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Prescription: Murder

1968 · 100 min

A cat-and-mouse game where the detective's disarming manner slowly tightens the screws on a smug killer, making for a satisfying, talky mystery.

Directed by
Richard Irving
Genres
Crime, Mystery, Drama
Starring
Peter Falk, Gene Barry, Katherine Justice
Tagline
The perfect crime had one flaw.
Overview
In Columbo's first outing, a psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.

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In the UKNo streaming, rental or purchase options known.
Directed by
Richard Irving
Genres
Crime, Mystery, Drama
Starring
Peter Falk, Gene Barry, Katherine Justice
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 2 of 3
  • cynicalstrength 2 of 3
  • satiricalstrength 1 of 3
  • warmstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • deception
  • crime
  • betrayal
  • obsession
  • justice
Places
  • big city
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • procedural
  • twist ending
Content intensity
  • Gore none
  • Language mild
  • Violence mild
  • Sex mild
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action2
Horror1
Humour4
Realism7
Romance3
Tension6
Darkness5
Complexity6
Emotional weight4

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Where to watch in the UK

No UK streaming, rental or purchase options are known.

Streaming data from JustWatch.TMDB

Details

Genres
crime, mystery, drama, tv movie
Directed by
Richard Irving
Written by
William Link, Richard Levinson
Starring
Peter Falk, Gene Barry, Katherine Justice, William Windom, Nina Foch, Virginia Gregg, Andrea King, Susanne Benton
Music
Dave Grusin
Cinematography
Ray Rennahan
Runtime
100 min
Country
United States of America
Languages
English

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