“Columbo Cries Wolf” sees a rare instance where the veteran detective is outsmarted and winds up solving the same murder twice. While Peter Falk (The Princess Bride) is entrenched in pop culture as the one and only Columbo, he wasn’t the first actor to perform the role. The character first appeared in anthology The Chevy Mystery Show played by Bert Freed, and Falk would later inherit the role for TV movie Prescription: Murder. Even then, this version of Columbo was less rumpled and more emotional than the character who eventually earned a solo show.
Columbo is by design a blue-collar Sherlock Holmes and often uses his unassuming demeanor to charm and disarm suspects. The usual formula of Columbo is also like a reverse mystery, with the first act following the killer and how they murdered their victim, and then the Lieutenant comes in to investigate and piece together the clues. The show’s very first episode was directed by Steven Spielberg, who would soon break through with Jaws. The series ran from 1971 to 1978, though its popularity would see Peter Falk return for periodic revivals, with the final episode arriving in 2003.
Fans generally aren’t fond of the latter-day Columbo TV movies, which could be quite silly in places. That said, some of these episodes liked to play around with the formula in interesting ways, which is the case with “Columbo Cries Wolf.” The story follows the disappearance of Dian Hunter, a businesswoman who was planning to sell her part in a popular men’s magazine. Suspicion falls on her smarmy ex-lover Sean Brantley (Ian Buchanan, Twin Peaks), who didn’t want her to sell her share to a rival. Columbo works hard to prove Sean is the killer but is humiliated when, after digging through Sean’s estate for a body, Dian turns up alive, revealing it all to be a ruse for publicly set up by her and Sean.
Already “Columbo Cries Wolf” has broken from the set path, as there isn’t even a murder for Columbo to solve. The press surrounding her disappearance spikes magazine sales, but when Dian announces she’s still selling her part, Brantley kills her for real. He also appears to have the dogged detective off his back, as he’s unlikely to investigate Dian’s disappearance twice.
Killers don’t do well underestimating Columbo’s determination, though, and he realizes Sean planned from the beginning to kill Dian. “Columbo Cries Wolf” ends with Columbo explaining how he figured out Sean’s scheme and then calls the text bracelet Dian wears; the beeping is heard from the bathroom. Columbo rips open the wall to find the murdered Dian in a bodybag and he reveals his “Gotcha” message on the bracelet to a defeated Sean. While it’s not the greatest episode, “Columbo Cries Wolf” offered some fun twists, with the detective almost being outsmarted by his opponent.
Next: Columbo “A Bird In The Hand” Hid The Real Killer Until The End
