I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession of watching Columbo re-runs. Have you ever met Peter Falk?

I only watched a few for the rare Peugeot 403.

I was at a Cassavetes screening he attended. He seemed quite affable.

I’m rather sure Peter Falk is dead.

Columbo, Kolchak, ... I love those 1970s hot-mess daddy types.

Peter Falk showed up as Columbo at a Frank Sinatra Roast, very funny.

I met him at the Delano in Miami in 2005. Nice guy, looked older and shorter than I thought he'd be. He was there and had just started filming a movie called "Retirement" along with Rip Torn, George Segal, and Ossie Davis about four grumpy old men who leave their Florida retirement homes on a road trip to Las Vegas to stop one of their daughters from marrying the wrong guy.

More than Falk, what I remember is that Davis (who was 87) was found dead in his hotel room the next day.

R6 - interesting. Always wondered what Rip Torn was like in person too., He seemed to have done some batshit crazy things in his twilight years. Looked up the film you (Retirement aka Three Days to Vegas) was referring to as I wasn’t familiar with it (I live in UK so maybe it wasn’t released here)....couldn’t find a trace of it on YouTube but for a short trailer. I’m assuming it was the influence behind Last Vegas from the glimpse I got.

[quote]More than Falk, what I remember is that Davis (who was 87) was found dead in his hotel room the next day.

Did they ask Falk to investigate?

Love John Cassavetes and him.

I loved Peter Falk as the grandfather in The Princess Bride. His scenes with Fred Savage are so delightful.

Never met him, but he seems to have been a loyal friend. He was tight with a number of actors: Cassavetes, Ben Gazarra, Nicholas Colasanto, Patrick McGoohan, Dabney Coleman, Ed Begley, Jr. All of them got jobs on Columbo, acting and/or directing, and Falk worked with them on other projects, too.

When Colasanto was hired to direct an episode that Cassavetes starred in but then fell ill, Falk and Cassavetes co-directed the episode but gave him the credit for it.

Young Peter Falk was handsome. He was also a graduate of Hamilton College in upstate NY.

Peter Falk spoke at the American Film Institute Salute to Frank Capra.

Falk had a supporting role in Capra's last film "Pocketful of Miracles". (I remember when my parents went to see it that my Mom remarked on the funny guy who was the sidekick (that was Falk)).

At the AFI dinner, he remembered that Capra had particularly selected the coat that his (Falk's) character was to wear.

And that Falk credited Capra's actions in leading up to Falk carefully selecting the raincoat for Columbo.

Here is Peter Falk's lovely tribute to Frank Capra.

Hello, OP! My girlfriend is like you.

Personally, my favourite scene is the one where he gets mistaken for a hobo (the Dick van Dyke episode).

I love Columbo and I love Peter Falk. I must watch Murder by Death again.

This is so coincidental. It's currently available on AMZ Prime and I was going to start a binge watch session last night just for nostalgia.

Back in the day, when I was a teen, a local affiliate would show old cop shows at 11:30pm. I would get crazy stoned with my friends and then go to my grandparents and watch Colombo. My grandparents were super chill unlike my neocon parents and sometimes we'd even have a couple of beers! Lol! They were a fucking blast!

RIP - you crazy old nuts!

There's nothing wrong with you OP.

The only thing that has ever surprised me on Dataloungee is how much Columbo is loved here.

I have the DVD set and watch the movies often.

I'm stuck on Perry Mason on MeTV

Me too. And I watch them, even though I have the complete series on DVD.

Thx R17! Was just going to ask if anyone knew where to watch!

Columbo is not an "unhealthy obsession." It's a great way to unwind after a shitty week. It makes us believe that good, decent people are working hard behind the scenes to bring evildoers to justice. In other words, it's a happy fantasy. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Lots of great episodes and a great show. I always like to re-watch Lady in Waiting. Susan Clark plays a woman who is controlled by her brother, so she kills him and does a pretty good job of making it look like a burglar. She feels liberated and starts to change--being more confident, dressing in sexier clothes, etc. Unfortunately for her, Columbo picks apart the inconsistencies in her story. Leslie Nielsen serves hot silver daddy realness as her boyfriend.

For me it's Murder She Wrote as well.

One of my favorite movies too R22. Her transformation from drab spinster to fabulous socialite is fun to watch. And Leslie Neilson playing a non comedy role, but holding his own with Peter Falk is great to watch.

Totally agree, R24. It was yet another great Columbo where the murderer is somewhat sympathetic, although in this one it's more so at the beginning. She'd been controlled by her father, demeaned by her mother, and now that her father is dead, her much older brother (played by Richard Andersen who was Oscar Goldman on the Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman) steps into the role of controller. She's had it and rids herself of the last person who can control her.

