Tag: Columbo

Golden Age Article

Four Difference Between the Original and Later Columbos

by  • 0 Comments

Columbo in the 70s
Columbo 90s

Note: A version of this article was published in 2015.

Peter Falks had two runs as Columbo. The first ran from 1971-78 over NBC as part of the network’s Mystery Wheel. Columbo returned in 1989 over ABC in a series of TV movies, with the last airing in 2003.

There were four key differences between the newer Columbo films and the originals:

1) Length

Most of the original Columbo films had a 90 minute time slot on air which made them about 70-75 minutes without commercials. The new Columbo films took up 2 hours and had a running time of approximately 90 minutes. I have to admit, in general, this was a case of “less is more.”

One key example was the second ABC Columbo, “Murder, Smoke, and Shadows” where the film started strong but dragged on too long and at the end of Columbo’s denouement we had (and I kid you not), the police coming out and doing a musical number when they announced the arrest.

The old Columbos worked because of their limitations. They didn’t go on forever, and when there was a longer case thrown in such as with, “A Friend Indeed,” the time was well-spent while the only new film that I think benefited from the longer running time was, “Agenda for Murder.”

2) More Adult Content

Columbo in the 1970s remains a tasteful family-friendly TV show. The latter Columbo had a lot more sex in the plot and a lot more skin on the screen. A few episodes featured lurid plots and disturbing murder scenes. Of course, this isn’t to say that all of the latter Columbos were strictly adult affairs but quite a few pushed the envelope.

With one exception, the added sexual content and violence tended to detract rather than add to Columbo. At its core, the strength of Columbo are great characters and their interactions, and the episodes that had the most adult content such as, “Uneasy Lies the Crown” and “Murder: A Self Portrait” tended to sacrifice quality for titillation. If there was an episode that seemed more “grown up” that did work, it was, “It’s All in the Game” starring Faye Dunaway as a suspect who is trying to seduce Columbo to keep him off her trail but that works because of the character interactions.

3) More Experimentation

Of the forty-four 1970s Columbo films, only one messed with the formula of Columbo being an inverted mystery (Season 5’s “Last Salute to the Commodore.”) Of the twenty-four revived shows, there were half a dozen different attempts to break with the formula. These variations ranged from following the killer up to the point of the murder and finding someone else had already committed the murder, not showing the murder and then planting doubt as to the killer’s guilt, and then there were two adaptations of Ed McBain novels.

“Last Salute to the Commodore” was one of my two least favorite 1970s episodes, but some of these later experiments aren’t too bad. “Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo” begins with the funeral of “Mrs. Columbo” and is told through flashback from the point of view of a woman seeking revenge on the good Lieutenant by murdering his wife. The McBain novel adaptation, “Undercover” is a fine thriller if you can get past the fact Columbo’s behavior is inconsistent with everything we know of the character. “Columbo Cries Wolf” also had some good moments,.

The other three are more problematic, but not for messing with the formula. Still, while some of the revived Columbos that go in other directions can be entertaining, they still can’t beat the best of the “normal” Columbo episodes.

4) Less Star Quality

The original Columbo was known for the amazing casting. Among the actors who played Columbo murderers in the old days were Anne Baxter, Robert Culp, Leonard Nimoy, Roddy McDowell, Martin Landau, Dick Van Dyke, Patrick McGoohan, Ricardo Montalban, Ruth Gordon, and so many more. Peter Falk was a fantastic actor and had great chemistry with so many guest stars and that chemistry made the 1970s episodes so memorable.

The new series had a virtual power outage, particularly in 1989 and 1990. Of the first eleven villains, the only actor in Falk’s league was McGoohan. The second best of the group was Fisher Stevens. That’s a big gap.

The series did get better guest stars between 1991-94 when Columbo cut back from 4-6 films a year to between 2 and 3 films. The results were among the best of the new run as Faye Dunaway was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Glove for her appearance. Dabney Coleman, George Hamilton, and Rip Torn turned in memorable and satisfying performances in their turns against Columbo.

Of course, not even a good guest star could save some films. A mustached William Shatner is miscast in Butterfly in Shades of Grey. Tyne Daley did the best she could with a fairly stereotypical flirty lush role in A Bird in the Hand but deserved far better as a Columbo villainess.

Conclusion

There did seem to be a fair share more stories in the later years that strained credulity in terms of motive or were plain derivative (i.e. “Strange Bedfellows.”)

Yet, the one thing that remained the same was Peter Falk. Some episodes felt like the only thing good in the movie was Columbo but almost always that still made it worth watching. There’s so much in every moment when Falk’s on the screen that he can carry the show by himself which was a good thing because he often had to.

By almost every measure, ABC’s Columbo was an inferior product to its predecessor, but it provided two dozen opportunities to see Peter Falk in action as his greatest character and that makes most of them worth viewing.

You can watch the 1970s episodes of Columbo on IMBD TV and all episodes of the series are available for viewing on Peacock.

Golden Age Article

A Look at the Revived Columbo: The Best of the Revived Movies, Part One

by  • 1 Comment

Having examined the five worst Columbo movies, in the next two articles, we’ll examine the ten best.

