Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 30, 1993 TAG: 9312060193
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PATRICIA BRENNAN THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Peter Falk, who wrote and produced this one (and who has played Lt. Columbo for 22 years), called ``It's All in the Game'' (at 9 p.m. on WSET-Channel 13) an installment that's ``very different, more unpredictable, more complex, more ambiguous and more human.''
In a letter he wrote to television writers, he said, ``I have never seen Faye Dunaway better. She is a true star - stunning, arresting, complicated, funny, dangerous and moving.''
Dunaway may be better suited to this sort of long-form presentation than she is to a half-hour series. Her first romantic sitcom, ``It Had to Be You,'' was shelved after four airings and a lowly position at No. 86 on the ratings list.
CBS said that the series may return later in the season, possibly in January, and has ordered more episodes.
Meanwhile, Peter Falk is delighted that Dunaway found time to make his movie, and said that co-starring with her had been a treat.
``I kiss the ground she walks on,'' he said.
Falk and Dunaway first shared the television screen in a 1965-66 CBS series, ``Trials of O'Brien,'' in which he played a shrewd New York defense attorney. Her guest spot on that series was her first major television role. She signed up to play Lauren Black in the ``Columbo'' movie after she and Falk talked about a television series she was then considering, one that would star her as a detective.
``She had called me about that - I've known Faye for many years - and that was fortuitous, because in the course of that conversation I said, `I've got a script you've got to read,''' recounted Falk.
``She's very careful, Faye, about what she does. She'd seen other `Columbos' down through the years, and she wanted to see some of the more recent ones, the ones which involved women. So she read it, and she liked it.'' Given the customary ``Columbo'' format, it's not giving anything away to set up the story. Two attractive women - the older, Lauren Black (Dunaway); the younger, Lisa (Claudia Christian) - learn they are both being romanced by the same charismatic, ruthless gambler, Nick Franco (Armando Pucci). Enraged that he has been two-timing them, they decide to murder him and plot to cover their tracks.
When Columbo is called in to investigate, he finds himself distracted by Lauren, who can see that he is attracted to her. The interplay between the alluring and glamorous woman and the disheveled detective is delightful: She decides he needs a new tie; he buys the one she chooses. They are two veterans at work.
``I thought she was sensational,'' said Falk. ``I didn't write it for any particular person - I just wrote it. But I'm tickled by it. I just love it. It has for me a little bit more mystery than most `Columbos.'
``You're not quite sure where this relationship is going. Embedded in a cop/criminal story is a man/woman story. It was fun to make; it was fun to write. When you can find the way whereby what the cop does and what the cop says dovetails with what the man would do and say - that was tricky. You say to yourself, `What would he do?'''
After 22 years, Falk knows exactly what Columbo would and would not do. One thing Columbo does not do is invite Lauren Black to bed.
``I was tempted, to see what would happen,'' said Falk, ``but I just didn't think that the audience would want him to go that far.''
Nor is the crafty Columbo so bamboozled that he doesn't notice the clues that point to Lauren Black as his prime suspect.
Falk, 66, began playing the raincoated detective in September 1971, although the character actually debuted in one segment of ``The Sunday Mystery Hour,'' a summer anthology series that aired in 1960 and 1961.
Columbo was played by Bert Freed in a story called ``Enough Rope.'' The character's creators, Richard Levinson and William Link, then incorporated him into a play, ``Prescription: Murder,'' starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo.
The television version of ``Prescription: Murder'' aired in February 1968, and a second movie, ``Ransom for a Dead Man,'' in March 1971.
Falk took over the role and was said to have worn the same suit, shirt, tie and shoes for the entire run of the series. He also won Emmys for the role for the 1971-72, 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1989-90 seasons.
by CNB