But unlike some Columbo sympathetic murderers, she transforms in a negative way. Her brother told her that her boyfriend played by Leslie Nielsen wouldn't look twice at her if she wasn't from a wealthy family. The irony is she kind of believes him and thinks becoming the ultra confident, sexy minx is what will keep her boyfriend. But of course, Leslie's character was actually in love with the person she was before the murder. Confidence soon becomes overconfidence, which allows Columbo to trap her.

Great episode and underrated in my opinion.

You need to go to Budapest, OP. This weird sculpture is for you!

I love the one where he's at Mensa or some genius club and he coyly says "imagine, I was in a room of geniuses and I didn't even know it!"

The episode starring Anne Baxter is fun, especially when she and Edith Head try to spruce up Columbo's wardrobe.

I love the one with Ruth Gordon.

In his final days, suffering from dementia, there was a report that he escaped from his care facility and was seen wandering in traffic in his pajamas.

The episode with Faye is a good one too.

R27 that's another favorite of mine, "The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case".

I love it because we get some insight into how Columbo became a great detective.

He talks about when he joined the force there were some "smart" guys. The impression I got was that they made Columbo feel that he wasn't smart enough, or good enough to become a detective, so he read everything he could, studied old cases and learned to be a good cop.

And I really like that the killer has complete respect for Columbo and his intelligence, something Columbo doesn't usually get from the people he's investigating.

I like Peter Falk - and Columbo - quite a lot.

He was so good in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin),

one of my favorite films.

I always get him mixed up with the guy who played “Barretta” — the guy with the white bird.

Am I the only one?

R33 that was the first time I saw him as someone other than Columbo.

My aunt sold him some appliance at the Sears in Santa Monica back in the day. Does that count?

The Lady In Waiting one. I didn’t find her sympathetic at all, particularly when she ruined it with Leslie Nielsen’s character! I love the Ruth Gordon episode. Who else could make an 80 odd year old murderess seem plausible

R36 -depends on the appliance

When Falk and Ruth are talking on the pier and Columbo comes right out and says he believes she murdered her nephew-in-law and she says, "I'm old, go easy on me Lieutenant" and Columbo says, "Don't count on it" the look on Ruth's face is priceless.

The Ruth Gordon episode is on YT.

His wife couldn't act.

I love the Johnny Cash episode, with Ida Lupino as the pious wife who gets pushed out of the plane. He nearly gets away with it, until the very end...

Agreed, R42. Johnny's naturalistic style showcased his natural charisma and fiery passion. And no one does shrill like Ida Lupino.

And then of course, there was the Milo Janis episode with DL fave ROBERT CONRAD!!

Besides Columbo and Cassavetes films, Peter Falk was comedy gold in "The In-Laws" with Alan Arkin.

“Lady in Waiting” is one of my favorites, too! I also like “Dead Weight” with Eddie Albert as the murderer and a nice role for DL face Suzanne Pleshette as a vulnerable witness. And Oskar Werner (Oskar Werner!) in “Playback” with Gena Rowlands and Martha Scott. So many good ones!

Fiona Apple loves Columbo, too!

I love Colombo. He reminds me of my grandpa.

Columbo had a lot of "repeat murderers": Patrick McGoohan, Robert Culp and Jack Cassidy all were villains on three separate occasions.

William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were both guest murderers, as was Robert Conrad and Ross Martin. (The Conrad episode is must-see for all gay men, with an EXTENDED scene of a shirtless RC in his absolute prime)

The Janet Leigh episode is the most touching, and (I think) the only one where he lets the killer get away.

I love the pilot movie, with Gene Barry, because we see Columbo before he started all his gimmicky tics. The scene where we see him explode at Barry's mistress was something we would rarely see again.

I love the scene in Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin) where he's walking down a street, passes a small group of young German men and they all turn to look at him. "Wasn't that Columbo?" "In Berlin?"

How did Peter lose his sight in one eye?

The episode with Jackie Cooper as the politician is a favorite, as is the one with Roddy McDowall and the exploding cigars.

Roddy McDowall’s laughter echoing over the closing music at the end of “Short Fuse” was an excellent touch, R52.

I also remember Columbo losing his temper with Leonard Nimoy in “A Stitch in Crime”, an ingenious episode involving dissolving stitches that also featured Anne Francis and Will Geer.

I liked that it was always rich people getting justice served. Not like real life at all

R15 - Nobody move! I gotta go to the can again.

OP, if you like Falk, I must recommend the wonderful 1979 comedy "The In-Laws", with Alan Arkin as an ordinary dentist, whose kid is going to marry the kid of slightly crazy CIA agent Peter Falk.

Excellent spy-adventure-buddy-comedy, starring two absolutely wonderful comic actors at the height of their form.

