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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 6, 2017 14:41:46 GMT
1. Favorite episode?
2. Favorite killer?
3. Favorite "gotcha"?
Mine:
1. "A Friend In Deed" -- Richard Kiley as the LA police commissioner. Okay, they call him the "deputy" commissioner for legal reasons. But I don't wanna hear it -- he's the commissioner.
2. This may be a bit unexpected, but Robert Conrad in "An Exercise In Fatality". Generally the killers should be upper-crust to emphasize the class struggle between them and Columbo. However this one time having Conrad play a sleazy hustler trying to masquerade as high class works as the exception that proves the rule.
3. Ross Martin in "Suitable For Framing". To say any more might spoil it.
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Post by Wesley Crusher on Mar 6, 2017 14:59:02 GMT
Columbo is one of my all-time favorites
Peter Falk makes each episode fantastic ...
I love his forgetfulness, his car, his dog ... killers trying to outwit him.
10/10
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Post by jervistetch on Mar 6, 2017 16:57:28 GMT
I think "Etude in Black" with John Cassavetes as a murderous symphony conductor is my favorite. "Playback" with Oskar Werner is really good, too. I think Jack Cassidy was in more than one. He always made a good sleazy villain.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 7, 2017 16:42:54 GMT
I think Jack Cassidy was in more than one. He always made a good sleazy villain. He's in three. "Publish or Perish", as a publisher who kills his bestselling author (played by Mickey Spillane!) "Now You See Him", as a murderous magician "Murder by the Book", as part of an Ellery Queenish mystery writing team, he murders his writing partner. This is a great episode (directed by Stephen Spielberg no less) but Cassidy himself is rather subdued -- it's a role that could have been played by pretty much any leading man. IMHO he's seen to better advantage in the other two episodes.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 19:43:50 GMT
1. Favorite episode? I have only seen the first two seasons but my favorite was the first one I saw, which you mentioned as Murder by the Book. I was thinking how it felt more like a feature film at times than a tv movie and then at the end was shocked to see Steve Spielberg as the director. Jack Cassidy was a great villain.
2. Favorite killer? In A Stitch in Crime I loved seeing Leonard Nimoy as the bad doctor, also had a great moment when Columbo lost his temper and slammed a water pitcher on the doctor's desk.
3. Favorite "gotcha"? Also the episode where Robert Conrad was the killer and I really loved how Columbo was able to catch him with the audio, the shoes on the dead man and the written statement.
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Mar 9, 2017 19:22:52 GMT
I can't pick favorites because I love everything about this show. One of the best police shows ever. It was always so smart and unique.
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Post by snsurone on Mar 9, 2017 22:18:38 GMT
Favorite episode (can't remember titles very well): the one where Louis Jourdan is the killer, and the victim's family and associates keep Columbo stuffed with food and wine during the investigation. Betcha Columbo gained at least 20 lbs.
Favorite killer: Dick Van Dyke in a rare dramatic turn. Notice that he had to grow a full beard in order to disguise his "clown" appearance.
Favorite "gotcha": Columbo figuring out that twins Dexter and Norman (played by Martin Landau) were both connected to their rich uncle's murder.
Mind you, this topic is very difficult, as there are so many great episodes to choose from. I still miss Peter Falk.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2017 22:34:33 GMT
Columbo is one of my all-time favorites Peter Falk makes each episode fantastic ... I love his forgetfulness, his car, his dog ... killers trying to outwit him. 10/10 Columbo is a favorite of mine too and his Basset Hound is so cute!
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Post by schicklgruber on Mar 10, 2017 0:54:15 GMT
"Try and Catch Me"
The comic chemistry between Ruth Gordon as the wisecracking 'mystery writer' and Columbo is just great. And a sweet moment at the end too, as they toy with the audience because they know you wanted to let the old girl off - one of the most sympathetic killers in the series history.
Abigail: "Your dog seems to be scraping bottom..." Columbo: "Yes Ma'am, they made them that way." "Stay dog, STAY!" (the dog wanders off) Columbo: "He's trained, you know."
