New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 277640" data-attributes="member: 23">Double Exposure continuedColumbo putting the pieces together bit by bit was great fun to watch, and the relationship between he and Keppel was the main attraction. Robert Culp makes Keppel so airily dismissive at times with his tolerance wearing thin fairly early on. It comes across strongly that he doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he initially views Columbo as just that. There’s an interesting moment where Columbo takes the “honey” approach and produces Keppel’s books and you can see that it genuinely seems to stoke Keppel’s ego, luring him to continue to indulge Columbo, even though he seems to mistakenly think it’s simply out of amusement. What I especially loved about Double Exposure was the plotting was so clever and efficient that each time I thought I’d spotted a potential plot hole it was addressed. Vic Norris conveniently leaving the screening is an example of this. Despite his heavy set and his excessive consumption of salty caviar, it seems almost too convenient that Norris alone would respond to the subliminal messages on-screen and leave. After all, everyone was made uncomfortable by the heat, and everyone had been eating beforehand. Then, some time later, Culp’s Dr Bart Keppel points out to Columbo that everyone else in the cinema were Norris’s subordinates and none would have dared walk out of a screening and we see that he’d been meticulous in thinking out the logistics based on who was to be present. This attention to detail extended to the Gotcha, but especially as there was a bit of a fake-out Gotcha right before it. The golf course scene in the penultimate act was just top-hole (forgive the not-quite unintentional pun). But as Columbo presented his conclusions to Keppel, along with his conviction that he was sure Keppel was the killer, I really thought that was going to be it. And what he had was fairly circumstantial. But then Keppel did what several of the killers could have but didn’t: he named it for what it was. He told Columbo that he had no concrete proof and he walked away free. What’s more, he all but told Columbo that he was right. My absolute favourite Robert Culp moment came during this game, where, having been put off his game by Columbo he removed his golf ball from some long grass at the base of a tree, saying he was going to move it, before looking Columbo in the eye and lowering his voice to say “And no one will ever know”. It’s an exhilarating moment of pure, unadulterated taunting menace. Perfectly written and played, it's the most perfect “almost” Gotcha. As a moment where the killer feels untouchable, it’s entirely convincing and had me excited to see what would come next. It's also a cracking scene in its own right. Not only does it deliver dramatically, it's also hilarious. Watching Columbo fly into the path of the focussed golfers shouting from his little buggy can't fail to charm. continued...</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?