A Deadly State of Mind

This is a favourite of mine for many reasons but especially it's my absolute favourite way that Columbo actually gets his murderer George Hamilton. Can't believe someone actually said it was a bad ending? And he George is another reason so brilliant in this role.

I mean there are lots of exciting and clever ways he finally gets his culprit but yes this is just magnificent whether the first or the hundredth time!

Columbo episodes always seem to have the same formula. Especially since we know who does the crime after the first ten minutes, we love surprises in how Columbo catches his man or woman. In this episode, George Hamilton shows off his acting talents. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the man can act very well. He plays a psychiatrist who kills the husband of Lesley Ann Warren's character rather than ruin his reputation. The fun with Columbo episodes is that the crime is never too gruesome or motives are never too dark. Anyway, the doctor's patient is the prime witness and he gets her in the worst way. The crime happens at a beach-front estate secluded from neighbors and traffic. Anyway, watching Columbo catch him is particularly worth it especially sine you don't feel for Hamilton's character as a victim.

In a lot of Columbo episodes you can feel sorry for the perpetrator, sometimes they're driven to kill and the one who died probably should have. Other episodes show a carefully planned scheme gone awry because of the way Peter Falk digs for clues. But this one was spontaneous as it gets. Husband Stephen Elliott catches his psychiatrist colleague George Hamilton with his wife Lesley Ann Warren and Hamilton kills him in the struggle.

Hamilton was one of the most hateful perpetrators ever in the Columbo series. Being a psychiatrist and knowing how the human mind works, he prepares a careful scenario about a home invasion and it looks pretty good. But an extremely tiny piece of evidence convinces Falk otherwise and also Warren begins to fall apart.

However what Hamilton does to cover up after this is where his true worthlessness of a human being is shown. You will stand up and cheer when Falk nails him and how he nails him.

Got to love that Lieutenant Columbo.

A brilliant psychotherapist kills his lover's husband at her home and tries to make it look like a robbery, but when she fails to convince the police with their story he uses hypnotic suggestion to murder her too. However, he has not reckoned with Lieutenant Columbo's tenacity in exposing the conspiracy and getting his man.

One of the best of ABC's classic Columbo mysteries, expertly written by Peter S. Fischer, and beautifully played by the cast. Hamilton is ideal as the suave, amoral research psychologist, seducing his patient purely for her literary worth to him. A very young Warren is fabulous as the flaky, child-like rich man's wife, unable to make the cover story stick despite her best efforts. And Falk is simply unforgettable as Columbo - affable, idiosyncratic, painstaking and brilliant. As with the best of these mysteries, it is the details of the investigation that make viewing so pleasurable - the broken flint, the thin tyre track, the jewellry in the stocking and the final masterstroke with the blind man. A fine example of some of the best TV crime drama ever made.

A DEADLY STATE OF MIND is one of the best Columbo episodes I've watched. It's a story that never puts a foot wrong, packed with engaging and enjoyable performances and a wonderfully twisty plot with some great surprises hidden along the way. George Hamilton plays a delightfully suave hypnotist who accidentally murders a love rival in the opening scenes and decides to cover up the crime as best he can.

Unfortunately for him, Columbo is soon on the case and sniffing out some of those delightfully insignificant clues that become important later on in the game. What follows is a cat and mouse story in which the stakes are gradually raised to breaking point. There's a wonderful swimming pool set piece and great acting from supporting starlet Lesley Ann Warren, who makes the most of her conflicted and fragile character. Hamilton gives a performance that reminded me of Roger Moore, all bluff and bluster and raised eyebrows; he's great fun. And of course, Peter Falk excels as Columbo in one of his most likable appearances as the detective. Plus, A DEADLY STATE OF MIND incorporates one of the best twist endings I've seen in any Columbo film.