Columbo!

[nic]

IMHO Columbo has to be the best Homicide Detective ever!

The show was never a "Who Done It?" murder mystery. At the start of the episode we would see how the killer executed the murder then we would spend the rest of the show watching how Columbo would work it all out.
Of course the killer would always "help" Columbo as much as he could, trying to lead Columbo down the wrong tracks. - It was a kind of battle I guess between the two of them.
Anyway, at the end Columbo would always reveal how it was done and the killer would gracefully except defeat.

My Fav Columbo quote:

"oh, there's just one more thing..."

 

[BAYLOR]

He played him from 1968 to 2003 .

 

[Danny McG]

He played him from 1968 to 2003 .

21 years between postings!!!
(Another BAYLOR classic revival)
Respect.

 

[paranoid marvin]

It was completely the wrong way to go about a detective show, having the murderer shown to the viewer right from the start; completely opposite to how ever other detective show goes. But it worked so perfectly, watching how the guilty party went about putting Columbo off, but how he kept coming back until he got his man (or woman).

I'm just surprised that (I don't think) it's ever been tried since.

 

[KGeo777]

It had no theme song either--considering how well known the show was--it has no identifying theme song unless the Sunday Mystery Theme counts for it.
The show's format is also that the real star is the murderer. Each show is about a celebrity guest star murderer.
There's a tv-movie that was made right before the series started, A Step Out of Line (after its original pilot--and Falk was not the first Columbo-Bert Freed--who has a resemblance to Falk, played him first). The tv-movie was about Falk staging a robbery with some friends and he wears the Columbo costume in it. He's not a cop but he is dressed exactly like Columbo and his boss is a slob with cigars and it seems that Falk took that idea and used it in Columbo. But there is a scene near the end where Falk throws a tantrum in a police precinct and has to be restrained by cops and you could use that scene as a fan edit clip where it is revealed that Columbo murdered his wife and was keeping it secret all those years.

 

[BAYLOR]

It had no theme song either--considering how well known the show was--it has no identifying theme song unless the Sunday Mystery Theme counts for it.
The show's format is also that the real star is the murderer. Each show is about a celebrity guest star murderer.
There's a tv-movie that was made right before the series started, A Step Out of Line (after its original pilot--and Falk was not the first Columbo-Bert Freed--who has a resemblance to Falk, played him first). The tv-movie was about Falk staging a robbery with some friends and he wears the Columbo costume in it. He's not a cop but he is dressed exactly like Columbo and his boss is a slob with cigars and it seems that Falk took that idea and used it in Columbo. But there is a scene near the end where Falk throws a tantrum in a police precinct and has to be restrained by cops and you could use that scene as a fan edit clip where it is revealed that Columbo murdered his wife and was keeping it secret all those years.

Id like to have seen then a crossover story with McCloud .

Of course there was the 1980 tv comedy film Murder Can Hurt You it was a crossover of sorts.

 

[KGeo777]

Yeah I remember that tv movie. I have been meaning to rewatch it.
The casting was funny--Burt Young was a great choice for the Columbo spoof character.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yeah I remember that tv movie. I have been meaning to rewatch it.
The casting was funny--Burt Young was a great choice for the Columbo spoof character.

It was a wonderful send of 70's tv detective shows


I also have a bit of a soft spot for Peter Falk's film The Cheap Detective some of the jokes fall flat but is still a fun parody of this film noir detective films.

 

[AllanR]

I liked Peter Falk's bit part as himself in Wings of Desire

 

[BAYLOR]

I liked Peter Falk's bit part as himself in Wings of Desire

The man could flat out act

In the Twilight Zone The Mirror he gave us incredible performance as Revolutionary turned Dictator Ramos Clemente.

 

[CupofJoe]

I always liked the car. A very cute but ratty 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible. Apparently it is a rare car.

 

[BAYLOR]

I always liked the car. A very cute but ratty 1959 Peugeot 403 convertible. Apparently it is a rare car.

That and the rumpled overcoat and the cigar.

But this begs the question , would all the people that he caught have gone jail based on the evidence that Columbo came up with? How strong were his cases against them ? I suspect a few of them get off with a good lawyer and sympathetic jury.

 

[CupofJoe]

I thought he got most of them to confess...
But when you get to court, you brining someone like Jack McCoy [from Law & Order] to seal the deal.

 

[KGeo777]

There was an article by a lawyer that said several cases would have been thrown out based on his methods.
And they didn't always confess--in fact, I don't think they usually did.
They needed Tony Petrocelli after they were through with Columbo to get them off.

 

[Vladd67]

So many reveals by detectives on tv or in literature would have failed miserably if the villain had kept his cool and just said prove it.

 

[BAYLOR]

There was an article by a lawyer that said several cases would have been thrown out based on his methods.
And they didn't always confess--in fact, I don't think they usually did.
They needed Tony Petrocelli after they were through with Columbo to get them off.

So many reveals by detectives on tv or in literature would have failed miserably if the villain had kept his cool and just said prove it.

I think it would be safe to say that If detective in the real world were to apply the methodology of Frank Columbo , he would have more failures than he would success.

 

[BAYLOR]

21 years between postings!!!
(Another BAYLOR classic revival)
Respect.

And so far, a successful start .

 

[Alex The G and T]

I saw an episode last week where the entire crux of the solution was based on different methods of opening a cigar end.
There were two different types of cutting tools and Columbo got a lot of flack for his crude method of biting the end off with his teeth.

Immediately following, the Parental Alert for the next show warned that there may be someone seen smoking, therein; as if one sight of a smoker would instantly doom some naif to a lifetime of hopeless addiction....

Strange Days.

 

[BAYLOR]

I saw an episode last week where the entire crux of the solution was based on different methods of opening a cigar end.
There were two different types of cutting tools and Columbo got a lot of flack for his crude method of biting the end off with his teeth.

Immediately following, the Parental Alert for the next show warned that there may be someone seen smoking, therein; as if one sight of a smoker would instantly doom some naif to a lifetime of hopeless addiction....

Strange Days.

Strange day indeed.

 

[msstice]

Currently on a Columbo binge. I've always liked Columbo, but doing a binge makes me more critical, and as we go along the series, I find that the evidence gets more and more flimsy. The murder always confesses, but I feel most of these won't hold up in court. They'll come to their senses, hire a good lawyer, and either there will be just circumstantial evidence, or any evidence would have been obtained without a warrant or as a poisoned fruits. This gives me the idea for an anti-series starring a lawyer who is hired by the murder Columbo has caught, and who tears the case apart in court. He always has Columbo on cross and everytime says "Just one more thing." during the cross.