Another vote for The In-Laws. We watch it every few years (don't want to memorize it), and it's utterly hilarious. Andrew Bergman wrote the screenplay.

Falk lost his eye in childhood. It was some kind of accident, if I recall correctly. Auto accident?

R57-according to the ever reliable inter webs: Growing up in Ossining, New York, Falk lost his right eye to cancer at the age of three. He wore a glass eye in its place, which gave him his trademark squint.

I found this very interesting — apparently, Falk staged a walkout during the filming of the denouement of “Dead Weight”, and the director had to resort to some creative editing!

[quote]I love Colombo. He reminds me of my grandpa.

A city in Sri Lanka reminds you of your grandfather?

r59 Whose dick is Suzanne demonstrating there?

If he only had one working eye, then I assume he wasn't able to get a driver's license. Ironic, since he's so associated with that old Peugot.

What's all this fuss about Russ Columbo?

Falk used to attend the same nude figure drawing classes I went to at the Art Students League in New York, in the mid-80’s. We all sat in folding chairs, formed in a hollow square around the model. Falk stood at an easel on the edge of the group.

I saw him there on and off for several years. We conversed in passing a few times. His charcoal drawings looked like groups of slash marks. Curious, because the class, taught by a noted artist, was about learning to draw human anatomy, something in which Falk seemed to have little interest.

But then, the class was more about drawing, not socializing, and we rarely commented on each other’s work, not even among ourselves. Falk’s presence seemed like something akin to slumming, but he seemed absorbed and even happy when he was drawing. And that’s as it should be.

Where is it? I can not find it.

The ABC episodes aren’t very good. Sometimes they feel like an episode of Dynasty.

Peter & Elaine

More Peter & Elaine....

R49, he also let’s Faye Dunnaway’s daughter get away.

Wardrobe must have HATED Miss Susan Clark.

Top 10 most sympathetic Columbo killers - see link below.

Many of these have been mentioned above.

I've seen that list, R71. I don't agree with all his picks, but totally agree with Janet Leigh as Grace Wheeler in Forgotten Lady. Janet Leigh was great in that episode. It's the only time Columbo let the killer go free.

a five-six-seven-eight!

"You're paid to get around that leg!"

[quote]It's the only time Columbo let the killer go free.

Again. No.

I've developed an unhealthy obsession with Kevin Falk.

His wife Shera was a real piece of work and his kids accused her of elder abuse and hiding money.

This thread is making me nostalgic for the "Let's Be a 1970s Detective Show" thread.

Dammnit, OP. I started watching them on Amazon, and I'm charmed. I find myself pouring over the interiors.

The NBC originals were terrific and still hold up beautifully. It was great to see Lt. Columbo return for the reboot, and the ABC movies were always a treat, but I don’t know if they hold up as well as the originals. And the awful Shera Danese kept turning up to draw attention the perils of nepotism. I remember enjoying the episodes with Faye Dunaway and Ian Buchanan, and Rip Torn and Tyne Daly provided some delightful scenery-chewing on their episodes.

Colombo is hot. I'd fuck him for a dollar.

R77. It was only one of Falk's two kids who accused his wife of not taking proper care of him: Catherine. And she had sued Falk once before in 1992, leading to a strained relationship between then long before his mental and physical decline. The judge in the conservator case ruled against Catherine. Falk's other daughter Jackie apparently had a good relationship with both Falk and Shera.

I wish she hadn't been in so many episodes, but Shera was married to Falk for 33 years. Why shouldn't she get the bulk of his estate eventually? PS his daughters weren't left out in the cold either: both received six figure inheritances.

[quote]Colombo is hot.

Well, yes -- depending on the time of year.

Oh, look, we have a Columbo spelling troll who thinks they're clever by half for referring to Colombo whenever someone inadvertently makes the error. We got it the first few times, but no one thought it amusing then. Now it's just tiresome. There's always at least one.

I watched the Ruth Gordon episode. I loved how loopy she was at times. In one scene she veritably skips after Columbo. I read that she was 80 when she filmed that. I was really surprised. She had amazing skin and looked closer to 70. Fun episode.

Lots of drama between his daughter, Catherine, and various others. Casey Kasem's daughter had to get a restraining order against her.

A great clip from Columbo if, that is, you like butts. Men's butts. One in particular.

Every weekday at 9 CST on METV, right after The Rockford Files.

Love the Gordon ep and the Leigh ep. also a shoutout to the Martin Landau episode where he plays scheming twins. One is popular tv chef who cajoles Columbo into a live cooking demo. Good comedy there.

For the later ABC years, the one with Fisher Stevens as a killer film director is pretty good. The final episode, Columbo Likes the Nightlife, features a youngish Matthew Rhys. I think this was his first American gig.

