HOW DIRECTING COLUMBO LED STEVEN SPIELBERG TO DUEL AND JAWS
Before the monster shark in Jaws, and even before the monster truck Duel, the young Steven Spielberg turned his director’s eye on the master detective. Well, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Columbo to be exact.
On September 15, 1971, the first ever regular series episode of the dishevelled detective (as played masterfully by Peter Falk) aired. And that first regular episode, Murder By The Book, was directed by Spielberg. No slouch in the writing department, it was penned by future Hill Street Blues and NYPD Blue creator, Steven Bochco.
The story revolves around a murder-mystery writing duo, one half of which kills the more talented one and thinks they have crated the perfect murder, but they didn’t count on Columbo.
Of course, what makes Columbo standout from other crime and murder shows is that we are shown ‘who done it’ at the very beginning, the fun begins when Columbo toys with the characters, waiting for them to put a foot wrong. Which they always do.
The 1970s run of Columbo is still a wonderful delight, and this episode begins proceedings on a huge high, with Spielberg displaying his already obvious visual flair and a fantastic killer in the shape of Jack Cassidy (yes, the dad of David Cassidy) who would go onto play a killer two further times.
It’s my favourite Columbo, but seems to divide some opinion on quality. No one can deny that it is very playful episode, with a wonderful energy, characters and performances.
There is lots of visual flair and panache from Spielberg, he owns that camera and all we see, with some wonderful camera angles. Cassidy’s villain is smug and self-assured, his performance amplified by the confidence and maturity that Spielberg brings to it. And NBC and the creators of the show, William Link and Dick Levinson) must have thought the same.
Although it wasn’t the first episode of the regular series of Columbo to be filmed, it was moved to the debut spot as was deemed to be the strongest episode and therefore the one that would make the most impact. And here we are, still enjoying it 50 years later.
It has all the hallmarks that make Columbo great – a wonderful villain, some fantastic confrontations between the detective and killer that is like chess without a chess board, and a (almost) brilliant crime, but we can also see that Columbo is not fully formed. Cassidy drips charisma and callousness in equal measure, he’s perhaps only got the likes of Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan snapping at his heels.
In fact, it is said that Universal were so impressed with Spielberg’s work on this episode that it led directly to the offer of Duel, which aired on TV that very same year. Spielberg was just 24.
We know that Jaws propelled Spielberg to the big time in 1975, but sadly the fates of two of the stars of Murder By The Book had a more tragic ending.
Barbara Colby, who played the ill-fated quirky Lilly La Sanka, was murdered in the episode but was sadly slain herself in what appears to be a random shooting attack in July 1975. Colby died instantly, and her killer was never caught.
Murdering Colby in that episode was Jack Cassidy. In 1976, he would perish in a fire at his home after falling asleep on his sofa with a lit cigarette. Tragic ends to two actors who still had so much to give.
Just one more thing…
Well, actually, that should be Jaws one more thing. The 1976 episode of Columbo, Fade In To Black, took place largely on the Universal backlot, so that meant we got to see the shark from Jaws on the lake, but more importantly it meant we got to see the screen-used Orca. William Shatner was the murderer.
Now there is a murder that Columbo should solve, just why Quint’s boat was left to rot. Find out more about it here: Death of the Orca — THE DAILY JAWS
Words by Dean Newman
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