection was that the Vietnam war began to enter popular entertainment through the figure of the damaged veteran. The individual experience of the common soldier was the first aspect of the war that most of us could safely consider together. While we couldn’t agree on the politics of the war (and trying to discuss it could lead to screaming matches in the living room, and cocktail glasses hurled through the TV screen), we COULD almost all agree that many Americans had suffered greatly, physically and mentally, and had come home in bad shape. The anti-war people could look look at Eddie Kane and think “See how war damages people”, or “Look at the maniacs that fight wars”; the pro-war folks could accept the character by thinking, “Well, that’s just one particular nutjob who couldn’t handle it”, or “Look what happens to soldiers when their sacrifice is unappreciated”. But mainly they could watch the rest of the episode without having anger about Vietnam churning through their brains the entire time.
I think it’s true that Vietnam “didn’t sell” at the time. The Deer Hunter was a huge turning point and kind of opened the floodgates — it seemed like the point where everybody accepted that the war was history and could be considered as history, not as an active matter that you had to get into fistfights about. And while I think there’s a lot of nonsense in that movie, the funeral scene at the end really captured the guilt, sadness, exhaustion and futile anger that most Americans felt about the war while it was happening and immediately afterwards. Those emotions are best left out of Columbo, just as it’s best for the show to forget about the messiness of real murder — how much people actually bleed, how long it takes to really strangle someone, how devastating it can be for survivors, etc.
Sorry this is so long-winded, but you asked an interesting question.
Thank you. I may be mistaken but I think that one of the Kojak’s episodes I watched a couple of years ago had a “damaged veteran” storyline. It originally aired roughly at the same time (mid-seventies) as “Publish or Perish” I think. And my recollection is that porttrayal was more sympathetic and serious though a bit cliched, so I dont’ remember much of it. Columbo’s Eddie Kane is memorable and stands apart precisely because it’s a totally unrelatable character, almost a caricature of a PTSD-afflicted veteran, something you wouldn’t expect to see on a major TV-show.
Yeah, Eddie Kane is so loony that he can’t possibly be seen as an example of any kind of person, he’s just a stand-alone wacko. And a great one! But I do remember that the traumatized vet became a cliche pretty quickly on TV around this time, and I definitely recall my parents explaining psychological war trauma to me because of questions I asked after watching various cop shows that used the cliche.
I also seem to remember that modern shows like CSI, NCIS and all the alphabet soup of them mentioned Iraq war freely as it went on. Is it because the climate on TV changed significantly since the 70s and producers are less cautious now? Or Iraq is simply not comparable in terms of impact on American society?
Good question — I think both of your explanations are correct. And I think there’s more cynicism and apathy about US actions overseas. And the anger after 9/11 led to the feeling that the Iraq war is on some level justified. And there’s the huge fact that the draft is gone. It’s an all-volunteer army now, so if you didn’t sign up to go fight, you have no personal worries about it — there’s virtually no impact on your daily life. So a huge motivation for any youth movement is missing, and, in a weird way, the war seemed to become, for Americans, simply a matter of personal preference. You just vote for the candidate who shares your opinion and move on. Which allows much more room to consider individual veterans’ stories, and even to look at larger military structures and policies, without opening larger, harder questions about national politics or philosophies.
Or maybe I’m just running my mouth and have no idea what I’m talking about! But I feel pretty certain that Iraq doesn’t come near the impact on American society that Vietnam had.
There are a couple of other subtle allusions to Vietnam, although nothing as overt as Publish or Perish. In By Dawn’s Early Light, Bill Haynes refers to the fact that ‘no one wants to play soldiers anymore’ and his zest to convert the academy into a school as a result echoes the national unpopularity of the conflict. In Stitch in Crime, Harry Alexander was a troubled veteran and the conflict could only have been Vietnam.
Exactly. It’s kind of hinted that something happens somewhere that affects attitudes and actions of the characters but this “something” can’t be explicitly referred to by name apart from “Publish or Perish”.
Fun fact about networks’ censorship concerning wars: In the German translation of “Now You See Him” from 1980, the network could not cope with Santini being an ex-nazi. They changed the content of Jerome’s extortion. Santini was blackmailed because of a bank robbery in London where he shot a policeman and Santini’s name wasn’t Stefan Mueller but Stanley Matthews. Therefore, the network had to cut out Jerome’s salute “Heil Hitler” and the part of the sequence where the typewriter says “ex-nazi named Stefan Mueller”. In 1993, a second translation by another network had been made and the original content had been put back in again. The dubbing version from 1980 got thrown away.