R87-the 70s can be excoriated on many fashion fronts, but they did know how to do men's pants back in the day.

No one has mentioned the Trish Van Devere episode, which is quite good.

r88 Columbo is only on Sunday nights on MeTV. Not sure where you're getting the "weeknight" thing.

I love Columbo and I also love Mannix.

R87, out of all the scenes in that particular episode, that's NOT the one most DLers would go for.

R91, it’s on Cozi every weekday morning.

Thank you r94, you’re correct. I meant Cozi.

Holy crap, r86's link. Catherine sounds utterly, dangerously bonkers. I remember the suit she brought against Shera Danese, and it seemed likely that it was money-motivated.

Anyway. I love Peter Falk. To get a measure of his greatness as an actor: Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky. For his range, the aforementioned The In-Laws or Tune in Tomorrow. The latter is a so-so movie, but Falk's performance is insane.

My guess is that his performance in Woman Under the Influence is probably the closest to who he was in real life.

He is absolutely heartbreaking as the loving husband of a woman whose mental condition is taking her away from him.

Knew someone who knew his daughter when she was at college in upstate NY. He had a terrible relationship with the daughter. As I recall he was refusing to pay - however she was in a very expensive apartment.

No one mentions his bisexuality? Back in the 70s there were a couple of health clubs -- the Beverly Hills Health Club for men, and the BHHC for women on Santa Monica in WeHo. Last I heard it was The Sports Connection. Falk used to come down on Saturdays to play basketball on the roof. (This was during the era when John Travolta met Paul Barresi in the steam room there.) I never saw Falk take anyone home from the club but heard the rumors. He had a Mercedes and the story was he gave it to a valet at the club one day to park it (there was no valet parking) and it was stolen. He got it back because, later, I saw him get pulled over on the Freeway going out to Palm Springs. He was pulling a "Columbo" -- gesturing wildly and walking around the car. The cop was laughing. I figured he'd probably get off with a warning.

He had a long-lasting relationship with Susanne Widl, who was sort of an it-girl in the Viennese art scene and now runs a well-known literary cafe there.

Peter Falk played the sidekick to Jack Lemmon's villain in "The Great Race," which also featured the divine Miss Vivian Vance.

He played a heavy in Murder, Inc which was fun to see.

Let's not forget his sexually fluid Sam Diamond in "Murder By Death".

R101, Jack Lemmon and Peter Falk were the best part of that movie. They had great chemistry and I wish they'd done more movies together

He was interesting in A Woman Under the Influence.

That was a weird movie.

I'm so excited that the complete Columbo box set is arriving by 9pm tonight from Amazon. $50!

Woot, woot, R106! That was a reasonable price. This thread has inspired me to watch the show. I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying it. I like the pacing. It doesn't feel like anything's wished. There are a lot of slow burns.

One thing I love about this show is the sun-bleached SoCal atmosphere. Detective shows today all seem to have that dark, teal-&-orange processed look. It's like the only way the director can get any sense of tension and foreboding is with cheap visual tricks. And most shows today have a frenetic pace with constant "business" in every scene. Columbo lets scenes breathe. Plenty of scenes are just people talking. No running through halls, no breathless shouting at a rat-a-tat pace, no shaky camera, no pounding music. Just interesting actors doing their thing. It's wonderful.

I meant like anything's rushed. Wished was autocorrect in R107. I need to hover a nanosecond before I hit post.

Was the Robert Vaughn episode the only one where you don't know the killer's identity?

R110. Robert Vaughn was in a couple of Columbo episodes but if you are referring to “Last Salute To The Commodore” , yes, that weather only episode where they didn’t reveal the killer in the beginning.

I can’t believe I know that.

...that WAS the only episode.

Sorry.

The Cheap Detective

My uncle Gene was the basis for Falk’s demeanor and general appearance. I love the show but couldn’t stand my uncle.

R114-details, please. Was Uncle Gene a homicide detective? How exactly was he the inspiration?

R114 Is it possible this is just something your uncle falsely bragged about? I've never seen Peter Falk say anything about basing his performance on another person.

The smart guy who plays dumb to ensnare someone is a very old trope, R114.

As for the character's look, Falk said in interviews that he had bought the raincoat during a sudden rainstorm at some point before the show even started, and then continued to wear it throughout the show, making it part of his character.

Here's a paragraph from TV Tropes, for what it's worth:

According to Word of God — a.k.a. prolific TV production partnership Levinson and Link — the film Les Diaboliques (1955) and its shabby inspector, Alfred Fichet, was the major initial inspiration for the character. Also Porfiry Petrovich, the similarly klutzy Russian inspector from Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and G. K. Chesterton's humble Father Brown. Lieutenant Columbo first failed to appear in the short story "May I Come In": the story ends with the detective knocking at the door. "May I Come In" was then adapted as an episode of the TV anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show entitled "Enough Rope" (with Bert Freed playing Columbo) which in turn became the play Prescription Murder, with the detective character evolving into a more significant supporting character each time. Eventually the play would be adapted into the Columbo pilot.