I can't imagine a show like Columbo succeeding today. Think of it: No violence (that we see) No pointless gratuitous sex scenes to titillate the teenyboppers, No gunfights (in fact in one episode it was revealed Columbo doesn't carry a gun because he doesn't like them! (LOL) And he had to get another policeman to take his qualifying test at the shooting range because he never goes!) No car chases! No real action to speak of, of ANY KIND. And a so-called "Murder Mystery" (NBC Mystery Movie) where you know who THE KILLER IS RIGHT FROM THE START! That's no mystery! So then, what the hell is the show about?
Try to sell that to today's audience.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 10, 2017 16:35:43 GMT
2. Favorite killer? In A Stitch in Crime I loved seeing Leonard Nimoy as the bad doctor, also had a great moment when Columbo lost his temper and slammed a water pitcher on the doctor's desk. It's debated among fans but for me, Columbo did not lose his temper. IMHO he deliberately acted that way to scare Nimoy into operating again, and thus incriminate himself by revealing that he'd used dissolving suture. Note that Nimoy only incriminates himself in the attempted murder of the old doctor -- he's still free and clear as far as murdering the nurse.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Mar 27, 2017 8:26:08 GMT
William Link and Richard Levinson said that the character of Columbo was inspired by the imspector in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
I also see the influence of Charlie Chan movies from the '30s, starring Warner Oland. Chan, like Columbo, is unfailingly polite to all suspects (though occasionally getting in a subtle zinger), saying things like "Beg humble pardon".
One difference is that Chan is never really underestimated by suspects, the way Columbo is by murderers until at least the end of Act II, by which time it's too late. Chan is often treated like a kind of celebrity.
James M. Cain's two famous novels The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, concern (illicit) romantic couples committing murder while a detective-figure solves the crime. Technically these are inverted mysteries, although they stress character over the mechanics of whodunnit.
In the magnificent film version of Double Indemnity, Barton Keyes the insurance investigator is especially Columbo-like, brilliantly solving the crime while never remembering to carry some matches with him. There's even a class-conflict subtext, though it's between crude, proletarian Keyes and the smooth but empty-headed exec at the insurance company (who got his job through nepotism).
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Post by naterdawg on Mar 27, 2017 21:15:54 GMT
If you watch Diabolique, the classic murder mystery from 1955, you'll see a very obvious template for Columbo in a rumpled detective who solves the crime.
Here's what the late film critic, Roger Ebert, had to say about Diabolique when he reviewed the remake:
Enter a police inspector (Kathy Bates), who wanders into the case before it really is a case,and stays around, asking questions. Bates is a wonderful actress, but her role has been mutilated. The inspector in the original "Diabolique'' was the inspiration for Peter Falk's "Columbo'' character--right down to the shabby raincoat, the constant cigar, and the absent-minded questions. Bates is not given any of that material to work with, and her final scene in the film makes a travesty of the character.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 2:00:18 GMT
2. Favorite killer? In A Stitch in Crime I loved seeing Leonard Nimoy as the bad doctor, also had a great moment when Columbo lost his temper and slammed a water pitcher on the doctor's desk. It's debated among fans but for me, Columbo did not lose his temper. IMHO he deliberately acted that way to scare Nimoy into operating again, and thus incriminate himself by revealing that he'd used dissolving suture. Note that Nimoy only incriminates himself in the attempted murder of the old doctor -- he's still free and clear as far as murdering the nurse. Interesting but I think he really did, for a brief moment, lose his temper.
