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A Matter of Honor
Russian title: Дело чести · Russian version
A celebrated Mexican bullfighter kills a man in his own ring and arranges it to look as though the bull did it. The only Columbo set entirely outside the United States, and the only one where the murder weapon has four legs.
Editor’s rating — 7.5 out of 10.
- Number
- 35 of 69
- Aired
- February 1, 1976
- Running time
- 70 min
- Director
- Ted Post
- Writer
- Brad Radnitz
- Music
- Bernardo Segall
The case
- The killer
- Ricardo Montalbán as Luis Montoya
- The victim
- Robert Carricart as Hector Rangel
- Guest cast
- Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Ricardo Montalban, A Martinez, Jorge Rivero, Emilio Fernández, Enrique Lucero
Columbo is an inverted mystery: the murder opens the film and the killer is known from the first minutes. What you are watching for is how he proves it — see how the character works.
The murder
Luis Montoya is a retired matador of enormous reputation, running a bull-breeding ranch in Mexico. His financial position is worse than anyone knows, and Hector Rangel, an old friend and colleague, has discovered that Montoya's most famous bull — the animal his whole business rests on — is not what he claims.
Montoya drugs Rangel, drags him into the ring, and releases the bull. The death is horrifying and, on the face of it, self-explanatory: a drunk man wandered where he should not have gone and an animal did what animals do.
The elegance is that the murderer never touches the victim in a way that leaves a trace. Everything that killed Rangel is a bull, and a bull cannot be cross-examined.
Montoya's reputation is the ranch's only real asset. He retired undefeated, breeds bulls on the strength of that name, and the finances behind it are considerably worse than anyone outside the family knows.
Hector Rangel has discovered that the celebrated bull at the centre of the operation is not the animal Montoya claims — a fraud that would end the business and the legend together.
The murder is the most unusual method in the series. Montoya sedates him, puts him in the ring, and releases the bull. Nothing that kills Rangel can be cross-examined, and the scene explains itself to anyone who arrives afterwards.
How Columbo gets him
Columbo is in Mexico for a police exchange, and the episode uses the fish-out-of-water setup better than the London one did: he does not speak the language, does not know the customs, and is repeatedly and gently patronised by everyone including the local commander.
The medical evidence is the way in. A man trampled by a bull has particular injuries; a man drugged first has particular chemistry. The autopsy is the one thing Montoya could not stage.
The rest is about the bull itself. Why was that animal in that ring at that hour, and who could have put it there? The answer requires knowledge that only a handful of people on the ranch possess, and only one of them needed Rangel silent.
The fish-out-of-water setup works better here than in the London film. Columbo does not speak the language, does not know the customs, and is patronised with great courtesy by everyone including the local police commander.
The autopsy is the one thing Montoya could not stage. A man trampled by a bull has particular injuries; a man sedated first has particular chemistry, and the two do not describe the same evening.
The rest is about the animal. Why that bull, in that ring, at that hour — and who on the ranch had both the access and the reason.
Worth knowing
- Ricardo Montalbán won an Emmy for this performance, one of only two acting Emmys the series produced for a guest star.
- Falk plays much of the episode in a straw hat rather than the raincoat, which the script treats as a running joke.
- The bullfighting sequences use archive footage and a great deal of careful editing; no animal was harmed for the production.
- Ricardo Montalbán won an Emmy for this performance, one of only two acting Emmys the series won for a guest star.
- Falk spends much of the film in a straw hat rather than the raincoat, and the script treats the substitution as a running joke.
- The bullfighting footage is archival, cut together with staged inserts; broadcast February 1976.
Verdict
A change of setting that works, largely because Montalbán plays wounded pride rather than villainy — Montoya's motive is reputation, and he treats losing it as a kind of death.
The murder method is the most unusual in the run, and the autopsy clue is a good reminder that the series is at its best when the science is small and human.
A change of setting that earns itself, largely because Montalbán plays wounded pride rather than villainy. Montoya's motive is reputation, and he treats losing it as a form of death.
The autopsy clue is also a useful reminder of what the series does best: the science is small, human and checkable.
