New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 276516" data-attributes="member: 23">The Most Crucial Game <img src="https://onceuponascreen.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/feat1.jpg?w=798" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 533px" /><img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2Fb7%2F43%2F38%2Fb743386815e5fd2202fd0c9ce63ca0b9.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 534px" /> To say sport doesn’t interest me is a huge understatement, so I must confess to feeling a little nervous at the abundance of locker room chatter and cheering crowds at the stadium (I think the game in question is the one that Americans call “football” that’s nothing like actual football, but it’s not important to know, thankfully). I needn’t have worried. After what felt like a slow few opening minutes, once the murder plan started moving I was invested. The first, pre-Columbo act was nice and meaty with time spent with both killer - Paul Hanlon - and victim - Eric Wagner. It’s a little surprising, then, that Hanlon’s motive is rather oblique. It’s evidently something to do with taking control of the sports empire, and perhaps getting closer to Eric’s wife (Dallas’s Donna Culver Krebbs herself). But it’s never that clear and motive isn’t really explored during investigation. Robert Culp is back for a second appearance, marking the first time in the series that an actor has played two different murderers. Hanlon is most easily distinguished from Brimmer by the very Seventies moustache. He’s as good value as always, treading the line between smooth and shaky; amused and irritated. Valerie Harper has a brief-but-memorable appearance as a high class sex worker. Is she the first character to kiss the Lieutenant? I think so. But will this be the only time he’s sexually harassed? Dean Stockwell had one of the best character introductions as Eric. We first meet him after a particularly heavy night. The bedside phone is ringing and we see his foot sticking out from beneath black satin sheets (more Seventiesness) that cover the rest of him - including his head. An arm reaches out and takes the phone and he gradually surfaces. Hanlon asks if he’s alone, and Eric has to fumble about the bed with his arm in order to confirm he is. There’s no mistaking he’s a playboy bachelor. The murder weapon is perhaps the most inspired to date. Using a block of ice to deliver a fatal blow to someone emerging from a pool, then simply dropping the ice into the pool seems pretty foolproof.Other elements of the plan, though, seem to negate it. Like driving a conspicuous ice cream van all over Los Angeles. continued... </blockquote>

Verification: Who played Sue Ellen in Dallas?