COLUMBO: NEGATIVE REACTION (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas in which Los Angeles homicide detective Lt. Columbo's unassuming manner masks his keen intelligence and sharp investigative abilities.
Photographer Paul Galesko plans to murder his overbearing wife Frances, first by constructing a false ransom note for her return in his darkroom by cutting up and pasting letters from a newspaper. He then takes his up to a ranch he says he is interested in purchasing and ties her down to a chair, photographing her to go along with the ransom note. He even sets up a clock in the background in order to make it appear that the photograph was taken later in the day than it was. After this, Paul shoots her dead and winds the clock back to the proper time. He calls his secretary, Lorna; he plans to go away with her on a trip to the Philippines. Paul then meets with Alvin Deschler, an ex-convict recently released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for extortion. Deschler, unaware of Paul's true plans, bought the ranch on his behalf, as well as the camera used to take Frances's picture. Deschler reports that someone broke into his motel room and stole the camera, unaware that Paul has already used it.
Back at his home, Paul receives a call from Deschler at ten in the morning, just as they plan. Paul makes it seem as though he is on the phone with men who have kidnapped his wife, intentionally being overheard by his housekeeper Mrs. Moyland. He abruptly leaves and allows Mrs. Moyland to see that he wrote down the amount of money requested by the "kidnappers" on a nearby notepad. He gets the money with the help of his publisher and infiltrates Deschler's motel room, planting various pieces of incriminating evidence such as the camera and the newspaper used to construct the ransom note. He then meets Deschler at a car junkyard and shoots him dead with his pistol. He then plants another pistol in the hand of Deschler's corpse and has it fire on his own leg to make it appear that the two of them were in a gunfight. He limps back to his car, witnessed by a nearby vagrant, and drives off to reach a phone and call the police.
The police investigate the scene of Deschler's death, and Columbo arrives soon thereafter. Columbo is suspicious of the circumstances of the gunfight and asks that the vagrant be taken to the police station in order to obtain his statement. He then visits Paul at the hospital, where he is getting the bullet removed from his leg. The bullet missed any vital bones or arteries in Paul's leg. Paul testifies that he dropped his wife off at an auction in the city on the morning of the "kidnapping," believing that she would take a cab home. He claims that he became worried when she didn't return, and the next morning he received the kidnapper's note and the photograph of Frances tied to a chair. Paul also claims that in the gunfight, Deschler shot wildly and he retaliated. In Deschler's motel room, Columbo and the police discover the newspaper and camera, identifying it as the one which photographed Frances. Columbo learns from the motel manager that Deschler reported the camera missing a couple of days before his death, and the motel phone log reveals the time and date of the phone call made from Deschler to Paul.
The police seem convinced that Deschler is the culprit, although Columbo is bothered by certain aspects of the case and stays up late working on it. He reasons that it would be highly unlikely that Deschler would be careless enough to leave such a large amount of evidence of his crimes for the police to find. The police find Frances's body at the ranch. Paul is brought there and rides with his wife's body as it is being driven away. Columbo speaks to the real estate agent who sold the ranch to Deschler, and notices the clock on the mantelpiece; despite its dusty surroundings, the clock is relatively clean, raising Columbo's suspicions. He also finds a photograph of Frances which was disposed of in the fireplace. These pieces of evidence lead Columbo to believe that Deschler was buying the ranch on someone else's behalf.
Next, Columbo visits a street mission to find the vagrant who encountered Paul at the junkyard. After a misunderstanding with one of the nuns, who mistakes Columbo for a homeless man, the vagrant attempts to assist Columbo, although he cannot recall giving testimony at police headquarters the previous night. He then visits Paul at his home, asking about certain inconsistencies between the vagrants' testimony and Paul's, specifically the timing between the two shots fired at the junkyard. Paul dismisses the vagrant's testimony as unreliable. Columbo also asks why there were no powder burns on the bullet hole on Paul's trousers, indicating that he was shot point-blank. Paul fabricates an elaboration of his encounter with Deschler, describing a hand-to-hand struggle which culminated in Paul shooting Deschler.
Columbo visits the camera store where Deschler purchased the camera used in the "kidnapping." The store clerk identifies Deschler as the buyer and says that the sale took place a few weeks ago. In the course of his description, the clerk mentions the fact that Deschler arrived and departed via taxi, a fact which Columbo takes great interest in. He notes that Deschler seemingly traveled everywhere by taxi except on the day of the kidnapping, when he rented a car. At Columbo's request, the clerk also explains the concept of a reverse negative, wherein a photographic image is reversed, as if looking through a mirror.
A funeral is held for Frances, and Columbo hangs around in the back taking photographs. Paul speaks with Lorna when the funeral lets out, but Columbo interrupts them to ask Paul more questions. Columbo expresses his belief that the kidnapper had an accomplice since the ransom note read "we" instead of "I," an assessment which Paul does not agree with. He also tells Paul about Deschler's refusal to take employment suggestions from his parole officer. He asks Paul about the phone call between him and Deschler, and about the reasons why Paul met Deschler half an hour later than they agreed upon. Paul says that he was instructed to go to a phone booth and await further instructions as to the meeting place. Columbo believes that it's suspicious that Paul didn't write down the location of said phone booth, although Paul claims that the situation made it difficult for him to think clearly.