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 6, 2017 3:40:59 GMT
It's debated among fans but for me, Columbo did not lose his temper. IMHO he deliberately acted that way to scare Nimoy into operating again, and thus incriminate himself by revealing that he'd used dissolving suture. Note that Nimoy only incriminates himself in the attempted murder of the old doctor -- he's still free and clear as far as murdering the nurse. Interesting but I think he really did, for a brief moment, lose his temper. I agree that Columbo did lose his temper, though Richard did write that it's debated among fans, which I never knew. I think the fact that Columbo lost his temper makes the episode much stronger--even though it is already one of the best. It makes the Lieutenant a human being too and shows that it's possible, though never likely, to outwit him, though, in the end, even Nimoy cannot. It's really one of my favorite episodes.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Apr 11, 2017 20:21:06 GMT
Interesting but I think he really did, for a brief moment, lose his temper. I agree that Columbo did lose his temper, though Richard did write that it's debated among fans, which I never knew. I think the fact that Columbo lost his temper makes the episode much stronger--even though it is already one of the best. It makes the Lieutenant a human being too and shows that it's possible, though never likely, to outwit him, though, in the end, even Nimoy cannot. It's really one of my favorite episodes. I was led here by the link supplied by Richard Kimble on the Feature Films That Were Television Productions First thread, and this topic caught me by its relation to Prescription: Murder, which remains my favorite Columbo outing for, among other things, giving us a Columbo of many colors: by turns sly, deceptively diffident, ingratiating or obsequious and - in the scene where he bears down mercilessly on Barry's accomplice - aggressively vociferous, which by the contrast it provides, underscores the deadly earnest behind all those other demeanors, as though to strip them away and reveal for a moment his unvarnished and single-minded relentlessness. "Didn't you help plan it with him? Didn't you help carry it out with him? Now didn't you? Without you that woman would be alive. Without you she wouldn't be LYING IN THE MORGUE! IT COULDN'T HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT YOU!!"
And in one of the nicest directorial touches, the coda plays out in longshot with both characters framed with their backs to the camera as Columbo concludes in measured tones: "Now you surprised me today because you were strong. But there's always tomorrow...and the day after that...and the day after that, and sooner or later you're going to talk to me. Until you do, you're going to be questioned, you're going to be followed, and you're going to be hounded. And Dr. Fleming can't do anything about it. You're on your own, Miss Hudson, and I'm going to get to him through you. That's a promise."
It's a side to Columbo of which I'd have liked to have seen more over the years. It's reminiscent of isolated moments in other series such as the Charlie Chans of the '30s or Poirots of the '80s - '90's in which the courtly reserve or quirky charm dropped away, exposing the righteous moral outrage that fueled their uncompromising pursuit of justice, providing a potent reminder that, beneath all the mannerisms, Columbo is a cop, and one not to be messed with.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 13, 2017 17:31:09 GMT
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 14, 2017 15:17:18 GMT
"Enough Rope" was the 1960 Chevy Mystery Theatre production which introduced the character of Lt. Columbo (played by Bert Freed). Levinson and Link later adapted this script into a play called Prescription: Murder, starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo. In 1968 this play was filmed as a TV movie, with guess who as the Lt. But there was a something of a detour along the way. The 1964 Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "Dear Uncle George", from a Levinson and Link story, stars Gene Barry as a man who murders his wife (just as he would do later in the film version of Prescription: Murder). But investigating the case is a rumpled detective named Lt Wolfson (Lou Jacobi). Lt. Wolfson isn't quite the Columbo we've come to know -- he's a bit too obviously sharp. But perhaps he is closer to the original conception of the character -- which Levinson and Link would later fine-tune, with a little help from Peter Falk. Lt. Wolfson (Lou Jacobi) meets wife-murderer Gene Barry in "Dear Uncle George":Those interested in discussing Columbo should check out this thread.
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Post by Richard Kimble on Apr 19, 2017 6:48:27 GMT
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Post by Ass_E9 on Apr 19, 2017 18:08:31 GMT
1. Favorite episode?
"By Dawn's Early Light" / "Make Me a Perfect Murder"
2. Favorite killer?
Col. Lyle C. Rumford (Patrick McGoohan), "By Dawn's Early Light" / Ward Fowler (William Shatner), "Fade into Murder"
3. LEAST Favorite "gotcha"?
"Last Salute to the Commodore"
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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 19, 2017 21:40:13 GMT
Ass_E9 , your reference to your least favorite "gotcha" reminded me--does anyone else here actually like "Last Salute to the Commodore"? (Like it as an episode, that is. I agree that its "gotcha" isn't very good.) Now, it's not my favorite by any means (that'd probably be a toss-up between "A Stitch in Crime" and "By Dawn's Early Light," with a small asterisk for "Death Lends a Hand" because it's the first one I ever saw)--far from it, in fact--but I appreciate it for its attempt to do something different. I fell into the trap early on (I've heard many people didn't) and was surprised when the twist happened halfway through. The murder mystery isn't all that clever, but the concept is novel and clever, I think, and I've got to give it points on that level alone. Many Columbo fans, however, absolutely pan it, which is why I'm asking, I guess.
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