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Columbo........


JWL

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I've never been into the detective genre much but I always found Columbo episodes a good watch. The idea of showing the crime at the start and it all being about how he solved it was quite clever. I was really surprised to turn the telly on a few years back and see Billy Connolly starring in an episode. It turns out it was one of the last episodes they made - "Murder with too many notes". Connolly plays a composer in it.

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JudyJudyJudy

Loved it . During lockdown watched most of the episodes online . Peter Falk was a very fine actor . Yes the programme was ground breaking due to its plot line , in which the viewer knew the murderer from the start . Most of the plots were well written and had clever stories to them . Some great guest stars too in the classic episodes from the 1970 s such as Anne Baxter , Patrick mc Goohan, Leonard Nimoy , Vera Miles , Lee Grant and William Shatner 

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43 minutes ago, stirlo said:

I've never been into the detective genre much but I always found Columbo episodes a good watch. The idea of showing the crime at the start and it all being about how he solved it was quite clever. I was really surprised to turn the telly on a few years back and see Billy Connolly starring in an episode. It turns out it was one of the last episodes they made - "Murder with too many notes". Connolly plays a composer in it.

 

The format is often called 'how did he catch 'em?'.   As opposed to the more known 'who dunnit?'.

 

Columbo and the films were pure genius.  Peter Falk was quite young and the character quite dapper in the original Prescription Murder with Gene Barry.  Someone must have decided soon after that that Columbo should be a scruffy,  seemingly disorganised character as a gimmick.

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There were a number of regular supporting actors who appeared in numerous episodes as different characters.  Most notably Patrick McGoohan,  Robert Culp and Shera Danese (Falk's wife).  

Edited by Victorian
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17 minutes ago, Victorian said:

There were a number of regular supporting actors who appeared in numerous episodes as different characters.  Most notably Patrick McGoohan,  Robert Culp and Shera Danese (Falk's wife).  

 

Patrick McGoohan did quite a few and him and Peter Falk were very good friends. Robert Culp was the culprit (sorry) on a few occasions too, he actually turned up as the lawyer father of a guilty party in one of the later episodes.

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Peter Falk played a fine cameo role in the wonderful ’Wings of Desire’.

 

Columbo is fantastic entertainment. I can happily watch two or three episodes one after the other.

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1 hour ago, Morgan said:

Are you reading this @martoon ?

 

Didn't see any today but usually catch an episode or two. They're on all day Sunday on 5USA.

 

Love it. Never tire of watching the episodes from the original run. 1968 (pilot), 1971-78.

 

Never could get on board with the relaunch from 1989, though. Just didn't have the same feel.

 

 

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1 hour ago, leginten said:

Peter Falk played a fine cameo role in the wonderful ’Wings of Desire’.

 

Columbo is fantastic entertainment. I can happily watch two or three episodes one after the other.

 

Done that a few times if I have the house to myself on a Sunday. Jack Cassidy is superbly sinister in his, iirc, 3 appearances. 

 

Love the scene when Columbo goes to the soup kitchen/missionary to chase up a homeless, alcoholic witness. The nun just assumes he's also a vagrant. Even tries to take the famous raincoat from him with the promise of something better.

 

Dick Van Dyke is the miscreant in that one.

 

 

Edited by martoon
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3 hours ago, JamesM48 said:

Loved it . During lockdown watched most of the episodes online . Peter Falk was a very fine actor . Yes the programme was ground breaking due to its plot line , in which the viewer knew the murderer from the start . Most of the plots were well written and had clever stories to them . Some great guest stars too in the classic episodes from the 1970 s such as Anne Baxter , Patrick mc Goohan, Leonard Nimoy , Vera Miles , Lee Grant and William Shatner 

 

Love the Shatner one. Brilliantly overacted by him, as usual, but it works well. The actor who played chekhov in Star Trek makes a brief appearance too.

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2 hours ago, JWL said:

 

Patrick McGoohan did quite a few and him and Peter Falk were very good friends. Robert Culp was the culprit (sorry) on a few occasions too, he actually turned up as the lawyer father of a guilty party in one of the later episodes.

 

Pretty sure Robert Culp holds the record for most guest appearances. Four, I think, in the 70's.

