I had an odd premonition at the beginning of this episode, when Paul Burke goes on vacation, after a comical scene with his boss Horace McMahon. How will "Naked City" hold up in his temporary absence? Answer: NSG.
The series, especially in its first season with James Franciscus and John McIntire, gave a gritty, realistic (on-location) approach to a NYC crime show. Perhaps hiring Gilbert Ralston as sceenwriter was the mistake for "A Very Cautious Boy". Ralston was a prolific TV writer, best known in movies for the horror classic "Willard" (and it sequel "Ben"), as well as an ultra-violent movie "The Hunting Party", one of the more striking movies made in the wake of Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch". His ludicrous script turns the show into a hokey, at times campy melodrama.
Peter Falk walks through this starring role as a cold-blooded (and wooden) hired killer who calls himself "an insurance man". He's hired by a cute old restaurateur couple (Ruth White and William Hansen) to get rid of a lawyer who is shaking them down. Falk shakes the couple down for $20,000 to kill him.
A tedious subplot involving the then novel Karate craze. Between some martial arts scenes and Falk's later rather silly footage as a frogman to commit the murder, it's mainly obvious stunt men who carry out much of the work.
Final twists in the story are absurd, as kindly old Ruth White turns out to be a violent villain, and Falk's woodeness becomes similar to the gait of the Frankenstein monster as he plays his final scene, severly wounded but still violent. Police work is laughable here, too, without brainy Burke on the scene.
Only bright spot is Macha Meril as Falk's "romantic" interest, after she had been showcased in a juicy role in the sister series "Route 66". After just one feature film here (starring Dean Martin), she went back to Europe, never to come back to American roles, apart from Cannon's 1986 feature "Duet for One", made in London.