Bing Crosby was originally tapped to play Columbo when the series was developed.

Crosby was too busy abusing his sons to the point of suicide.

R115...My uncle Gene was an editor at the LA times back during the Studio years. He was a hanger-on. He was rumpled, drove a beat-up old car, and asked inappropriate questions. The Hollywood crowd liked him for some reason. He was a decent writer. Several articles have been written about him. If I find one I will post it.

R115...Here is one.

Not LA Times it was the Daily News.

Who Was The Real Columbo? JULY 1, 2011 · POSTED IN COMMENTARY By LIONEL ROLFE

The death of Peter Falk at 83, the actor whose most famous role was a rumpled, eccentric Los Angeles police detective named “Lt. Columbo,” brought to mind the real story of who Columbo was.

For many who hung out in newspaper circles back in the early’60s and’70s in Los Angeles, London and Paris, they knew a profoundly eccentric and brilliant rimrat named Gene Vier. Vier worked as a copy editor at the Los Angeles Times for years, the Los Angeles Daily News, as well as the New York Times Paris edition and the Guardian in Great Britain.

His father and grandfather had both taught philosophy at the Sorbonne, and it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him doing so too. He was as comfortable talking about Kierkegaard and Sartre as he was talking about tennis or movies with his friend John Cassavetes.

Vier was invariably rumpled. He was never natty, but still there was an element of this in him. Just like he knew movies and philosophy, he knew his wines. No matter how broke he was, he always had good wine with his meals.

He also had an odd habit of breaking away from a deep conversation about one thing or another, and the next time he met you, even if it was a year later, he’d resume the old conversation in mid-sentence.

One of his side professions was teaching tennis. He had co-authored the book “Tennis: Myth and Method” with former tennis champion Ellsworth Vines. His life crossed paths with people like Jerry Brown, Charles Bukowski and Tom Waits. He seemed to know everyone and was never a phony or self aggrandizing.

Gene Vier used to putt-putt up to the coffeehouses in Hollywood where he hung out in his battered old black Volkswagen. Soon, he was bringing along his fellow Times rim rats—copy editors–and great political and cultural conversations would ensue.

Make that VW a Peugeot, and of course you have “Lt. Columbo.” The story is that Falk, presumably at the suggestion of Vier’s friend John Cassavetes, took Vier out to eat at the old Tiny Naylors at the corner of Laurel Canyon and Ventura boulevards and they talked for several hours.

Falk got down Gene’s mannerisms precisely. The manner in which he spoke–the kind of machine gun proclamations, the seeming absent-mindedness–the cigar he always had in his mouth, all these things were pure Gene Vier.

Rip Rense, a former Los Angeles Times and Daily News writer, notes that “Lt. Colombo” shared a kind of trademark absent-mindedness with Vier, except that he’d call it “more busy minded” than “absent-minded.”

Rense offered his opinion that “I like Falk and I like Columbo, but Vier would have been better. He did irksome, irascible and ingratiating without acting.”

Falk himself was a little coy about where Lt. Columbo came from, variously confirming and denying it was based on Gene Vier, according to Rense. But to know Gene Vier was to know who the real Lt. Columbo was.

Interesting. Thanks, R122.

R69, R75, I meant the only time he let the killer go in the original series. I've never seen any of the Columbo TV movies. I prefer the original 1970s series. So, I wouldn't have known about the Faye Dunaway TV movie. In the original series, Janet Leigh's character was indeed the only killer he ever let go free.

I’ve been on a “Columbo” kick thanks to this fun thread, revisiting some episodes from its original NBC run. Last night, checked out “A Matter of Honor” with Ricardo Montalban as a murderous matador. Also featured Pedro Armendariz Jr., a young A Martinez and old-timer Emilio Fernandez. Most puzzling, though, was that hottie Jorge Rivero appeared in a small role as Montalban’s chauffeur. Judging from his billing on the episode and the fact that he was a star in the Latin market, I thought he’d have more to do. But since he was wearing a skin-tight denim shirt unbuttoned to the navel, I wasn’t complaining!

Oh, yeah, Columbo caught the murderer, too!

Jorge Rivero....

He didn’t look like that on “Columbo”, R126!

Here we are...

I’m developing an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Jorge Rivero!

Watched the excellent “Suitable For Framing” last night, with Ross Martin, Don Ameche and Kim Hunter. Besides being a fine mystery, it struck me that the titles of the NBC episodes were clever and witty in a way that many of the ABC episodes were not.