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I have watched more columbo episodes than most other detective series.  Plus the films.   Was great 👍.    His dog, car, coat, mannerisms, speech, accent was a good character and an excellent persona for the villains to "try" and deceive.   

 

Murder she wrote was not bad as well.   But got more boring because of her character.    Monk is great, I watched alot of them.    More comedy in Monk. 

Edited by HMFC01
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1 hour ago, martoon said:

 

Pretty sure Robert Culp holds the record for most guest appearances. Four, I think, in the 70's.

He also appeared in an episode of the shit spin off, Mrs Columbo. 

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4 hours ago, gjcc said:


Peter Falk did, but did Columbo?

 

Ha ha.  Yes he did.  He mentioned it in at least one film.

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6 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

He also appeared in an episode of the shit spin off, Mrs Columbo. 

 

Never seen it, bud.

 

Don't believe I've ever seen Culp in anything other than Columbo.

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11 minutes ago, martoon said:

 

Never seen it, bud.

 

Don't believe I've ever seen Culp in anything other than Columbo.

This is the one he's in.

 

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14 hours ago, JWL said:

Watching now as nothing else on. Quite simply the best TV detective series ever shown on telly.

 

The Bridge wins that accolade for me.

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John Findlay
9 hours ago, martoon said:

 

Done that a few times if I have the house to myself on a Sunday. Jack Cassidy is superbly sinister in his, iirc, 3 appearances. 

 

Love the scene when Columbo goes to the soup kitchen/missionary to chase up a homeless, alcoholic witness. The nun just assumes he's also a vagrant. Even tries to take the famous raincoat from him with the promise of something better.

 

Dick Van Dyke is the miscreant in that one.

 

 

Negative reaction.

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John Findlay

Columbo was the complete opposite to the likes of The Streets of San Francisco, Ironside, Starsky and Hutch. 

Columbo used his brain and his talent to get under the suspects skin.

He never fired a gun, in fact he never carried one. An American cop who never carried a gun!

Favourite episodes of mine are.

When Donald Pleasence plays a vineyard owner and murders his brother.

When Louis Jordan plays a famous food critic and murders a restaurant owner.

Martin Landau playing a double part of twin brothers, one a TV chef the other a banker who murder their rich uncle.

There is an episode where Jamie Lee Curtis has a very small part as a waitress. Think it is the the sky high murder.

Jack Cassidy as the nightclub magician, Robert Loggia is in this episode.

The one where Patrick McGoohan is the Colonel of a military cadet academy. Young Bruno Kirby(The unfunny officer in Good Morning Vietnam who with J T Walsh gets rid of Robin William's DJ in the end.), his dad Bruce plays a Sargeant in quite a few episodes in the early 70s episodes.

One of the very later ones I did like was George Wendt of cheers fame playing a chain smoking racehorse trainer who murders his brother and tries to frame the mafia for it. The mafia boss played by Rod Steiger.

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9 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

Negative reaction.

 

That's it.

 

Columbo only gets him in the end with a bit of trick photography.

 

I like that small roles are often played by recurring actors. The wee bloke who played the wino, who witnessed Van Dykes 2nd murder, was in many episodes.

 

There were 2/3 others who cropped up here and there.

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John Findlay
Just now, martoon said:

 

That's it.

 

Columbo only gets him in the end with a bit of trick photography.

 

I like that small roles are often played by recurring actors. The wee bloke who played the wino, who witnessed Van Dykes 2nd murder, was in many episodes.

 

There were 2/3 others who cropped up here and there.

Correct, that wee bloke was in another good one with Patrick McGoohan who is a CIA agent who bumps of Leslie Neilsen on the beach. It's the speech he writes for the wee bloke as he mentions about the Chinese pulling out of the Olympic games, Munich 72 or Montreal 76, I cant remember that Columbo gets him with in the End.

Eddie Albert plays a retired general  who is the murderer.

Robert Vaughan was a murderer on a cruise ship then a victim in another episode.

Ricardo Moltaban also in an episode set in Mexico. Not that I watch Columbo lol.

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23 minutes ago, John Findlay said:

Correct, that wee bloke was in another good one with Patrick McGoohan who is a CIA agent who bumps of Leslie Neilsen on the beach. It's the speech he writes for the wee bloke as he mentions about the Chinese pulling out of the Olympic games, Munich 72 or Montreal 76, I cant remember that Columbo gets him with in the End.

