Dead Weight story
Major General Martin Hollister, a retired Marine Corps war hero, learns he is being investigated for embezzling military funds, then shoots his skittish accomplice, Col. Dutton. The act is partially witnessed by Helen Stewart, who was in a passing boat. She is wooed by Hollister into doubting her own story. Final clue/twist: After an encounter with his nostalgia-crazy cook, Columbo realizes that Hollister would never have let go of his signature revolver, the assumed murder weapon. Columbo retrieves the weapon, which Hollister claimed was a replica made for his museum display, and the police forensic unit identifies it as the weapon that killed Dutton. Hollister, with his extraordinary self-confidence, had assumed that everyone would accept what he said about the exhibit's weapon being merely a replica. Directed by: Jack Smight. Story by: John T. Dugan.
22 total · 2 choice · 12 major · 8 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| human safety need | choice | The retired war hero Major General Martin Hollister shot a man dead because the man might intentionally (or otherwise) expose him for embezzling military funds. |
| murder | choice | The plot turns on Columbo proving that the retired war hero Major General Martin Hollister shot a man dead and dumped the body at sea. |
| appearances can be deceiving | major | Witnesses and villains alike are caught off guard by Lieutenant Columbo's bumbling façade, which invariably proves to conceal a laser-focused mind. A police officer mistook Columbo for a mere civilian because he was driving a beaten up old Peugeot. |
| criminal fraud | major | General Hollister murdered his accomplice to cover up their history of embezzling military funds. |
| heroism | major | General Hollister was something of a war hero. A museum exhibit was being made in his honor. |
| how to dispose of a corpse and get away with it | major | After shooting his accomplice dead, the retired war hero Major General Martin Hollister his the corpse in a secret compartment behind his closet, and later dumped it far out at sea. He would have gotten away with his crime had it not been for a young female witness and the ever-pesky Lieutenant Columbo. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo was tasked with solving the following alleged murder mystery: Did Major General Hollister shoot a man dead in the Major General's own living room in the middle of the day? |
| military related work | major | The villain of the story Major General Martin Hollister was a retired war hero who was being honored with a museum display about his distinguished life in the service. |
| pride goes before a fall | major | In the end, Columbo pointed out that General Hollister had hidden his signature revolver in plain sight in the museum cabinet display case, whereas any criminal worth his salt would have disposed of the incriminating murder weapon long ago. |
| romantic courtship | major | The wealthy General Hollister successfully wooed a young divorcee, her having recently witnessed him shoot a man in cold blood notwithstanding. |