I took a seminar on Heidegger with him at NYU back in the 90s.

Oh wait, that was Jacques Derrida.

James Franco weighing in at R130.

Watched Try and Catch Me last night (the Ruth Gordon episode). Ol' Ruthie actually asks Columbo if he could be persuaded to let her go, what with her being an old lady with a good reason for the murder and all. Columbo says one thing he respects her for is her professionalism...and he is no less a professional. He escorts her away.

Ruth does a great job here, especially in her scene giving a speech at a ladies' club. You can tell she really could have done well as a public speaker if she'd gone that way rather than acting! And she's chilling, being impish and adorable with her intended victim until the very last second when she drops the mask. This is also one of the episodes where the murderer gets their own theme music (another one that leaps to mind is the Trish Van Devere episode) and it's highly effective.

R132-my favorite part of that absolute is when Gordon skips - skips at 80! - after Columbo. It was such a daffy affectation and totally worked.

Ruth Gordon's impish hands are so expressive. I love her.

It was also nice to see Mariette Hartley on that Ruth Gordon episode of “Columbo”!

I'm enjoying the Jack Cassidy episodes. I was struck by how much David took after him. I don't mean by looks so much (shocker! son shares dad's DNA and looks like him!). It's more the rapid way both blinked their eyes or ducked their chins back when smiling and revealing their dimples. They had very similar facial ticks.

[quote]And Leslie Neilson playing a non comedy role, but holding his own with Peter Falk

You probably know this, but throughout Leslie’s career prior to [italic]Airplane![/italic] he always played serious roles. That’s one of the reasons the Zucker brothers wanted him for the movie. All of Leslie’s lines were deadpanned and the idea was it would be funnier coming from someone like him who was always a “heavy.” It wasn’t until later in his career he went to comedy.

[quote]with Ida Lupino as the pious wife who gets pushed out of the plane.

She doesn’t get pushed out, she goes down with it.

R49, don’t forget the great Dabney Coleman.

[quote]If he only had one working eye, then I assume he wasn't able to get a driver's license.

Huh?

I laughed out loud at a lot of the back and forth dialogue in "Try and Catch Me."

Columbo offers Abigail a ride in his old car, but she suggests they ride in her Rolls Royce convertible - and Columbo asks if he can drive.

He reminiscences about the first new car his father ever got and Ruth replies that her father never had a car until she bought him one after she had sold her first book.

She then looks over at Columbo and asks "Are we going to compare poverty stories, Lieutenant?"

Columbo replies "Not in a Rolls Royce, Ma'am."

Can someone give the plot of the Trish Van Devere episode? I’ve seen it mentioned twice here but can’t recall it.

[quote] [R59] Whose dick is Suzanne demonstrating there?

Jessica Tandy's.

“Make Me a Perfect Murder” started Trish Van Devere as a TV exec who kills her boss after she is passed over for a coveted promotion. Also features Patrick O’Neal and Lainie Kazan as a messy singer.

R140 Trish is a TV network executive whose lover/boss (Laurence Luckinbill) is promoted and transferred to NYC. She thought she would go with him on his rise to the top, but instead he makes it clear he's dumping her and not only that, she won't even get the job he's vacating. So she decides to do him in while setting up an alibi for herself that involves precise timing with film reel changes.

Thanks, r142 and r143.

I’ve seen every Columbo multiple times and have the box set, but damned if I remember that one.

Thanks again.

Loved "Colombo." In "Try and Catch Me" Ruth Gordon plays a wealthy dowager who believes her niece's widower murdered her niece. Charles Frank, a staple of 70s' era TV movies and shows plays the niece's husband. While packing for a trip, Gordon asks Frank to retrieve some jewelry from the Walk-In safe in her home. Once inside, she seals the door shut, so he'll slowly suffocate. He was so handsome to my 14 year old self, I wanted her to fry!!!

Anne asks Edie to fetch the ombre chiffon.....

Season Two’s “The Greenhouse Jungle” features bellowing, overacting Ray Milland (and his toupee!) A nice bonus is that it also features hottie William Smith!

R137 I did know that!

I saw him in a movie called Sixth And Main about homeless men on Skidrow and he was great in that. Only ever saw it once on A&E back in the early 1990s.

[quote]Loved "Colombo."

Oh, I give up.

r144=Lucie Arnaz

My favorite Columbo is "By Dawn's Early Light," with Patrick McGoohan as the martinet commandant of a military academy who kills the son of the school's founder, because the latter was planning to turn it into a co-ed college. (One of the clues: Columbo finds an architectural drawing for a new gym that the victim was planning, and notices that the bathroom doesn't have urinals!) It was filmed at The Citadel and is uniquely atmospheric -- they made great visual use of the campus geometry: a big empty square with a single figure running across it, or a little squad marching across a huge field. There's a one-on-one scene with Falk and McGoohan that I think is among the best-written and -acted in the whole series. To my mind the McGoohan character clearly reads as a deeply closeted gay man, and his obsession with a particular cadet suggests Claggart in Billy Budd.