Eddie Albert plays a retired general  who is the murderer.

Robert Vaughan was a murderer on a cruise ship then a victim in another episode.

Ricardo Moltaban also in an episode set in Mexico. Not that I watch Columbo lol.

 

I'm trying to ration posts on this thread but largely failing. 😊

 

Pick of the bunch for me:

 

Murder By The Book

Etude in Black 

A Stitch in Crime

Swan Song

A Friend in Deed

Troubled Waters

By Dawn's Early Light

Any Old Port in a Storm 

Negative Reaction

Playback

Fade Into Murder

Try and Catch Me

How to Dlal a Murder

The Conspirators

 

There's one or two, from the original run, that fall a bit short, "Blueprint For Murder" for example, but it is, overall, a fine body of work.

 

 

 

Edited by martoon
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9 hours ago, HMFC01 said:

I have watched more columbo episodes than most other detective series.  Plus the films.   Was great 👍.    His dog, car, coat, mannerisms, speech, accent was a good character and an excellent persona for the villains to "try" and deceive.   

 

Murder she wrote was not bad as well.   But got more boring because of her character.    Monk is great, I watched alot of them.    More comedy in Monk. 

Been watching all the Monk episodes the last few weeks, my favourite. 

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SectionDJambo

Like many people of the time, I thought Columbo was geat viewing when you only had 2 or 3 channels to watch. I now find myself struggling to find something to watch when I've got a few dozen channels for choice.

My own favourite of the 70s was The Rockford Files. James Garner was perfect for the role.

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Harry Potter
37 minutes ago, The Real Maroonblood said:

Dixon of Dock Green was the best followed by Z Cars.

😀

i can just remember that😏.

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1 hour ago, John Findlay said:

Columbo was the complete opposite to the likes of The Streets of San Francisco, Ironside, Starsky and Hutch. 

Columbo used his brain and his talent to get under the suspects skin.

He never fired a gun, in fact he never carried one. An American cop who never carried a gun!

Favourite episodes of mine are.

When Donald Pleasence plays a vineyard owner and murders his brother.

When Louis Jordan plays a famous food critic and murders a restaurant owner.

Martin Landau playing a double part of twin brothers, one a TV chef the other a banker who murder their rich uncle.

There is an episode where Jamie Lee Curtis has a very small part as a waitress. Think it is the the sky high murder.

Jack Cassidy as the nightclub magician, Robert Loggia is in this episode.

The one where Patrick McGoohan is the Colonel of a military cadet academy. Young Bruno Kirby(The unfunny officer in Good Morning Vietnam who with J T Walsh gets rid of Robin William's DJ in the end.), his dad Bruce plays a Sargeant in quite a few episodes in the early 70s episodes.

One of the very later ones I did like was George Wendt of cheers fame playing a chain smoking racehorse trainer who murders his brother and tries to frame the mafia for it. The mafia boss played by Rod Steiger.

 

Yes it's a recurring theme that he never carries a gun but he actually does fire one in Troubled Waters.  He fires a gun into a mattress to do a ballistics test.

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The Real Maroonblood
7 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

i can just remember that😏.

Inspector Barlow was a great character in Z Cars.

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JudyJudyJudy

Its generally agreed among the  uber fans that the best episodes were in the 1970s  . The later ones were too long and over inflated and didn't have as many good guest star actors as such.  My favorites are 

 

Ransom for a dead man .  with Lee Grant  . which has one of the best " gotchas"

 

Murder by the book with Jack Cassidy 

 

Etude in black with the great John Cassavettes  ( lifelong friend of Falk ) 

 

The most crucial game with the great Robert Culp and one of the most ingenious plots

 

Requiem for a fallen star ...if only for the superb Anne Baxter 

 

Lovely but lethal.... great gotcha too...

 

A friend in deed  with the great Richard Kiley]

 

Negative reaction with Dick Van Dyke

 

Now you see him

 

Fade to murder with the over the top hamminess of William Shatner 

 

Try and catch me.  my second favorite episode with a great cat and mouse game with the terrific old veteran actress Ruth Gordon

 

Of the later episodes i liked

 

Columbo goes to the Gullitone

 

Murder smoke and shadows

 

Columbo cries wolf....which has a really good twist in it

 

Agenda for murder with the great Patrick Mcgoohan 

 

Columbo goes to college...probably the best later episode 

 

I am a fan. Peter Falk held it all together with his great acting thoughout He was a great actors in many other films and tv shows. I always feel he never got the recognition he really deserved. 

