"Just One More Thing..." - The COLUMBO Discussion Thread

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  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I don't recall "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" being all that special when I saw it on tv for the first time. Given all the positive comments here, I'm going to take a look at it again this week (I have the box set but actually haven't watched that episode since it first aired - I prefer the 70's films personally). I'll report back once I've seen it again.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    bondjames wrote: »
    I don't recall "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" being all that special when I saw it on tv for the first time. Given all the positive comments here, I'm going to take a look at it again this week (I have the box set but actually haven't watched that episode since it first aired - I prefer the 70's films personally). I'll report back once I've seen it again.

    To be honest, on seeing it on DVD recently for the first time since I recorded it from the TV in 2007 it wasn't really as good as I had first thought. It was still nice to see Columbo in a very different sort of environment, however.
  • I'm not saying it's a masterpiece either. It's more efficient in script terms than some of the previous ones. It's rational storytelling, efficient in Columbo type of tempo. The young villains leaves an impression (but you'll probably read the opposite elsewhere) and the plot didn't seem to have any hole in it. It was good. It was widescreen TV. It was different - the age difference between the Columbo and the murderers creates a peculiar atmosphere. But like you (and a lot of people) I think Columbo's golden age was the seventies.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    How freaking great is this: A Columbo thread!! :D

    How tell me there is a Murder, She Wrote thread too and I'm in Heaven :))

    I will shortly participate here :)
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    I think Columbo is my favourite tv show, I can never tire of these classics, and always come back to them every few years and watch the entire set from start to finish.

    I used to dislike the 70's episodes when I was younger (found them dated - but then in those days I only focused on the aesthetics, as a young, immature chap). Now I think the 70's were definitely Columbo's greatest period. I particularly like the Pilot episode where he has a shorter hair cut. It was made at the tail end of the 60's.

    I've never watched Murder She Wrote, although I bought the entire set for my father who is a big fan. I'll have to borrow it from him and take a look at some point.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    bondjames wrote: »
    I think Columbo is my favourite tv show, I can never tire of these classics, and always come back to them every few years and watch the entire set from start to finish.

    I used to dislike the 70's episodes when I was younger (found them dated - but then in those days I only focused on the aesthetics, as a young, immature chap). Now I think the 70's were definitely Columbo's greatest period. I particularly like the Pilot episode where he has a shorter hair cut. It was made at the tail end of the 60's.

    I've never watched Murder She Wrote, although I bought the entire set for my father who is a big fan. I'll have to borrow it from him and take a look at some point.

    The first 5 seasons are just wonderful of Murder, She Wrote. It gets better and better.
    Season 6 and 7 are plagued by the absence of Angela Lansbury who didn't want to do 22 episodes per season anymore, but the episodes she's in are fabulous. In later seasons, although I love them too, the charm of the earlier seasons vanishes as Jessica Fletcher moves permanently to New York.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    How can you compare Columbo to that abysmal Jessica Fletcher series? Loved Angela in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, by the way.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited June 2018 Posts: 17,727
    How can you compare Columbo to that abysmal Jessica Fletcher series? Loved Angela in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, by the way.

    Yes, though it had sometime Columbo writer Peter S. Fischer as a writer I was never a fan of Murder, She Wrote. I have the first series on DVD but haven't watched it yet. Columbo was a much better and classier show though.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    First and foremost due to Peter Falk.
  • Dragonpol wrote: »
    How can you compare Columbo to that abysmal Jessica Fletcher series? Loved Angela in Bedknobs and Broomsticks, by the way.

    Yes, though it had sometime Columbo writer Peter S. Fischer as a writer I was never a fan of Murder, She Write. I have the first series on DVD but haven't watched it yet. Columbo was a much better and classier show though.

    Richard Levinson and William Link co-created both series. With Murder, She Wrote, Peter S. Fischer was also a co-creator.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited March 2016 Posts: 9,020
    The Larry Sanders Show is awesome. I bought the complete DVD collection a couple of years ago when it finally got released!
    I watched the whole thing within two weeks!!

    @birdleson I didn't know you're a Batman fan :)
    Do you watch the later Batman animation series as well?
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The Simpsons and Twin Peaks belong there.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Oh, @BondJasonBond , I misread. Which later animated series do you mean? I liked THE BATMAN, but not the CGI I one very much. THE BRAVE AND BOLD cartoon was excellent.

    The Brave And The Bold and The Batman are my favourites too.
    Beware The Batman is just disappointing, yes. Hopefully the next one will not be CGI again.
    Of all the DC Animated series Justice League (Unlimited) is my favourite.

    My daughter is quite fond of The Brave And The Bold (she'll be 6 this April), which is great as I have an excuse to watch those episodes over and over again ;)
    I can't wait till she's old enough to watch the more serious ones as well :)

    Concerning the comic books, I still collect them, my collection is insanely large, but I more or less stopped reading them 5 years ago, it's just not the same anymore.
  • Posts: 6,432
    I bought the Cigar box box set last year, with every episode (Previously I had seperate season and combined season box sets of the original run) been slowly making my way through for a complete run. Currently mid way through season 2, next episode is A Stitch in Crime to me one of the top tear Columbo, Nimoy is fantastic in this episode. Would loved to have seen Nimoy return to the series great actor, he is effectively cold on this.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    I bought the Cigar box box set last year, with every episode (Previously I had seperate season and combined season box sets of the original run) been slowly making my way through for a complete run. Currently mid way through season 2, next episode is A Stitch in Crime to me one of the top tear Columbo, Nimoy is fantastic in this episode. Would loved to have seen Nimoy return to the series great actor, he is effectively cold on this.