John Chandler as Eddie Kane is fantastic here. I thought I was watching the love child of Carl Sagan and Steve Buscemi.
I wonder how Greenleaf knew Kane would be open to being a hitman. Did they meet through Kane submitting a book to Greenleaf and get to know each other? Or did Greenleaf hire a hitman first and then discover that his hitman had literary aspirations?
There’s a cool moment where Greenleaf taunts Kane by asking if he’s lost his nerve, and Kane responds by holding the bomb a few extra seconds before throwing it, without changing his expression or even looking at the fuse. To his credit, Greenleaf only looks a little worried!
I didn’t find Spillane’s acting too bad. It was on par for a non-actor doing a cameo. Amusingly, he would go on to act in beer commercials, which would in turn be parodied in the “Murder, She Wrote” episode “The Skinny According to Nick Culhane,” which also featured characters named “Mrs. Palumbo” and “Phil Mannix”! (Originally, the creative team thought this was the series finale so I guess they got a little zany with the character names. Hence breaking the fourth wall by having the line “And that’s all she wrote!” and then all the characters turn and smile at the camera.)
How was Greenleaf able to get a key for the new lock? Did he hire a locksmith to go study the new lock?
I like the Tiki bar when Greenleaf makes a scene to establish his alibi.
Greenleaf’s lawyer is named David Chase, which is also the name of a famous TV writer. He’s best known today as the writer of “The Sopranos” but his credits go back as far “Kolchak” and other shows contemporaneous with “Columbo.” His family name was originally Cesare but it was anglicised to Chase at some point.
I’ve always taken it that Kane approaches Greenleaf with the zany idea to publish his book on Bombay first, and Greenleaf quickly realised he was a certifiable loon who could be coerced into doing his bidding as a hitman. As for the key, yes, Greenleaf hired a locksmith to sort him the new key.
[nod] Thanks! 🙂
Jack was very entertaining in this one, but I agree with others here that some of the shortcomings of the episode’s plot take away from its impact, and do start to seem more glaring on repeated viewings. Riley didn’t need to pretend not to remember his drunken night alibi. He didn’t need to have another key copy made later in the episode. He didn’t need to do that convoluted subterfuge with Saigon manuscript.
All he needed to do was to have an airtight alibi for killing Mallory and kill Eddie to keep him quiet. That would have left maybe a little circumstantial evidence for Columbo to discover, but not enough to corner him easily. I understand that killers need to make missteps in order for Columbo to nail them, but I would have enjoyed seeing Columbo having to work harder to catch Riley.
As far as Jack’s episodes, I prefer Murder By the Book, followed by Publish or Perish and then Now You See him.
Riley wanted the rights to the Mallory book, which was his primary motive. All the subterfuge with the manuscript supposedly from Eddie was a vital part of his story. He could have got away with not bothering to get a new key cut, but as far as he knew he was absolutely linking Eddie with the killing of Mallory by doing so, so it doesn’t seem so unnecessary that he’d have done so.
I loved the “turnabout” in this episode, with the killer actually trying to make himself look guilty as a means of “framing” himself! And the way he confesses so quickly, acting as though he doesn’t remember but he must have killed Mallory! Clever plot and clever writing.
Just recently watched this for the first time, 40 odd years after release and I found it a little underwhelming to be honest.Far too much was made of the key and finding a matching second key.Greenleaf did’nt have to go out of his way to get another key cut, he could have just done nothing at all, he still had his alibi and Columbo made him think he was’nt a suspect anyway.Talking of his alibi why did he say he could’nt remember the night before ? It was pointless.He went to all that trouble only to say he could’nt remember.We’ve all been drunk but still recall our whereabouts.He made a big spectacle of himself at the bar in order to get noticed but then it was totally disregarded.
That’s a good point about pretending to not remember. I guess he thought it would add plausibility to the story, but it really served no purpose. In the end, Greenleaf was done in by his over-planning.
Wow, JJ, you described perfectly the two primary problems that I also had with this episode (I just watched “Publish or Perish”). I agree with you – Greenleaf didn’t have to take the unnecessary risk of getting another key cut – he already had a solid alibi, and Columbo had given him no indication that that was under suspicion, so why not leave things alone? I also was troubled by how Greenleaf claimed to have been so smashed that he had absolutely no memory of where he was during the night of the murder. I think to have been SO drunk that he had absolutely no recollection whatsoever where he was makes it highly unlikely that he could have even driven his car at all. This claim of having no recollections of his actions during the night of the murder also prevented him from having any reasonable defense after he mistakenly spilled the beans and acknowledged that he’d been in a car accident with “them” (more than one other person in the car he backed into).
