Prescription: Murder (1968)

Lt. Columbo: [first words ever said by Columbo] Dr. Flemming?
Dr. Ray Flemming: Who are you?
Lt. Columbo: Lieutenant Columbo, police.

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Lt. Columbo: [reaching in his pockets] Oh, uh, a few questions for my report, Doc.
[searching other pockets]
Lt. Columbo: Now, uh, you were in Mexico when this thing took place, and... uh... the dates there were... uh, gee, you don't have a pencil, do ya?
[Flemming hands him his pen]
Lt. Columbo: Thanks. You know, my wife, she gives me one every morning, but I just can't seem to hold onto it.

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Lt. Columbo: You know my sister, she has a living room that's very, very modern. But the minute you sit down in it, you can't open your mouth. You know, she's got this big kidney-shaped coffee table, it upsets me just to look at it. Her husband doesn't say anything and I figure the coffee table got to him years ago.

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Originally written as a Broadway play, the production was out of town bound for Broadway in 1962 when Thomas Mitchell (who was playing Columbo) died. The production closed and the script was later reworked for television. This film, which established Peter Falk as the definitive Lt. Columbo, was adapted from the 1962 play by the same authors. The play in turn had been adapted from Enough Rope, in which Bert Freed originated the role of Columbo.
This is the first of two pilot movies made before Columbo became part of the Mystery Movie wheel that played on television for most of the 1970s.
The role of Lt. Columbo was offered to Lee J. Cobb, but he had to decline due to a clash in scheduling.
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