Just One More Thing: Ransom For A Dead Man

Notes and screenshots for Ransom For A Dead Man: Originally broadcast on March 1 1971, starring Lee Grant as heartless lawyer Leslie Williams, Harlan Wade as her murdered husband, Patricia Mattick as her rebellious stepdaughter, Tim Carey as Bert and, of course, Peter Falk as Columbo.

Listen to the original podcast episode here:

Episode 61: Shop-Worn Bag of Tricks with guests Bob Ingersoll and "Jim from Detroit" 

Ransom for a Dead Man

TV Movie

Director: Richard Irving.

Writers: Dean Hargrove, Gene Thimpson (uncredited), Levinson and Link

There are a thousand reasons to condemn the memory of Joe McCarthy and the HUAC, but one of the key reasons is surely that we were robbed of twelve years’ worth of Lee Grant performances. 

For the 'second pilot’ of the series, Columbo’s characterization has made tremendous leaps and bounds. The polite, unobtrusive, even dapper young Lt.Columbo of Prescription: Murder has given way to a slouching, distracted, but still wily predator. Falk plays Columbo with more of a killer instinct in this performance, and we have the rare pleasure of Columbo acting tough (cutting Harold Gould’s Agent Carlson off at the knees, manipulating Patricia Mattick’s Margaret and warning her sternly about taking a swing at him -- in fact, has anyone ever actually taken a swipe at Columbo in the series? I’m sure someone must have but this is the first one I recall at this moment)

Grant, as Leslie Williams, is such a perfect foil that she’s practically his nemesis. She figures him out before Columbo figures her out -- from the moment that he wanders into her husband’s office, idly examining the books and photos on its desktop, she seems to recognize that this is a man who is going off script. She’s perfectly manipulated every other cop and agent in the room, but Columbo slides by like mercury. 

Meanwhile, Grant’s lethal lawyer is portrayed with cruel calculation, and she is simply amazing. A scene between her and Falk taking place in her office, launched with a conversation about the incriminating phone machine, is a masterclass. Her face betrays a process of thoughts and strategies as she sidles between disinterest, appraisal, sincerity, acidity, contempt and cooperation. One expression carries a volume of emotional information.

The scene with Columbo and Leslie Williams in the airplane was well-crafted. She robs Columbo of much of his power and authority by making him uncomfortable, subjecting him to rolls and dives which completely unseat him, and then -- the masterstroke. Putting Columbo ‘in charge’ of the plane, she barks orders at him insistently, as he clammily clutches the wheel. The message she’s sending him is neon-bright: Even when you have your hands on the stick, I am the one who is really in control. A shaken Columbo even seemed to queasily agree.

(How funny was it that he follows up a terrifying, gut-wrenching experience that left him unable to talk and then goes to Barney’s Beanery and shoves chili down his throat?)