It's also interesting for a glimpse of attitudes towards the military, circa the end of the Vietnam war. The school is underpopulated because, as the victim says, no one wants to "play soldier."

Yes, R151! Columbo asks him whether he ever married and there's an almost imperceptible pause before McGoohan says "no." Just enough to make you realize it's a really loaded question for him! McGoohan totally deserved the Emmy he won for this performance.

That episode also featured a very young (and hot!) Bruno Kirby.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, R149!

I hope someone can help me on this thread. I'm pretty sure the following is a description of an episode of "Columbo" (I learned my lesson, R149): He investigates the disappearance/murder of a naval officer. The naval officer is murdered by a yachtsman (or another officer) who wraps the body in plastic and first hides it in a secret cabinet behind the bar in his living room. I remember as a little gayling that the murder victim was quite handsome, and it could perhaps explain my weakness for men in uniform. Pretty sure it was "Columbo," and not "Mannix," "Cannon," or "Banacek."

Perhaps The Snoop Sisters, r155?

I think this is it R155.

"Dead Weight" with Eddie Albert, Suzanne Pleshette, John Kerr, Kate Reid.

That's it, R157. Thank you.

I did love all the Jack Cassidy episodes. Peter Falk said Cassidy played some of his favorite murderers on the show.

Another episode I really like that I don't hear a lot of fans talk about is Blueprint for Murder. Patrick O'Neal plays an architect whose expensive pet project is going to be shut down by Forrest Tucker, who plays a wealthy Texan whose clueless wife is the backer of the project. O'Neal kills Tucker rather than have his project shut down. But there is no body. Columbo suspects foul play and adds up the clues. Columbo fakes that he thinks the body is in the concrete base of the nascent structure being built, seemingly pushed on by fake clues from the murderer, and tears up the foundation only to find nothing. But Columbo very cleverly tricks the murderer into thinking he's home free, so O'Neal brings the body, which was in another location, back to the dug up foundation at night to bury once and for all when the new foundation is poured. But then the lights come on and there is O'Neal with Tucker's body in a bag, caught red-handed! Without the body, there was no way to prove the case, but Columbo is always one step ahead of the murderer, and here he gets him to reveal his crime by tricking the trickster. Clever pot.

Good call, R159! And Columbo had great chemistry with Janis Paige, who played Forrest Tucker’s first wife on “Blueprint for Murder”.

My all time favorite is the one with his good friend, the gorgeous John Cassavetes, as a symphony conductor. Lots of scenes at the Hollywood Bowl. Also features Blythe Danner as his wife. I believe it's called "Etude in Black."

Cassavetes was SO HOT!!!!

Agreed, R161, “Etude in Black” is a good one, and with an excellent cast: Besides Cassavetes and Danner, it also feature Anjanette Comer, Myrna Loy (!) and James Olson.

Blythe Danner was pregnant with Gwennie at the time and was hiding her stomach behind bags and under coats.

Question for all you who are watching these Columbo episodes for the first time...

Do you ever spot the giveaway that you know will catch the killer.?

For "Etude in Black" with John Cassavetes, I knew what thing was going to lead to the "gotcha" even as the killer was setting out to do the deed.

I love early seasons of Columbo. The footage of California then is beautiful. The acting is crazy good.

I recently did this with the TV Show Medical Center. Even though it's fiction, it's like going back in time seeing the clothes, the furniture, and the hairstyles and fashions. It's also fun to see guest stars before they hit it big. I'll try Columbo now.

R164-At the moment I'm too distracted by the social history of the show. I'm fascinated with the interiors, the clothes and the way men and women interacted. There was an episode where Columbo confessed he just couldn't work for a woman. Sometimes I forget how far women have come. The 70s must have sucked if you wanted a professional career.

R164, I remember on a couple of episodes where I thought, “Uh-oh, that’s what Columbo is gonna zero in on!”

One was in “Lady in Waiting” where Susan Clark shot her brother before the burglar alarm went off. They’d already set up her fiancee Leslie Nielsen heading to her house, and I knew when she shot her brother and THEN set off the burglar alarm that it would raise all kinds of red flags for our diligent lieutenant.

And then in “Lovely But Lethal”, when furious Vera Miles swung that microscope at Martin Sheen and killed him, I had a feeling that something on the microscope would lead to her capture.

And it is great to see how lovely California was in the early 70s.

