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Post by Nalkarj on Apr 19, 2017 21:45:26 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. I recently saw "Now You See Him," the one with Cassidy as the magician, for probably the 3rd time. I don't like it any more than any other run-of-the-mill episode (though I do like the magic atmosphere), but it's just the one that always seems to be on television! Don't they ever want to put on another episode? Oy! Anyway, it's a fun one, and the alibi gimmick could probably be used in a better framework. (The cleverest part, the bit with the waiter's uniform [recalling Chesterton--"The Queer Feet" in particular], is kinda a throwaway.) As is, the best parts, are usual, are the interactions between the Lieutenant and the murderer. As you write, Cassidy is one great sleazy villain.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 30, 2017 0:53:54 GMT
Anyone interested in posting a list of favorite Columbo episodes?
I've been thinking about my favorite Columbo episodes--I've seen several more because of MeTV and Cozi--and I wonder what all of yours are.
My purely subjective choices below:
Ransom for a Dead Man ('71)
"Death Lends a Hand" ('71)
"A Stitch in Crime" ('73)
"Double Shock" ('73)
"By Dawn's Early Light" ('74)
"Now You See Him..." ('76) [better than I judged it in April]
"Last Salute to the Commodore" ('76)
"Murder Under Glass" ('78)
"Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" ('89)
"Columbo Cries Wolf" ('90)
Anyone agree, disagree, have his or her favorites?
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Post by Richard Kimble on Jul 30, 2017 2:41:35 GMT
"A Friend in Deed"
"Suitable for Framing"
"A Stitch in Crime"
"An Exercise in Fatality"
"Forgotten Lady"
"Publish or Perish"
"Any Old Port in a Storm"
"Negative Reaction"
"Death Lends a Hand"
"Double Shock"
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Post by novastar6 on Jul 31, 2017 1:03:48 GMT
I love Columbo. Everything about him is just terrific. His persistence and constant annoyance among his best qualities. A while back we saw one, I guess it was one of the 90s movies, where he comes to the murderess's house in the middle of the night, and she's at the top of the stairs and he's by the front door, and every time she's about rid of him, he comes back with something else. I told my mom, 'if she locked the door he'd probably come in the window', you could just about see him doing that, and having some logical explanation for why he was.
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Post by marianne48 on Jul 31, 2017 2:27:37 GMT
Unfortunately, I just couldn't quite get into the show as I never cared for the format of knowing who the killer was from the beginning of the story. I do understand the appeal of the Columbo character, though.
I've always wondered--for all the years Columbo was around, and for all those crimes he solved, how come he was always Lieutenant Columbo? Does anyone know why he never received a promotion for all his great police work?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jul 31, 2017 2:41:32 GMT
Unfortunately, I just couldn't quite get into the show as I never cared for the format of knowing who the killer was from the beginning of the story. I do understand the appeal of the Columbo character, though. I've always wondered--for all the years Columbo was around, and for all those crimes he solved, how come he was always Lieutenant Columbo? Does anyone know why he never received a promotion for all his great police work? One of the eternal questions, eh? I suppose (in-universe, that is) that Columbo just wasn't ambitious, and liked being where he was--but, heck, you're right, he should have been the chief of detectives by now! I don't mind the "knowing the killer" format at all--it's an old set-up, going back to R. Austin Freeman--but there are a few Columbo episodes that are more-or-less straight whodunits-- "Double Shock" and "Last Salute to the Commodore"
--and a few in which the murderer is known from the beginning, but the how, why, or various other details are not, and are revealed at the end as in a whodunit: "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" and "Columbo Cries Wolf."
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Post by Nalkarj on Aug 14, 2017 1:10:37 GMT
Anyone interested in posting a list of favorite Columbo episodes? I've been thinking about my favorite Columbo episodes--I've seen several more because of MeTV and Cozi--and I wonder what all of yours are. My purely subjective choices below: Ransom for a Dead Man ('71) "Death Lends a Hand" ('71) "A Stitch in Crime" ('73) "Double Shock" ('73) "By Dawn's Early Light" ('74) "Now You See Him..." ('76) [better than I judged it in April] "Last Salute to the Commodore" ('76) "Murder Under Glass" ('78) "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" ('89) "Columbo Cries Wolf" ('90) Anyone agree, disagree, have his or her favorites? ETA: I just re-watched "Forgotten Lady." It definitely goes on the list.
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Post by mszanadu on Aug 19, 2017 1:38:04 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. I totally agree here taylorfirst1 that's exactly what I think of this fine show as well . Also very perfectly put reply here too . Thanks so much taylorfirst1 for your reply .
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Post by taylorfirst1 on Aug 19, 2017 22:14:24 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. I totally agree here taylorfirst1 that's exactly what I think of this fine show as well . Also very perfectly put reply here too . Thanks so much taylorfirst1 for your reply . Thank you.
