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

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  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited November 2016 Posts: 9,020
    @bondjames
    Columbo and Murder, She Wrote are the two classic TV-Shows I return to regularly for re-watches.
    Earlier this year I watched an entire season and a half (7 to 8) of MSW within a week I got so hooked again.
    I watched the four McGoohan episodes in two days. It's such a delight to see quality tv like that after a hard day's work.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    @BondJasonBond006, I have to confess I've never watched an episode of Murder She Wrote, even though I bought the entire series for my dad a few years back (he loves it). I'm going to borrow it from him and go through them all.
  • Birdleson wrote: »
    Maybe after this MI6 Bondathon we can do a group COLUMBO watch.

    That's a good idea I had an aborted attempt at a watch through, got to season two then should did not have the time to continue. Season one and two are that good they are very easy to rewatch after a short period of time.

  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    Birdleson wrote: »
    Maybe after this MI6 Bondathon we can do a group COLUMBO watch.

    Great idea. I'd certainly be all for that!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited November 2016 Posts: 17,728
    Interesting article on unlikely guest star killers in Columbo:

    https://metv.com/lists/9-celebrities-who-became-unlikely-killers-on-columbo
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I'd say it was a badge of honour to be asked to play a Columbo murderer.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    I'd say it was a badge of honour to be asked to play a Columbo murderer.

    It certainly was. It must have been an actor's dream to be asked!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I also think it was a huge complement to be asked back.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    I also think it was a huge complement to be asked back.

    Yes, it was and the ones they asked back were some of the very best of course. Robert Culp will always be my favourite guest star.

  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan are by far my favourites of the repeat actors. All their episodes were absolutely outstanding, especially the 'subliminal cut' psychological elements of Double Exposure.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Culp along with Cassidy and McGoohan all fantastic actors.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    Culp along with Cassidy and McGoohan all fantastic actors.

    Seconded. The cream of the crop.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I find it funny in the pilot episode, Cilumbo is a much more standard detective.
    No where near as shabbily dressed, with neat hair etc. I have read that originally
    Columbo was envisioned as a much older man than Peter Faulk, but he was just
    So good.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    I agree on Culp. Probably the best of the lot but McGoohan is my personal favourite.

    Of course really all of the returning actors were great. One more reason why Columbo will stand the test of time to all eternity.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    The original pilot is one of my favourites. Prescription Murder with Gene Barry is a true classic, as is the 2nd pilot, Ransom for a Dead Man with Lee Grant.

    The score for Columbo was also superb. Very suspenseful as were many of the 70's tv series.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    Posts: 9,020
    On to Jack Cassidy today, reviews coming in this evening :)
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    edited November 2016 Posts: 23,883
    Jack Cassidy is such a quintessential 70's actor for me. Whenever I think of that period, he comes to mind as much as any actor. I think he was quite prevalent in older shows I've seen from that era. His look is also very much of the time (especially the moustache).

    Murder by the Book is a Spielberg directed classic episode.
  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited November 2016 Posts: 9,020
    JACK CASSIDY 1927-1976 (He died when his couch, and subsequently apartment, caught fire after he fell asleep on it with a lit cigarette).

    One of the most Tony-nominated musical actors in Broadway history.

    The three Columbo episodes Cassidy did are all great and one of them, is my personal favourite.
    My No 1 Columbo episode NOW YOU SEE HIM where Cassidy play The Great Santini.

    This episode features delightful comedy and tense cat-and-mouse play.
    The performance of Falk is incredible and he shows how great his comedic talent is. And I don't talk slap-stick. Falk's timing for face-expressions and body-language is fantastic in this one.
    And then there is the magical Jack Cassidy. His performances in MURDER BY THE BOOK and PUBLISH OR PERISH are both great, but as The Great Santini he is sheer perfection.

    Filmed at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, the atmosphere of the setting is just marvelous and it has some kind of film noir aura to it.

    Also of note: This episode features some of Henry Mancini's score of CHARADE.

    How can you trick a master-trickster? It takes a Columbo to do it and naturally he succeeds. Watching him do it is pure pleasure.