I've been watching the original (1950s) version of "Dragnet" on PlutoTV (black and white, of course.) The scenes of early '50s LA are fascinating.

Just watched “Publish or Perish” from Season Three. Good, intriguing mystery with some interesting twists, and a good cast: Jack Cassidy having a ball as the killer, Mariette Hartley, John Chandler and Mickey Spillane.

Even the bit players are good Even he switches to ABC the guest stars are only a slight step up from Fantasy Island Love Boat.

The Robert Conrad episode, "Exercise in Fatality" was like softcore gay porn to us little gaylings back in the day watching the late night syndication. It's available to stream on Amazon Prime. The dude reeks of raw masculine energy. Two thumbs up 👍🏻👍🏻😈

Raw masculine energy? He seemed totally camp to me.

^^^Conrad is the epitome of manly manliness. You must be a lesbian..

He's too vain to be manly

When I watched the episode with William Shatner. I was astonished that Shera Danese was running around in a gossamer pink garment that essentially looked like she was stark fucking naked. No wonder Falk married her!

Boy, she had some big bazooms!

"He's too vain to be manly"

He's too short to be manly.

No way is he 5'8", as listed in his bio.

I want to hate Robert Conrad, but he is just too sexy. For men of a certain age, he is the reason we discovered we liked guys. And he actually got better as he aged. What was that show he was in in the Fifties? He looked better 20 years later on Columbo!

Conrad is just under 5'8" -- I met him once but he had on heels and padding that came to three inches as he basically was as tall as I am, and I'm 5'11".

He was also the handsomest man I have ever met. By far. But yeah, he wasn't someone you wanted to talk to for more than a few minutes. Behind that face was a very warped brain.

I just turned my husband onto “Columbo” — he’d never seen it! He’s enjoying it! Some of those episodes are a lot of fun.

R180. What was warped about Robert Conrad? Details please.

Jorge Rivero, ¡que sabroso!

Robert Conrad was a bizarre man. A closeted voracious bottom who paid for rentboys and used coke, but was a religious wacko who raged at anyone talking about his homosexuality. Also for some bizarre reason he shaved 10 years off his age even when it became far too obvious that he was lying.

A number of Columbos are on you tube. Just watched the one with John Cassavettes. Handsome man, beautifully dressed, amidst gorgeous settings. And always great cars. Plus Myrna Loy, Blythe Danner and James Olson. What's not to love? Next up: the one with Donald Pleasance, Julie Harris and Gary Conway.

There's one on you tube with Ross Martin as a snooty art critic who killed his uncle for his art collection, only to discover the ex-wife got it all. With Mary Wickes as a nosy landlady and Vic Tayback as a hack painter. Good Stuff!

“Suitable for Framing” is indeed a good one, R186 — also with Kim Hunter as a sweet aunt Martin tries to frame, and Don Ameche as (if memory serves) a fellow police officer.

I also like how a lot of the NBC episodes had clever titles that correspond in multiple ways with what happens in the show — the aforementioned “Suitable for Framing”, “Lady in Waiting”, “An Exercise in Fatality”.

On Sunday night I re-watched my favorite movie, Blueprint For Murder. I don't know why I love that one so much but I taped it off A&E when they were showing the movies in the morning along with the other old NBC mysteries. Then I bought a VHS copy then finally the DVD box set.

Handsome villains of a certain age -- all beautifully dressed --, lush, period settings, expensive vintage cars, name actors from the golden age of stage and screen, and then incriminating evidence that might not hold up in court but always elicits a confession. What's not to love?

Am I correct in remembering that Columbo once admitted there was no Mrs. Columbo?

r189 Blasphemy!

Now you bitches have got me hooked on this! I’ve been watching it on Tubi for hours.

It's also on the free version of Peacock.

He looked really good in the first couple of seasons when he kept his hair short instead of shaggy.

I was never sure which way Peter Falk was looking.

I loved Peter Falk in Wings of Desire, my favourite movie. I read an article where he said it was the widest thing he had ever been offered, but he very much wanted to do it. He took long walks in Berlin, and once he was gone so long, the director was panicked and sent a search party out to find him.

Falk said he liked his unsuccessful television series "The Trials of O'Brien" better than "Columbo." It ran for one season in the mid-60s. He played a trial lawyer. Joanna Barnes played his ex-wife, and Elaine Stritch played his secretary. He drove around in a humongous convertible.

The one thing that got repetitive and tiresome was when Columbo would always say shit like “Oh, that reminds me...” or “Oh, I just remembered something...” or “Oh, there is one thing...”. Oh, Oh, Oh!!! Jesus! Get original and come up with some new ways to be clever and sly!

I would have loved for Columbo to lay in between my legs and fuck me.

What the falk are you on about, OP?

You mean falk you, r198

R200 LOL 😂