Just a throwaway comment but the attitudes shown by people in the show towards drunken driving seem remarkably soft, bordering on lenient or maybe this simply was the case in California at the time.
“Goodnight you charming people”.
One of my top 3 episodes and just reading your review for the first time I just sit back and smile as so many “hidden” factors slip into the oh-so-slimey takes to make this review a perfect print of what’s going on.
Thanks for all you do.
Cassidy has got be having the best time with Falk filming this.
The scene outside the roadside bar with the couple in the VW bus is must watch TV… HANDS DOWN. Jack at his best “comfort” zone.
“You and this place deserve to be in the valley”
“You Ralphie, are fool and a liar… your a menace to your fellow man”
Nostalgic
Absolutely loved the episode until the final ending. To me, it was really a shame that an episode rating close to a 9.5 until that point, should take a shot down at the very end. With such intricate planning of the two murders and the attempts to make it look like a frame, the writers could have spent a few more minutes concocting a better ending. A gotcha ending in which you must then spend five minutes figuring out how it proves he is the murderer, is a big hole. And I tend to agree that this episode could have used an extra 15 minutes just to develop and explain the pieces of evidence a little better, without even having to resort to filler material. Still, Jack was worth his weight in gold. And nobody even mentioned that sly smile breaking out on his lips after Columbo walks out the door in their penultimate meeting, convinced he has outsmarted the detective. That is another aspect that is so good here. Columbo suspects him early on, yet manages to avoid giving him any idea he is unto him until the very end, making his downfall so much sweeter. If only the ending… Still, I’d definitely put it in the top 10-15.
Great episode – and I wouldn’t have minded a little more length as the ending seems a bit abrupt. For one thing Riley’s lawyer was fairly effective in protecting him from himself in the early scenes, and then disappears about halfway though. After that he makes several gaffes, making claims that Columbo easily disproves.
The fact remains that Greenleaf´s innocence of Mallory´s murder is well established, and the rushed ending doesn´t even make it clear whether the police know that Eddie´s death was not an accident, let alone that any evidence is found connecting that death to Greenleaf. Not that Greenleaf is that smart either, despite the wry cunning smiles and the know-all looks: he correctly figures out that the lab boys would trace the synopsis to Eddie´s typewriter, but the idea does not cross his mind that those same boys would find out that the ink was too fresh to justify the nine-month-old claim. Not to mention the absolute lack of Eddie´s fingerprints on the papers (an idea exploited 18 years later in “Caution: murder can be hazardous to your health!”). We have no information on Greenleaf´s proficiency with explosive substances, so it´s not clear how he would contrive the explosion, not to mention an autopsy that would instantaneously show that Eddie´s death would not be an accident. Greenleaf is shown completely careless about those important details, and that lowers the value of this episode. Anyway, we all know it´s not consistency or perfect plots what we seek in Columbo´s episodes….
The strength of this episode is Jack’s utterly sensational performance. The ending is rather confusing and not brilliantly written, but Jack is riveting so I find it easy to forgive the shortcomings.
That´s the whole point of watching Columbo; we love some of the baddies, and we love Falk, as well as the time capsule to our teen years. The plot, or lack thereof, is of secondary importance.
Good points. Also how could Greenleaf know that Eddie’s typewriter wouldn’t get blown up in the explosion? Nevertheless, I love this episode!
I think we can assume that Riley had read Eddie’s book, and so knew how to make and place an explosive device that would kill Eddie, but not damage the typewriter unduly.
Incidentally, when this episode is shown in the UK by 5USA they just cut to the ad break after Riley says “Dear Mr Greenleaf”. We no longer see him drive away from Eddie’s home, stop the car and light up a cigarette as the bomb that he rigged goes off.
Nice job!
Publish or Perish was added within the last 24 hrs on Columbo Youtube channel! Glad to see Youtube is actually adding film instead of removing it during this latest 1984 – style purge. Glad I can watch a decent version of Columbo, without viewing it reversed or in a small frame, with the actors heads half chopped off, or the ones that fans uploaded from the Biography Channel straight off their VHS with poor resolution. Publish or Perish is one of the 3 classic Jack Cassidy episodes.