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Post by mszanadu on Aug 20, 2017 1:26:54 GMT
I totally agree here taylorfirst1 that's exactly what I think of this fine show as well . Also very perfectly put reply here too . Thanks so much taylorfirst1 for your reply . Thank you. You're most welcome taylorfirst1 .
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Post by BATouttaheck on Aug 20, 2017 1:49:09 GMT
They just showed "Uneasy Lies the Crown", the episode where Columbo meets Nancy Walker and Darren #2 (Dick Sergeant) and Rick Cey. Columbo is gushing and talking all "star struck" at them.
I had to laugh because that was just how I talked to Peter Falk when I met him in London. He was just standing and waiting for someone and reading a newspaper.
He was so nice and even let me take his photo (he was wearing THE raincoat even tho' the meeting was pre-Columbo !)
My favorite episode is the one with Ruth Gordon.
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Post by louise on Oct 1, 2017 18:27:09 GMT
Favourite episode is probably any Old Port In a storm
favourite killer: Donald Pleasance in Any Old Port in a Storm
favourite gotcha: short Fuse
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Post by Primemovermithrax Pejorative on Oct 1, 2017 22:01:23 GMT
The one with Donald Pleasence-- you can tell Columbo liked him.
I know there were cases where Columbo did not like the killer and got pissed with them. Wish I could think of an example other than the Nimoy one which is the one that springs to mind first.
I liked the one where George Hamilton is tricked by the brother of the witness who he assumed was blind.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 3, 2018 2:40:47 GMT
God I love this show. I still tape it and watch it late nights as a cozy comfort. I don't even mind the much maligned Last Salute to the Commodore. ... once in a while. Any Old Port in a Storm is brilliant. But Columbo himself (Frank) is The shining star. Love that squint he gets in his eye when he suspects (uncannily, moments after meeting) the murderer. Love his awesome humility, his ingratiating "One more thing..." quirks that seem silly, but are deliberate, like his thoughts. Forgotten Lady is bittersweet and unusual. Try and Catch Me is creepy fun. Or maybe it's just Ruth Gordon that's so creepy-good. As for the newer seasons: I don't care as much for No Time to Die or Columbo Likes the Nightlife
But the rest feel like guilty pleasures. Tyne Daly had too much fun in A Bird in the Hand. I love to see the college brats get their due in Columbo Goes to College Rip Torn comes to mind as the worst villain, because his evil greed compelled him to horrifically kill his own nephew
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 23, 2019 6:42:53 GMT
MURDER BY THE BOOK - Last time I watched it I had the same reaction I had this time: "Steven Spielberg!?!" I knew he did one of the Jack Cassidy episodes but got this confused with the other one (oddly, that one had Mariette Hartley and this one had Rosemary Forsyth who made me think of MH.
I noticed a Marcia Wallace in the credits--the same one who was a voice on the Simpsons? But I cant remember who "Woman" was in the story.
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Post by OldSamVimes on Nov 24, 2019 21:46:43 GMT
I have a soft spot for the William Shatner episodes, but I can enjoy most of them.
The Port in the Storm one I really enjoy, the murderers reaction after he's caught, relief at being saved from his scheming secretary was funny.
I watch them all through every few years. It's like being back in the 70s - 80s.
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 25, 2019 12:41:18 GMT
How many did William Shatner do? I have only seen one-where he is an actor who stars in a tv detective show.
That reminds me that there was another late 80s episode where the killer is a film director who most probably was based on Spielberg.
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Post by amyghost on Nov 25, 2019 13:29:39 GMT
All time favorites are the ones with Patrick McGoohan; he and Falk had such perfect chemistry. By Dawn's Early Light ranks for me as the single-best Columbo episode of the series, but picking out one 'best' really is kind of like looking for the perfect gold nugget out of a pile of them.
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Post by Prime etc. on Sept 13, 2020 7:39:32 GMT
It's weird--I saw the Shatner one with him as a tv detective (I recall he had to wear lifts in his shoes to appear taller) but I assumed it was from the late 80s.
I don't know how I could have been confused--it's not like it would have been hard to miss the age and clothing differences.
Anyway, I have been going through them, and I wonder if I have even seen half the episodes form the first 7 seasons. I watched the one with Eddie Albert as the general, and where Susanne Pleshette compares Columbo to an unmade bed. I watched Lady In Waiting tonight. Susan Clark is definitely not one of the perps who is nice to Columbo. Interesting trivia is that it is directed by Norman Lloyd who not only is still alive, but from what I read his first acting role was in a 1939(!) tv movie!
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Post by Prime etc. on Nov 21, 2020 9:01:23 GMT
SHORT FUSE--I had seen at least parts of it before but probably never saw the whole episode before now. Roddy McDowall goes on my favorite killer list for his efforts and not being phased at all by Columbo's intrusions.
Also for POTA fans you have Cornelius and General Ursus and the president of the US together. IRL I think McDowall's character would have needed a little more to fool him than a miraculously preserved cigar box.
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