Columbo "The Most Crucial Game" #2.3 (1972) (TV)

Culp and Falk are great together, 14 March 2005

When the owner of a football team is found dead in his pool, it looks like an accident. That is until Columbo starts poking around. He quickly latches on to the man who runs the team, Paul Hanlon (Robert Culp), as the primary suspect. But how could Hanlon have committed the murder? He was at the ballgame at the time it was committed.

The best thing about this The Most Crucial Game is the interaction between Robert Culp and Peter Falk. Culp is great as the suspect who grows more weary of Columbo's continual antics. There are a couple of scenes where Culp looks like he's really ready to blow a fuse. In contract, Falk's Columbo is calm, cool, and collected. Great stuff.

The actual murder is also a thing of genius. Using a block of ice to bash someone in the head while in a swimming pool is a masterful idea. The intended victim is dead and there is no murder weapon.

The weakest point of The Most Crucial Game is unfortunately the ending. It's rather poorly handled. It's almost as if the writers couldn't come up with a good way to end it. The solution is fine, it's just that the revelation of the solution seems very awkward.

7/10