TOOBWORLD'S TUESDAY MOVIE OF THE WEEK

'Columbo' is one of my favorite TV shows, in the top five as a matter of fact.  Along with my friends from the Facebook page "Columbo TV", I like to find the many (but not enough) guest stars from the 69 episodes of that Peter Falk mystery series in other shows and movie.

And we have a term for that type of actor, one who has appeared in 'Columbo' at least once in their career - "Columni".

I’m currently watching a TV movie that may have been a failed pilot - “They Call It Murder.”

It stars Jim Hutton as a character created by Erle Stanley Gardner, with the script by Sam Rolfe. If this was to be a series, I could see Jim Hutton, Jo-Anne Pflug, Robert Wilke, Miriam Colon and the two minor actors as deputies continuing on to the show.  Another actor who might have been recurring would have been 'Twilight Zone' stalwart Vaughn Taylor as the coroner.

But for Ed Asner as the Police Chief, even though he was still two years out from 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show', I think he would have been too busy to be locked into a show where he was perhaps the fourth banana in a role that was written to be very stereotypical.  (In fact, this movie was made in 1968 but shelved until 1971.  I think by then it was the pull of Asner from the MTM show which caused it to be broadcast.  I also think that's why Asner is so prominent on the video cover when he was low in importance to the plot.)

Sam Rolfe wrote the 'Man' and 'Girl from UNCLE' series for a total of 134 episodes, and over 200 episodes of 'Have Gun Will Travel' plus a lot of TV classics of all genres. Plus over 20 episodes each of 'Kaz' and 'Delvecchio', and a hefty chunk for 'The Delphi Bureau', 'Matt Helm' and single episodes of signature shows like 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine', 'Quantum Leap' and 'Matlock'.

From the IMDb:

This is the only vehicle - movie, TV or otherwise - to feature Doug Selby, and it is based on Erle Stanley Gardner's Doug Selby novel "The DA Draws a Circle."

I mentioned "Columi" earlier, and there were a top tier handful of Columni to be found in this TV movie.

In order of appearance:

• Leslie Nielsen (horrible Irish accent)
• Jessica Walter
• Lloyd Bochner
• Vic Tayback
• Nita Talbot

Plus! A great assembly of non-Columni:

Jo-Ann Pflug, Harry Townes, Michael Pataki, Carmen Matthews, Robert Wilke, Vaughn Taylor, Helen Kleeb and Ed Asner.  I would have loved to have seen all of them play one kind of role or another on 'Columbo'.  (And Pataki could have been one of the Lieutenant's many brothers!)

Just to allay any suspense you might have been harboring, Tayback was the character who got to say the movie title as part of the dialogue.

If you’re interested, you can find it on Amazon Prime.  I'd recommend it for fans of Classic TV "movies of the week", "cozy" murder mysteries, Jim Hutton as Ellery Queen fans, and for Perry Mason fans who might be interested in a different facet of Erle Stanley Gardner's world.

BCnU!