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The case

The killer

Robert Conrad as Milo Janus

The victim

Philip Bruns as Gene Stafford

Guest cast

Robert Conrad, Pat Harrington Jr., Gretchen Corbett, Collin Wilcox Paxton, Philip Bruns, Jude Farese

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.

7:14

The murder

Milo Janus runs a chain of health clubs and has been robbing his own franchisees. Gene Stafford, one of them, has worked out the fraud and has the paperwork to prove it, which makes him the only obstacle between Janus and a comfortable future.

Janus strangles him at home and then builds the scene: the body under a barbell, the gym clothes, the shower running, the appearance of a man who trained alone and made a fatal mistake. He even eats the dinner Stafford had prepared, to suggest the victim was alive later than he was.

The staging is thorough and physically confident — this is a killer who is very comfortable moving a body, which turns out to be exactly the problem.

Milo Janus sells fitness as a franchise, and the franchisees are being robbed by the man whose name is on the door. Gene Stafford has done the arithmetic and has the paperwork.

Janus strangles him at home and then builds the scene with real physical confidence: the barbell across the throat, the gym clothes, the shower running, the appearance of a man who trained alone and made one fatal mistake.

He even eats the dinner Stafford had prepared, to place the death later in the evening than it was. Every detail is correct, which is the problem — a room arranged by somebody else is right in a way that a lived-in room never is.

How Columbo gets him

The famous detail arrives early: Columbo notices the dead man's shoes are laced wrongly. Someone dressed the body, and dressed it the way you dress a mannequin rather than the way a man dresses himself.

From there the whole tableau falls apart, because everything in it was arranged by somebody who was not the person supposedly living it. The dinner, the shower, the position of the weights — each is right in a way that is subtly, humanly wrong.

Janus responds to pressure with contempt and exercise. He conducts interviews while working out, offers the lieutenant fitness advice, and treats Columbo's evident unfitness as evidence of his general uselessness. It is the most physical version of the series' usual class comedy.

The famous clue arrives early: the dead man's shoes are laced the wrong way. Somebody dressed the body, and dressed it the way you dress a mannequin.

From there the tableau collapses, because every element was placed by a person who was not the one supposedly living it — the meal, the shower, the position of the weights.

Janus responds to pressure with contempt and exercise, conducting interviews mid-workout and offering the lieutenant fitness advice. It is the most physical version of the series' usual class comedy.

9:06

Worth knowing

• The shoelace clue is one of the most frequently cited in the series and often held up as the model Columbo observation: small, domestic and impossible to explain away.
• Robert Conrad performed his own gym work; the scenes were shot in a working health club.
• This is the episode in which Columbo lists his relatives — Harry and Ethel, Norman, Uncle Gene and the twins — none of whom the series ever shows.
• The shoelace clue is among the most cited in the series and is often held up as the model Columbo observation: small, domestic and impossible to explain away.
• This is the episode in which Columbo lists his relatives — Harry and Ethel, Norman, Uncle Gene and the twins — none of whom the series ever shows.
• Broadcast in September 1974.

Verdict

A tight, well-observed episode built on one perfect clue. Janus is not deep, but he does not need to be: the pleasure is watching a man whose whole personality is control lose it in small increments.

It is also a good demonstration of what the format does with physical comedy — the lieutenant on an exercise bicycle is funny, and the joke is doing investigative work at the same time.

Tight and well observed, built on one perfect clue. Janus is not a deep character, but he does not need to be: the pleasure is watching a man whose entire personality is control lose it by degrees.

It is also the best demonstration of how the series uses comedy — the lieutenant on an exercise bicycle is funny, and the joke is doing investigative work while you laugh at it.

Familiar faces

Actors who turn up in the series more than once — sometimes in very different parts.

• Dennis Robertson as Jerry3 episodesalso in Double Exposure, Mind Over Mayhem
• Victor Izay as Medical Examiner3 episodesalso in Now You See Him, Fade in to Murder
• Manuel DePina as Photographer3 episodesalso in The Most Dangerous Match, Double Exposure
• Jude Farese as Al Murphy2 episodesalso in Candidate for Crime
• Darrell Zwerling as Lewis Lacey2 episodesalso in Mind Over Mayhem

Cast data from TMDB, including uncredited bit parts. All the familiar faces →