    Yes, 'A Stitch in Crime' is a Top Ten Columbo episode for me. Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy are brilliant in it and you think the killer's actually got away with at the end.
  • Posts: 6,432
    It is a classic, first two seasons were at a high level. Dagger of the mind being a acception... for me a relatively weak entry, though a episode that showed they were willing to mix it up a bit, on this occasion changing location. Baseheart and Blackman were over the top for me, though I suppose they are supposed to be thespians. Good to see the likeable John Williams in a Columbo film on the plus side.
  • Amusingly, Bernard Fox's character gets referenced (but is never seen) in the 1990 Columbo episode, Columbo Cries Wolf.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited April 2016 Posts: 9,020
    After watching Dial M For Murder I just had to throw in the Columbo Blu-ray with the episode DEATH LENDS A HAND on it.
    Ray Milland's wife gets murdered. Robert Culp plays an investigator and of course he is the murderer.

    It is one of my favourite episodes because I very much like Ray Milland and Culp is of course always a joy to watch.

    There are some of my favourite scenes of the series in this episode.

    When Columbo is at Milland's house to report his progress and he wants to leave he "accidentally" opens the door to the closet and almost walks right into it. The facial expressions of Milland, Falk and Culp (who is also present in that scene) is priceless.
    After the faux-pas Columbo asks shyly if that door is the way to the outside. Again such subtle humour. I love it.

    To see Culp and Milland interact is also a real treat. They couldn't be more different but yet they have such great chemistry. And of course poor Milland doesn't suspect at all that Culp is in fact the murderer of his wife.

    One of the episodes (many, actually) that is not only great to watch because of the story and how it unfolds but for the acting as well.

    Very, very recommended!

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    After watching Dial M For Murder I just had to throw in the Columbo Blu-ray with the episode DEATH LENDS A HAND on it.
    Ray Milland's wife gets murdered. Robert Culp plays an investigator and of course he is the murderer.

    It is one of my favourite episodes because I very much like Ray Milland and Culp is of course always a joy to watch.

    There are some of my favourite scenes of the series in this episode.

    When Columbo is at Milland's house to report his progress and he wants to leave he "accidentally" opens the door to the closet and almost walks right into it. The facial expressions of Milland, Falk and Culp (who is also present in that scene) is priceless.
    After the faux-pas Columbo asks shyly if that door is the way to the outside. Again such subtle humour. I love it.

    To see Culp and Milland interact is also a real treat. They couldn't be more different but yet they have such great chemistry. And of course poor Milland doesn't suspect at all that Culp is in fact the murderer of his wife.

    One of the episodes (many, actually) that is not only great to watch because of the story and how it unfolds but for the acting as well.

    Very, very recommended!

    Yes, that one is my favourite episode of Columbo. Robert Culp was a class act!
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    There are just so many great Columbo episodes & Robert Culp was in some of the better ones. I love DOUBLE EXPOSURE with the 'subliminal cuts' as well.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited April 2016 Posts: 9,020
    I watched the second episode with Ray Milland as well.
    THE GREENHOUSE JUNGLE is one of many good Columbo episodes I guess, nothing very special but still always fun to watch.
    Ray Milland is the baddie this time. It's one of those episodes where the murder only takes place way into the episode.
    One thing is for sure, it contains one of the most iconic scenes with Columbo, if iconic is the right word, maybe most memorable is better wording.
    What luck that I found this scene on the web, so here it is.
    Enjoy!

    <iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p-UMrp-JHF0"; frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Love this episode too @BondJasonBond006. One thing I haven't mentioned is the music in this series. It's top notch, and there's a recurring theme they use for Milland's character in this episode (normally when he's in his Rolls) that I particularly like.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Watched The night I was murdered ( couldn't help sympathising with the murderer )
    And
    How to dial a murder, another great movie with Dogs being used as killers.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    Watched The night I was murdered ( couldn't help sympathising with the murderer )
    And
    How to dial a murder, another great movie with Dogs being used as killers.

    That's Try and Catch Me (1977) - one of my Top 10 favourite episodes. I like the dogs one too!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    :)) I didn't catch the title so thought it was named after the Book the old lady was
    writing.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,727
    :)) I didn't catch the title so thought it was named after the Book the old lady was
    writing.

    No, you're fine. It's a great ending with Columbo being tough with the old lady when he needed to be - "Don't count on that."
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    edited May 2016 Posts: 13,384
    Some great scenes, from some great actors. :)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited May 2016 Posts: 17,727
    Some great scenes, from some great actors. :)

    Indeed - Abigail Mitchell ('The Best in Murder') was surely based on Agatha Christie who had died the year before.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Agreed. I also felt for her character, she did have a good reason for getting rid of
    That bloke. As she said it was a pitty Columbo wasn't the detective in charge of her
    Niece's death.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited June 2018 Posts: 17,727
    Agreed. I also felt for her character, she did have a good reason for getting rid of
    That bloke. As she said it was a pitty Columbo wasn't the detective in charge of her
    Niece's death.

    Yes, true. She is one of the more sympathetic killers on Columbo. That was the great thing about Columbo - as an 'inverted mystery' you saw everything, initially at least, from the killer's viewpoint.
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