The 1970s saw a young Steven Spielberg making films that felt both intimate and larger than life. There was the white-knuckle suspense of Duel (1971), where a man could only rely on himself to escape a mysterious semi-truck chasing him down. Jaws (1975) was a seafaring adventure where a mismatched trio became a heroic team to put an end to a big fish’s killing spree. Aliens would then arrive on Earth and affect the humans that witness them in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
These were the biggest films for Spielberg on his rise to being a famous filmmaker in Hollywood, but he didn’t need a high-concept premise to make for a thrilling experience. There were no science fiction or action-packed scenes in a murder mystery he directed in the same year as Duel. He was behind the camera for the first two episodes of the classic mystery series Columbo. The filmmaking style that he would put into Hollywood productions was already there, in this cat-and-mouse mystery that holds up more than 50 years after it aired.
The First Episode of ‘Columbo’ Is About a Murderous Author
There are two pilots for Columbo, but “Murder by the Book” is the official first episode of the series. A writing duo is breaking up after years of a successful book series about a fictional sleuth. Jim (Martin Milner) wants to do solo work, a decision that infuriates his partner Ken (Jack Cassidy), who is desperate to stay rich. As the lesser talented of the duo, Ken relies on Jim to do the writing and, without him, his lavish lifestyle is going to be a thing of the past. A murder plot will not be left in the pages of a new book this time around. Ken masterminds and executes a plan to murder his partner by staging an elaborate crime scene with false clues, a missing body, and a good alibi. Revealing Ken as the killer isn’t a spoiler, not when, out of the many rewatchable mystery shows, Columbo wants viewers to know “whodunit.”
Poker Face is a recent crime series that continues the “howcatchem” formula, and when done well, it can be as suspenseful as trying to figure out the identity of a murderer. This is especially true of Columbo. Knowing who did the crime leaves the rest of the story to follow how the killers try to stay undetected by the inquisitive Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk), an unstoppable, disheveled force of justice. In “Murder by the Book,” watching the charismatic yet arrogant Ken get bested by Columbo is given a gripping visual style by Steven Spielberg, thus earning this episode a special place in the early part of the director’s career.
‘Columbo’ Paved the Way to ‘Jaws’ and ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ for Steven Spielberg
In an interview for Steven Spielberg and the Small Screen, the filmmaker sat down to discuss the TV work he had done. He realized he couldn’t leap into film directing, and that he had to take steps to get to it. Working on TV was part of his effort, and he took on jobs for money. It wasn’t until Columbo that Spielberg felt passionate about the script he was going to direct. He remembered the episode was the “best script anybody has ever given me, ever, to direct,” and the feeling pushed him to treat it like a “mini-movie.”
That passion is on-screen in “Murder by the Book,” bringing to life a script written by Steven Bochco, who would go on to write more crime dramas. The lighting that feels taken from classic film noir is beautiful to look at as the darkness of Jim’s murder spreads away from the crime scene. A woman who tries to blackmail Ken is lost in the shadows, while a brightly lit Ken sits in front of her. But where it is most evident that Spielberg treats the mystery like a “mini-movie” is with the camera. Before the filmmaker’s later theatrical blockbusters, the small-screen version of the “Spielberg Oner” lets scenes breathe and build the tension out of seeing a killer try to get away with his crimes.
Steven Spielberg’s “Murder by the Book” Is One of ‘Columbo’s Best Episodes
A memorable scene in Jaws places the camera on the Chappy Ferry as top officials of Amity Island nervously talk about closing down the beach after a shark attack. The movements of the actors change the blocking from a wide shot to a medium and then a close-up, all without ever making the camera itself. A “Spielberg Oner” is not crafted to make audiences realize they are watching a continuous take and, in Columbo, how the camera is used is just as important. In the Small Screen interview, he explained his approach. “What I tried to bring to TV was a lesser emphasis on the close-up,” he said, “because the movies I learned from were really about master shots, and letting the audience kind of look at the overview and kind of be their own film editor, sometime.”
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When Columbo talks to Jim’s worried wife or when he talks to Ken, the camera is set back from the characters. The wide shot and how the characters move around demand the viewer’s attention while letting them see what they want to notice. Other stylistic elements can be seen in the opening scene that sets the mood. The camera spots a car driving to a building, then it pulls away to reveal the shot is through the window of Jim’s office. The writer is busy at the typewriter, the only noise in these opening minutes being the clicking of the keys. Even when the scene cuts to find Ken behind the wheel outside and taking a gun from the glove compartment, the clicking of the typewriter remains the only sound heard.
The creativity Spielberg put into Columbo is part of how the director was paving the way to get into Hollywood. He went on to craft suspense from a semi-truck driven by an unhinged driver, a trio of men battling a man-eating shark, and the chaos of a dinosaur park. But even a more simple tale of greed and murder is enough to keep you wondering what will happen next with Spielberg behind the camera.