The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
The Lt. Columbo Forum
Start a New Topic 
Author
Comment
View Entire Thread
Re: Double Shock

Matti, I'll try to answer a few of your questions:

(1) Why were the brothers blaming each other? Norman and Dexter blame each other in order to cast doubt on each other. By laying out the case against each other it will make it difficult for the police to blame either one.

(2) Why did Lisa die? The brothers killed Lisa because they wanted to frame Hatheway. They knew Hatheway was going to her apartment to collect the will and by throwing her off the balcony they hoped to incriminate him in her death.

(3) How did Columbo and Dexter travel so easily to Las Vegas? Air travel was much simpler back in the 70's. It would be perfectly feasible to pop into an airport and purchase a ticket. Driving to Vegas from LA is about 4 1/2-5 hours (depending on traffic). Flight time will be about an hour.

(4) Why is Norman not wearing a tie? Norman is wearing a tie at the craps table in Vegas. Dexter is pretending to be Norman, which is why he isn't wearing a tie.

Always enjoyed this episode. I know Mrs. Peck gets ripped apart, but I enjoy her scenes with Columbo, especially the scene where Dabney Coleman is laughing in the background.

Re: Double Shock

Thank you for your reply John,

(1) yes, you are probably right, they wanted to lead the police to the dead end by this behaviour

(2) ok, so that is what I meant by killing two birds with one stone, that confirms it
(3) I didn't know it was so easy (and cheap) then :)
(4) maybe it is my english but I thought "tie" is something else than "necktie". And as I am saying real Norman (the gambler) had only a tie :)

Re: Double Shock

Back in those days you can walk into an airport and pay cash right out of your pocket for an airplane ticket. Without anybody giving any second thought to it. And the LA to Las Vegas run probably ran on the hour. So it would be simple to hop a plane over there. I don't even think that it's a full hour flight more like about 40 minutes.

Re: Double Shock

Fred
Back in those days you can walk into an airport and pay cash right out of your pocket for an airplane ticket. Without anybody giving any second thought to it. And the LA to Las Vegas run probably ran on the hour. So it would be simple to hop a plane over there. I don't even think that it's a full hour flight more like about 40 minutes.
And according to Columbo in Murder by the Book LA to San Diego and back was every half hour. Just throwing that in.........

Re: Double Shock

This still makes me giggle though.
He asks Columbo to ‘follow him’, like he’s taking him to another room or something, yet there they are, in Vegas!

I understand flights were easier to buy, and possibly very frequent, but you’d still have to drive (in LA traffic), to the airport, park, get to the terminal, work out who is paying for the tickets, wait for the next flight, and then at the other end, you’d have to get a taxi, get to the casino and find his brother!

I know it’s for TV, but it would have been funny if Columbo had made some sort of joke about it.

Don’t forget they’d have to do all that in reverse! Did Columbo have no other jobs on?! ;)

Re: Double Shock

i think they (also) killed her, because she was to inherit all

Re: Double Shock

The fiancée was supposed to inherit all, but the corrupt lawyer was in cahoots with the brothers to get the will from her and destroy it. Once he had that copy, he was going to produce the uncle’s old will and Norman and Dexter would inherit all, after paying a tidy sum to the lawyer for managing the estate.

It makes no sense to me why the brothers would kill her and frame the lawyer. After doing that the lawyer produced the real will so the brothers could not inherit. Maybe I missed something.