PLOT: Retired military general Martin Hollister (Eddie Albert) is making money out of arms deals. An army colleague, Colonel Dutton, has been in on it too but he wants out. Though he promises not to tell anyone about Hollister's involvement, Hollister thinks it is too risky. He shoots Dutton in his house overlooking the harbour. Mrs. Stewart is on a boat in the harbour with her mother Mrs. Walters and sees the shooting. Her mother thinks she is seeing things. She reports the incident to the Police and Columbo shows up at Hollister's house. He looks around. Hollister is packing a lot of his belongings into crates. They are going to be put in a museum display honouring his military achievements. Columbo finds nothing leading him to think a man had been killed in the house and suspects that it was a hoax call. He sees Mrs. Stewart and is surprised how sure she is about what she saw. Then a body turns up in the sea a few miles from Hollister's house and is identified as Dutton's. Columbo suspects Hollister. Hollister meanwhile, has obtained Stewart's address from the harbour master and works his charm on her. She is rather gullible and believes that he really does like her, despite the fact he knows she made a complaint of a man in his house being shot by someone. Columbo can see what Hollister is doing and gradually Stewart becomes less and less sure that she did see a man being shot. However, Columbo finds the murder weapon. It is Hollister's famous pistol from his army days and it is in the museum display of his military artefacts. He gets ballistics to check it out and sure enough it was the murder weapon. Hollister is taken away and Mrs. Stewart is upset at realising what a fool she has been.
VERDICT:
Eddie Albert is a fine villain. He and Columbo enjoy a good rapport. The sea theme is a bit different from the normal Columbo setting but it is a nice change. The romance between Hollister and Stewart is a little hard to believe, as it is hard to believe anyone could be as gullible as Stewart is. Still, all in all, this episode is a good one.
Written by Mark Wilson
(C) Copyright Wilson/Young Enterprises 2006.
CAST:
Major General Martin Hollister..Eddie Albert
Helen Stewart..............Suzanne Pleshette
Mrs Walters........................Kate Reid
Colonel Roger Dutton...............John Kerr
Harry Barnes.......................Val Avery
Bert...........................Timothy Carey
Officer Sanchez...................Ron Castro
