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Before he was known for making blockbusters about sharks, aliens, and dinosaurs, Steven Spielberg had the honor of directing an episode of “Columbo.” His contribution to the series, “Murder by the Book,” is the first regular episode of the long-running drama following two successful TV movies, and it helped get the show off to a flying start. In fact, Peter Falk — who plays the series’ titular crime-solver –- was so blown away by Spielberg’s directorial style that it made him rethink how television could be made.
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As he once told “Pebble Mill at One” in an interview:
“I knew this guy was exceptional. The show with Steven Spielberg was the first time in my acting career that I did a scene in which I was unaware where the camera was. In television, the camera is always right there. And we did a scene, and he said ‘Action,’ and we started to shoot, and in the middle of the scene I said, ‘Where the hell is the camera?'”
Falk explained that Spielberg had the camera set up in a second story window in a building across the street, noting that it was uncommon for directors to shoot that way back then, especially in the realm of television. That’s when Falk knew that Spielberg was too talented for television and would go on to do even greater things afterward. Spielberg, meanwhile, viewed “Columbo” as an opportunity to bring a cinematic style to the television medium.
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Steven Spielberg had a million-dollar vision for Columbo
“Murder by the Book” set a high standard for the many great “Columbo” episodes that followed it. The small-screen procedurals of the 1960s and early ’70s were known for having simple, economical set-ups that allowed episodes to be made quickly. However, Steven Spielberg, who was 24 at the time, differed from the norm by employing the elaborate and ambitious camera set-ups that were reserved for movies back then.
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That was no mere coincidence, either, as Spielberg went into “Columbo” with the goal of making a movie … sort of. During a conversation with “On Small Screen,” he once explained that he was blown away by Steven Bocho’s script for “Murder by the Book” and wanted to do it justice, so he went all out. In his own words:
“I treated [‘Columbo’] like a little mini movie, and I made the movie with the psychology of a film director, not a TV director. I said, ‘I’m going to make this — you know, within the time they’re giving me — I’m going to make this look like a million bucks. They’re giving me $130,000 for this hour, I’m going to make it look like a million bucks.'”
Needless to say, the experience paved the way for Spielberg to direct many great movies in the following years, and the rest is history. He’s now widely regarded as one of the best to ever do it, and “Columbo” played a small part in getting him to the dance.
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