At the police evidence locker, Columbo looks through Deschler's personal effects, finding a temporary driver's license issued on the day of the kidnapping. This explains why Deschler took cabs everywhere until that day. Columbo feels that it is suspicious that Deschler would plan to kidnap someone on the same day as his driving test, since it would be too risky. Columbo visits Paul at his photography studio, noticing one of Paul's photography books on prisoners in the San Quentin facility displayed on the shelf. He asks Paul about his trip to the Philippines and shows him the photographs he took at the funeral. Amongst those photos is the one of Frances that Columbo found in the ranch fireplace. He gets Paul to analyze the photo and point out the reasons that it might have been rejected, due to problems in its framing and exposure. Columbo observes that Deschler must have been just as selective about his photographs as Paul in order to reject this particular one. He also reveals that between the time when Paul received the ransom note and the time when the police searched Deschler's motel room, the motel maid reported that the newspaper used to construct the ransom note was not in the room. Paul tries to convince Columbo that the maid in question was careless and lied to cover up her mistake.
Paul hosts a show of his photography, only to encounter Columbo once again, who takes him aside to ask him more questions. He shows Paul a copy of his book on the San Quentin prisoners, revealing that a number of the photographs in there are of Deschler, taken when he was a prisoner. Since Paul spent several weeks in the prison, Columbo feels that he might have met Deschler at this time, despite the fact that his statement to the police specified that the two had never met. Paul claims that Deschler might have spotted him in the prison and inspired him to commit his kidnapping plot. Paul accuses Columbo of suspecting him of being a participant in his wife's murder and he has him taken from the building.
Columbo calls the local Department of Motor Vehicles and through them gets in touch with Mr. Weekly, the instructor who administered Deschler's driving test. He is involved in a minor car accident and Columbo offers to drive him back to work, although Weekly soon becomes aggravated over the state of Columbo's car and his haphazard driving technique. However, he assists Columbo by correctly identifying Dreschler as the one who took the driving test on the morning of the kidnapping. Columbo requests that Paul be brought to the police station. There, Paul is brought to the evidence locker, where Columbo is attempting to reconstruct the ransom note using a copy of the same edition of newspaper used to construct the original. He demonstrates that there is no way to cut up the newspaper without it leaving a mess of bits of paper everywhere, making it implausible that the paper was left in the motel room without such a mess.
At this point, Columbo accuses Paul of being the mastermind behind his wife's murder, although Paul vehemently denies it. He explains that Paul must have taken Frances to the ranch at the time when he testified that he was home alone with her. He tells Paul that Deschler was taking his driver's test at this time. He reveals that he worked in the police lab to create a poster-sized version of the photograph of Frances, revealing the clock in the background reading ten o' clock in the morning. Paul mocks Columbo, pointing out that the image is a reverse negative, so that the clock displayed is actually reading two o' clock in the afternoon. He demands to see the original photograph, but Columbo claims that he accidentally destroyed it. Paul picks up the camera used to take the photograph and says that the negative inside it can prove his innocence. However, he soon realizes he has fallen in Columbo's trap: the enlarged picture was a ploy to get Paul to choose the camera used to take Frances's picture, which he could not have possibly identified unless he was the one who used it. Columbo asks the policemen present to arrest Paul, and he is taken away. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: October 6, 1974 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:35:03
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:74425
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1968-1978; ABC - 1989-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Roland Kibbe … Executive Producer
- Dean Hargrove … Executive Producer
- Everett Chambers … Producer
- Edward K. Dodds … Associate Producer
- Alf Kjellin … Director
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Peter S. Fischer … Writer
- Bernardo Segal (See also: Bernardo Segáll) … Music by
- Henry Mancini … Theme Music by
- Peter Falk … Cast, Columbo
- Dick Van Dyke … Cast, Paul Galesko
- Don Gordon … Cast, Alvin Deschler
- Larry Storch … Cast, Mr. Weekly
- Antoinette Bower … Cast, Frances Galesko
- Joyce Van Patten … Cast, Sister of Mercy
- David Sheiner … Cast, Ray
- Michael Strong … Cast, Sergeant Hoffman
- Joanna Cameron … Cast, Lorna McGrath
- Vito Scotti … Cast, Thomas Dolan
- Alice Backes … Cast, Mrs. Moyland
- Harvey Gold … Cast, Harry Lewis
- Bill Zuckert … Cast, Capt. Sampson
- Adrian Richard … Cast, DMV Clerk
- Thom Carney … Cast, Manager
- Tom Signorelli … Cast, Doctor
- John Ashton … Cast, Calvin MacGruder
- Edward Colmans … Cast, Minister
- Irene Tedrow … Cast, Mrs. Charleswort
- Mike Santiago … Cast, 1st Policeman
- Edward Cross … Cast, 2nd Policeman