As mentioned on a previous post, there’s one discrepancy I found while viewing this ep: At 27:20 and 30:58, Riley Greenleaf’s butler has 2 – speaking roles, the first to announce Columbo’s arrival at Riley’s residence, and the 2nd to tell Riley that there’s a telephone call for him (from the insurance agent about the previous evening’s staged wreck with Ralphie and his lovely wife).
There is nothing about this actor listed on the cast section of the Internet Movie DataBase page for Publish or Perish, but I remember his face as the actor who played Mr. Meldrim, the Bank President in Mayberry during the Andy Griffith Show run during the 1960’s. His real name was Warren Parker. He played several characters on Andy Griffith and the later Mayberry RFD, and numerous spots on other tv series and movies from the late ’40’s to the ’70’s.
https://mayberry.fandom.com/wiki/Warren_Parker
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0662693/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
I know this is insignificant data, but I just thought I’d give the man his props. Usually any speaking role in Columbo get’s credit on Internet Movie Database, but this is an obvious exception.
It’s like a celebration day when another Columbo gets uploaded. Good show, ol’ chap.
Thanks for the heads up on this! I’ve added a separate article about Publish or Perish being available.
watching this episode at the moment…..Kane reminds me, physically, of the young Nic Cage….in terms of the way Chandler acts the character, he’s reminiscent of so many “Mad Dog” Richard Widmark roles (but especially, to me, Johnny Kernan in “Clarion Call”). In any case, a thoroughly wonderful episode. Never ceases to amaze me, the depth of detail achieved…..
and I leave you with: “Madame, in your condition, I’d call a plastic surgeon”
Best. Line. Maybe. Ever.
Jack was in stunning form in this, and that line was hilarious. Eddie Kane has always reminded me of Tim Roth!
gosh, I just love Jack. An actor I wish I might have known in RL. In spirit, he reminds me of the rakish John Rhys-Davies. I wonder what the real man was like. If those giant circles under his eyes are any indication, he may well have been a pretty hard livin’ guy…… Hope you are doing well, CP!
I think he was a bit of a terror in real life. Borderline alcoholic and womaniser, but he sure loved life and is such fun to watch! And I AM doing well, thank you! Hope you are too!
not in the least surprised to hear that about Jack. It’s a funny thing, isn’t it, that such is regarded with a wink and a “isn’t he a charming rogue” nod….when, in effect, it’s really a tragedy for the person and their family.
So glad to hear you are doing well! I have not yet had the courage to do as you did….but I’m gathering the wagons and hoping soon to make a break!
I wouldn’t place this second at this point maybe 5th or 6th
I like this episode but im not madly in love with the ending, how eddie kane could have written an ending 6 months ago that was only invented last week similar to identity crisis , but I find it works better in identity crisis , I prefer identity crisis in general .
Columbophile, you’ve said that you prefer the shorter episodes (if I remember correctly). My preference is for the longer 90-minute shows and this is an episode that could have done with some more time. It goes by fast and, as you said, you have to pay attention or important clues will be missed. A longer time frame to develop the plot would have been good.
One thing that could have been mentioned differently – Columbo says that Mallory changed the lock three weeks before. Three weeks seems a long time, and given that Riley had a duplicate key itself, it’s a long time-frame to offer up as the date Mallory changed the lock, since Riley could have recently entered the writer’s office to rifle through his things, if he wanted. If he said that the lock was changed two days before his murder, that may have been a better time frame.
Or, suppose Riley only very recently got the duplicate key, that would negate Columbo’s statement about when the lock was changed. Not sure if it was established in the show when Riley got his own key.
Agreeing with another poster above, it’s a dark episode and not one I’d revisit in a hurry. But still, a very good episode.
I was puzzled by why Jack Cassidy feels the need to put the substitute key on Eddie’s key ring, after Eddie told him he simply walked through an open door in the office.
In order to connect Eddie Kane with the scene of the crime, Greenleaf had to put the key on Eddie’s key ring. If you wanted to shoot someone tonight, it wouldn’t be very smart to rely on an open door to your victim’s house. Having a key could help.
I love Jack Cassidy as a murderer, but I don’t think highly of this episode. The murder is too convoluted, the motive is for me unconvincing, and the key clue is too “Dial M For Murder”.
