The Most Crucial Game story
Paul Hanlon, the general manager of the Los Angeles Rockets football team, wants to create a sports empire, but Eric Wagner, who inherited the team, lacks ambition. Hanlon sneaks out of the stadium during the national anthem by disguising himself as an ice cream truck driver. He drives to a pay phone near Wagner's home, knowing Wagner's phones have been bugged, during which Hanlon makes it appear he's in his private box at the stadium by holding a radio to the receiver. He then drives to Wagner's house, bludgeons him with a blow to the head with a heavy piece of ice, which melts in the swimming pool, to make it appear to be an accident. Complicating matters is Eve Babcock, ostensibly a secretary but actually a call girl and an operative placed in Eric's home by a private detective who was, in turn, hired by Eric's attorney, Walter Cannell. James Gregory plays the football team’s coach. Final clue/twist: Columbo notices that the tape of the phone call Hanlon made to establish his alibi, which Hanlon insists was made from his private box in the stadium, did not capture the sound made whenever Hanlon’s office clock chimes to signal the bottom of the hour (the half hour). It proves that Hanlon’s phone call was not made from his private box. Directed by: Jeremy Kagan. Story by: John T. Dugan.
13 total · 2 choice · 5 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greed for riches | choice | Paul Hanlon, the general manager of a professional American football team, hatched a seemingly foolproof plot to murder the team's unambitious owner so that he could take over the team and go on to create a sports empire. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Paul Hanlon, the general manager of a professional American football team, hatched a seemingly foolproof plot to murder the team's lackadaisical owner, Eric, so that he could take over the team and go on to create a sports empire: He set out on his foul deed disguised as an ice cream man and stopped mid-journey to make a telephone call (that he knew would be recorded) but with a radio carefully placed so that he would seem to be in his box at the stadium. Thus believing he had a foolproof alibi, Paul proceeded to batter Eric to death with a block of ice in the family swimming pool. |
| American football | major | The story follows Lt. Columbo as he investigates the general manager of a professional American football team for having murdered the team's owner. The viewer is shown what the day to day life of a general manager might be like, short scenes of on field football action, and a view in the the locker room after a game. |
| 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. |
| human aspiration | major | Paul Hanlon aspired to build an unrivaled sports empire, so much so that he resorted to murder when the former owner's lackadaisical successor threatened to birng about its ruin. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo was tasked with the following murder mystery: Did the famous sports team owner Eric Wagner die alone in a swimming pool by accident, or was he killed? |
| pride in one's own creation | major | Paul Hanlon was exceedingly proud in the sports empire he had built up and resorted to murder when the empire's former owner's lackadaisical successor's lazy behavior threatened to bring about its ruin. |
| boss and employee | minor | Paul and the coach had some vociferous arguments about how to organize the play. |
| humility | minor | Lieutenant Columbo is prone to make modest and self-deprecating remarks. |
| husband and wife | minor | Shirley Wagner knew of her husband Eric's philandering and seemed at peace with it. |