 

 

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JudyJudyJudy
3 hours ago, Lemongrab said:

This is the one he's in.

 

I recall this. it was a flop and only lasted one season. 

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33 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

Its generally agreed among the  uber fans that the best episodes were in the 1970s  . The later ones were too long and over inflated and didn't have as many good guest star actors as such.  My favorites are 

 

Ransom for a dead man .  with Lee Grant  . which has one of the best " gotchas"

 

Murder by the book with Jack Cassidy 

 

Etude in black with the great John Cassavettes  ( lifelong friend of Falk ) 

 

The Most Crucial Game with the great Robert Culp and one of the most ingenious plots

 

Requiem for a fallen star ...if only for the superb Anne Baxter 

 

Lovely but lethal.... great gotcha too...

 

A friend in deed  with the great Richard Kiley]

 

Negative reaction with Dick Van Dyke

 

Now you see him

 

Fade to murder with the over the top hamminess of William Shatner 

 

Try and catch me.  my second favorite episode with a great cat and mouse game with the terrific old veteran actress Ruth Gordon

 

Of the later episodes i liked

 

Columbo goes to the Gullitone

 

Murder smoke and shadows

 

Columbo cries wolf....which has a really good twist in it

 

Agenda for murder with the great Patrick Mcgoohan 

 

Columbo goes to college...probably the best later episode 

 

I am a fan. Peter Falk held it all together with his great acting thoughout He was a great actors in many other films and tv shows. I always feel he never got the recognition he really deserved. 

 

 

 

The episode set around American football?

 

Another classic.

 

Omitted it from my favourites list as I mixed it up with the Laurence Harvey/chess one. An adequate episode but not great, Imo.

 

Agree about Shatner. A role where is hamminess actually paid off. 

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JudyJudyJudy
1 minute ago, martoon said:

 

The episode set around American football?

 

Another classic.

 

Omitted it from my favourites list as I mixed it up with the Laurence Harvey/chess one. An adequate episode but not great, Imo.

 

Agree about Shatner. A role where is hamminess actually paid off. 

Yes it was the one about American football .  I like William Shatner. His twitter page is hilarious . He just doesn't give a flying **** any more and regularly gets into spats with woke types.  He was 90 last week and still going strong. 

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A Boy Named Crow

This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any.

 

I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though.  In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake!

 

Tomorrow night it is then...

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JudyJudyJudy
38 minutes ago, A Boy Named Crow said:

This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any.

 

I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though.  In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake!

 

Tomorrow night it is then...

Yes I got that video too one time assuming it was a Columbo episode lol I watched most of mine through my stick and 5 star USA channel has them every Sunday 

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A Boy Named Crow
5 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

Yes I got that video too one time assuming it was a Columbo episode lol I watched most of mine through my stick and 5 star USA channel has them every Sunday 

I felt the ending was a bit farcical in MBNC, looking forward to Columbo getting some toff telt tomorrow night!

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Auldbenches
1 hour ago, A Boy Named Crow said:

This thread inspired me to get the wife into Columbo, she'd never seen any.

 

I'd heard they were all on YouTube. Things did not go well though.  In amongst all the clips, there was a full length video. I fired it on, the murder took ages to play out though. It wasn't until we were way, way into "Murder By Natural Causes" (not a Columbo) that I realised my mistake!

 

Tomorrow night it is then...

I was going to ask where the best place to find the old episodes.  I tried a couple of YouTube ones in the past and he sounded different. 

Could do with watching them to get over this lockdown.  

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John Findlay
4 hours ago, Auldbenches said:

I was going to ask where the best place to find the old episodes.  I tried a couple of YouTube ones in the past and he sounded different. 

Could do with watching them to get over this lockdown.  

Sunday all day on 5 USA ch 153 on Virgin

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Any Old Port in a Storm was great. One of the very few episodes that Columbo felt for the killer. Was nice to see him bring a rare bottle of wine along for Carsini to have a last drink on route to jail.

 

Really good episode.

 

I think on of the very few times he gets angry is to Leonard Nimoy during A Stitch in Crime.

 

 

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