Other faults: the overall mood is way too dark; Mickey Spillane adds star appeal, but his inability to act detracts from the overall quality; most grievously, Eddie Kane may be a nut, but he’s got enough of his senses to know that someone like Greenleaf would never have a business relationship with him, let alone one sealed over drinks in his bomb-strewn hovel of an apartment.
>>The motive is for me unconvincing.<<
The motive was the insurance money in case of Mallory's death, just like in "Murder by the Book", but in "Publish or Perish" it was only mentioned in a short sentence, so many viewers won't get it. For the greedy Greenleaf a large sum of extra money is a plausible motive in my opinion.
I found all the key business in Dial M For Murder even more confusing !
Peter S. Fischer’s first entry to the Columbo series is by far the most successful script out of the three Jack Cassidy episodes. In contrary to his two other appearances, this one presents logical thinking on highest level and a cunningly crafted murder plan. And in the last seconds, Riley Greenleaf’s house of cards built on a bunch of lies collapses in style. I’m very glad that this episode finds the praise that it deserves in this blog.
very good episode,in my opinion jacks best, feels different as the whole,hit man thing has a lot packed into it is hard to follow compared with a lot of other episodes more complex than a lot which makes it good , not madly in love with the final gotcha.
as good as this episode there is still a small handful of episodes i like better, such as identity crisis , troubled waters ,the bye byre try and catch me and swansong also i like negative reaction better . perhaps they were funnier motive was clearer and the final gotcha was better in these episodes.
Excellent review, as always. Cassidy at his most finest. A bit of useless trivia about this episode: The gentleman that played Riley’s butler at his house, was Warren Parker. He’s uncredited on the show and IMDB, but it was definitely him. He was a character actor in Hollywood for years, on many movies/television shows. I noticed him immediately, as he was the Mayberry Bank Manager in 5 episodes of The Andy Griffith Show. He actually spoke a line or two in Publish or Perish, and it’s strange that he wasn’t credited. Another bit of useless info, which may have already been discussed here (forgive me if this is redundant), are some filming locations from Columbo, including Riley Greenfield’s house. https://moviemaps.org/movies/1jr
Spot on about the caliber of the supporting cast. To a man and woman they were excellent. I particularly liked Jacques Aubuchon as Jeffrey Neal. Has anyone seen him in anything else? I think he’d have made a brilliant Mycroft Holmes!
It is nice to see a wealthy, affable character like Jeffrey Neal in Columbo, someone who really is affable and quite harmless.
Columbophile, you wrote somewhere on this website that certain episodes were respected rather than loved by people and, consequently, someone’s favorite episode might not be the one objectively best. This is just the case with me here. After watching PoP I felt that this was a perfect crime story – really a solid good, thrilling blast. However, I don’t feel the need to watch it again, contrary to some other episodes. It’s a bit too dark for me to just watch it for pleasure in my free time. The two moments I remember best are: Eddie Kane’s face expression a second before firing at Mallory (the joy of killing mixed with being nuts) and Greenleaf’s wicked smile in the car a second after the explosion in Kane’s flat (the joy of killing while being perfectly witty – even more scary!). So that’s my “problem” with this episode, but I do admit it’s of great value. Thanks for reviewing!
And thanks for your thoughtful comment! I’d recommend revisiting PoP again soon. It will grow on you, I’m sure. Even if you just revel in Jack’s performance!
Well, I can’t promise anything in this respect – Jack is fantastic here as an actor, but his bad-to-the-bone villain is not someone I’m eager to see again, at least now. It won’t suprise you that I prefer “Now You See Him” to his other two Columbo outings, and my ultimate Columbo adversary has been Culp. I recently saw him in “Columbo Goes to College” and he was awesome – bad as ever (a tyrant to his own son!) though not a killer. But that’s another story. Greetings from Poland!
I also like Now You See Him best, and I’m with you on the killers, Culp is a personal favorite of mine.
When watching this, John Chandler seemed so familiar, and then I realized that he reminds me so much of the actor Steve Buscemi!
You’re right, there is a bit of Buscemi about him. They’re both convincingly dangerous creeps.
Since his debut in Columbias “Mad Dog Coll”, Chandler was somewhat typecast as sadistic/crazy lunatic in countless Movies, mostly Westerns or TV Shows. Roles where he actually was allowed to play a good guy were very few… Of course in real life he was nothing like the characters he mostly played – very friendly und fun to be with and a huge Fan of Yoga. He died of cancer a few years back..
Yes!!! That’s who he reminds me of!!