    Murder By The Book is a great episode, one of the first aired and no other than STEVEN SPIELBERG directed it, and according to him, it was this job that got him the job to direct DUEL.
    There are already some glimpses visible into Spielberg's art of directing.
    Overall this is certainly one of the top episodes, easily in my Top 20 I'd say.

    Publish or Perish features a quite clever plot and it may be the only time that the main villain doesn't kill his initial victim himself.

    Highly recommended, all three of them.

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  • BondJasonBond006BondJasonBond006 on fb and ajb
    edited November 2016 Posts: 9,020
    WILLIAM SHATNER

    Of course I don't need to explain who Shatner is. The fact alone that he played the murderer not in one but two Columbo episodes is a gift for all Star Trek fans.

    Fade In To Murder 1976
    I guess this episode might be called good but not excellent, nonetheless it is one of my favourites. Just for the fact that Shatner and Falk have a fantastic duel of words and action in this one.
    Shatner plays one of the most fascinating and strange characters in all of the series.
    How he switches from his role as TV Detective (Shatner plays an actor) and his real persona is just great and I wonder if he isn't in fact schizophrenic.
    Anyway, the murder is quite clever and so is the cat and mouse play between Columbo and Ward Flowler/Detective Lucerne.
    Very recommended.

    Butterfly In Shades Of Grey 1994
    Shatner plays Fielding Chase a radio show moderator of influence.
    Again Shatner plays someone not quite right in the head. He is highly manipulative and obsessively protective of his daughter who works with him at the radio station.
    He even kills her friend just so she would not leave town.
    Again, Shatner and Falk have great, great chemistry on screen.
    Overall certainly a forgettable episode wouldn't it be for the two lead actors.
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    @BondJasonBond006, I can't wait to get to my Columbo marathon. It's been a few years but I still remember all the episodes very well and that's why I've avoided it. Once I start, it's hard to stop going through them all.

    When I was younger, I much preferred the 90's tv movies, but all the older folks around me told me I was nuts and that the 70's episodes were better. Like Connery vs. later Bonds, I've grown to really appreciate the originals as I've aged. Even the dialogue is so much smarter and sharper than some of the nonsense out there today. The writing is just so good.

    The two Shatner episodes are great, as is the Nimoy one.
  • Posts: 4,599
    Thanks for all these posts, brings back some great memories of watching these with my mum who was a massive fan. The complete set has just gone onto my Amazon wish list, fingers crossed
  • Posts: 5,774
    Just one more thing. You may not know it, but the original play, "Prescription : Murder", is playing in Paris right now, since September 22nd, until January 22nd 2017. Playing the lieutenant is french actor Martin Lamotte. More details here :

    theatre-michel.fr/Spectacles/columbo/

    affiche-columbo-def-theatre-michel-200x300.jpg

    theatremichel-columbo-photo3.jpg
  • bondjamesbondjames You were expecting someone else?
    Posts: 23,883
    Thanks for this @Gerard. Tragically, I'm nowhere near the City of Lights at this point, or any time soon, otherwise I'd be first in line for this. Darn it!
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    I see he inherited Peter Falk s wardrobe.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    A French Columbo? Well, he did drive a French car I suppose. :D
  • Something of interest to this thread. This was an episode of an anthology show featuring Dick Powell (who was the executive producer). Powell's introduction notes how Peter Falk was nominated for an Oscar and an Emmy in the same year.

    This particular story was written and produced by Richard Alan Simmons, who'd produce the final season of the NBC run of Columbo and the first season of the ABC run years later.

  • edited November 2016 Posts: 6,432
    To any UK fans one version of the 10 season DVD box set of Columbo Is £19.99 on Amazon :-O
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 4,904
    I've just started watching this show and I am binge watching. I'm in season two just finished the episode with the twins played by Martin Landeau. Great stuff.

    As for a Bond connection I was delighted to see Honour Blackman pop up in one of the episodes as a villainess. Great stuff. I wonder the budget to have an episode in London? The humour in that episode was strong too. Columbo at the airport trying to find his luggage while the police look for their VIP detective from the US! :)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    To any UK fans one version of the 10 season DVD box set of Columbo Is £19.99 on Amazon :-O

    I've just ordered one of those. Been hoping to get the cigar boxset for a while now although I've had the individual seasons for a good few years now.
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