This was a great episode. I’m watching them in chronological order, and this could be the best yet! I think the strength of this episode is really due to the strong cast. Yes, the writing is excellent, but it’s the cast that bring this one home. Cassidy is excellent, but so are the rest, especially John Chandler as Eddie Kane and Mariette Hartley as Eileen McRae. Great write-up! Thanks for posting this.
I know you were hanging out for this to be published, so I’m pleased it seems to have been worth the wait!
Yes, thanks so much. Now about Mind over Mayhem…
Great review!! This episode felt very “film” like rather than like a tv episode (Murder in Malibu gave me the opposite feeling haha). Jack Cassidy is a great villain (though Patrick McGoohan just edges him out as my #1 favourite)
I was surprised to see the split screens in this episode… this episode of Columbo pre-dated “24” by more than 25 years! (I always thought “24” was the first to use the split screens)
Thanks for all the hard work in preparing these great reviews!
Great review, as always. In my opinion, this is Cassidy’s finest hour, his best performance, and even more than that, it’s truly an entertaining episode. When Riley backs into the older couple, the crude behavior he displays is priceless (“Madame, in your condition, I’d call a plastic surgeon”) Yes, solid gold indeed. If there was a Bad Guy Hall of Fame for fictitious characters, Jack Cassidy may be the poster boy after this performance. Cheers!
Another excellent and accurate review. But, there’s a detail that bothers me. I can’t figure out why Greenleaf would make the announcement about Mallory dying and not writing for anyone else in front of a room full of witnesses. Alibi or not, that would still make him a prime suspect. It doesn’t matter if he was drunk in Encino, if you hire someone to do the killing for you by law you’re just as guilty as the actual killer. It’s as if he wanted to get caught. Greenleaf just as easily could have hired Keene to do the job, not plant any evidence, not use Greenleaf’s gun, and otherwise kept his mouth shut and he’d have been free to publish his “anthropology” books. His antics at the party in front of McRae and Neal scream, “Look at me, I’m involved even if I wasn’t the trigger man!”
Two notes about Eileen McRae. She lives in the same apartment complex as nearly everyone else who appeared in an NBC drama in the 1970s, and I still don’t like her hat 🙂
Greenleaf actually protects himself against the suspicion of hiring a hit man rather cleverly, I think. He KNOWS he’s bound to be suspected, so he arranges matters in such a way that the evidence first shows him to be the killer–his fingerprints on the gun–and then suggests that someone’s set him up. After all, the killer you’ve hired wouldn’t try to frame you, surely!
I get what you’re saying, but had Greanleaf just had Eddie do the job and not do anything else, while pulling the fender bender in the parking lot in Encino, the police would have no evidence at all on him even if he would be under suspicion. He would have had an alibi and nothing to trace the crime to him. Instead, he made it easy for Columbo.
This is the way I saw it. At first I had the same thoughts, but as the show went on I realized that he was setting himself up as being framed. His confessing to the killing as something he must have done when drunk and couldn’t remember actually flows quite nicely from his earlier (deliberate) actions. He was careful not to leave any real evidence against himself, e.g. the fingerprints, but only the kind of behavior that (as we often see in Perry Mason) could lead to an innocent person being charged. I thought it was very clever. And his planting evidence against Kane wasn’t a frameup as Kane was the actual killer.
You’re quite right – I never thought about it before. I think one explanation might be Greenleaf’s big personality: he didn’t want just to kill his victim quietly and get rid of his problem. He wanted to be in the limelight and make a show matching his entire debauched life and intelligence.
I agree this is Jack Cassidy’s best performance, perhaps because it is a bit more challenging and complex than the more conventionally brilliant Murder by the Book and Now You See Him.
But when debating Jack’s best Columbo episode it’s a bit like asking which of your children do you love most!
BTW have you ever read the Sheldon Catz book ‘Columbo Under Glass’? His critiques are not in your league but still worth reading and he occasionally has very different takes on some episodes to you – he thinks Dagger of the Mind is pretty good!
Thanks Paul, and it certainly seems we see eye to eye on this one! I haven’t read Sheldon’s book, although I am aware of it. Interestingly, Mark Dawidziak, who wrote The Columbo Phile, also rated Dagger highly, which surprises me. He also enjoyed Last Salute to the Commodore (which I HATE) and panned Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder, which is the best of them all! Each to their own, but it certainly is fun to debate the pros and cons of the episodes!