10) A Trace of Murder (1997):

A  woman teams up with her boyfriend to frame her tycoon husband for the murder of one of his enemies. The script is very clever and the resolution is classic Columbo if a bit over-emphasized.

9) Undercover (1994)

Another Ed McBain adaptation, but unlike No Time to Die, this one is good. It’s hard to view this as Columbo as it’s not an inverted mystery and Columbo has a partner, but despite violating typical formulas, this is a superb thriller.

8) Columbo Loves the Night Life (2003):

The last Columbo movie and a very interesting one that has Columbo entering a new century. Both the character and the formula show a great deal of flexibility as he faces very modern characters and has to adapt to modern crime-solving technology. Columbo enters the case as usual with little knowledge, but with plenty of instincts and a desire to learn. Whether it’s an electric typewriter ribbon in the 1970s or cell phones in the 1990s, Columbo has always mastered new technology in a way his opponent couldn’t predict, and it’s certainly the case here. It’s a pity Peter Falk didn’t get to do more because this movie shows how the character really stood the test of time.

7) Ashes to Ashes (1998)

Patrick McGoohan makes his fourth appearance as a Columbo murderer and the second in the revived series, playing an undertaker to the stars. The murder itself is far from the cleverest plot conceived as it was concocted on the fly. However, the solution is clever, and the chemistry between McGoohan and Falk is perfect as always.

6) It’s All in the Game (1993):

The production was nominated for a Golden Globe and Faye Dunaway took home an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress. The script was  written by Peter Falk. The plot was about two women conspiring to murder one woman’s no-good lover. One of them, Lauren, begins to flirt with Columbo. The movie works for several reasons. Dunaway is one of the few guest stars who rise to the same caliber of talent as the 1970s murderers. In addition, the script is clever. On the surface, Lauren is trying to seduce Columbo so  he won’t notice clues she’s the murderer. Columbo is acting smitten in hopes of luring her into a false sense of security, but it feels like there’s more going on. At the same time, while we see the murder occur, there’s so many questions about it particularly in regards to motive and what the relationship between these two women is. There’s far more mystery in this than your typical Columbo. On the negative, this is probably the most cynical interpretation of him. Plus a few of the scenes where they’re trying to act romantic don’t quite work, such as when Columbo brings her a big collection of roses. Still, despite these negatives, this is one of the best of the new Columbo movies.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Golden Age Article

Telefilm Review: Columbo: A Stitch in Crime

by  • 0 Comments

Peter Falk and Leonard Nimoy
Originally, this week was slated to feature a review of the radio series, I Was a Communist for the FBI.  However due to the passing of Leonard Nimoy, I’ve opted for something a little different my radio of the radio version of I Was a Communist for the FBI appears next week. 

Leonard Nimoy recently passed away. He’s best known for playing the role of Mr. Spock. He played the character in Eighty Episodes of the original 1960s TV series, eight movies, a guest appearance on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he voiced the character in twenty-two episodes of the animated series.

Yet, Nimoy’s sixty year career was more than sixty year as actor, director, producer, and writer went far beyond a single role. As an actor, he was among the best of his time.

This is well-illustrated in the 1973 Telefilm, A Stitch in Crime in which Nimoy plays Doctor  Barry Mayfield, an ambitious heart surgeons who is partnered with an older doctor (Will Geer) in a research project. He performs surgery on his partner but Nurse Sharon Martin (Anne Francis) becomes suspicious and makes some calls and plans to discuss her concern. Before she can, Doctor Mayfield murders her in the Hospital parking lot.

There’s so much that makes the film work. The music is great and at no time is it better than in the murder scene, as it adds to the suspense. Hy Averback’s directing is flawless with him taking advantage of every minute of the 70+ minute screen time.

The supporting cast is among the best Columbo ever had. Golden Globe actress Anne Francis was a great  choice to play Sharon Martin, as the character was someone we really sympathized with which isn’t always the case with Columbo victims.  And to add to our sense of sympathy, Doctor Mayfield’s partner Doctor Hidemann is played by none other than the actor who played Grandpa Walton.

The story also had a bit of mystery as to what Mayfield’s endgame was. We had a sense early on based on Nurse Martin’s reaction that it was something sinister involving Doctor Hidemann but we don’t learn what until the final fifteen minutes.

However, the key strength of Columbo is the interaction between the detective and the murderer.  There’s a rhythm to it much like a dance and that dance was never more perfectly executed than in A Stitch in Crime. 

Columbo begins as usual with friendliness and a bit of a comic and sloppy presence, perhaps even more so as he’s eating at the crime scene and has a cold. Doctor Mayfield is similarly polite and helpful, at one point helping Columbo with his cold and writing him a prescription for medicine. I once thought this was a goof as what Doctor writes a prescription to someone they didn’t formally examine and whose history they don’t know? Now, I tend to think of it as a sign of arrogance.

And arrogance defines Mayfield as a character. Nimoy’s portrayal combines that with the cool headedness of a surgeon and Mayfield easily becomes one of Columbo’s most sinister opponents.  Only one Columbo killer looked more sinister than Nimoy did in the moment before Sharon Martin was killed. (Rip Torn in “Death Hits the Jackpot”) and his coolness throughout makes him more intimidating.

Mayfield’s arrogance leads him to taunt Columbo. When Columbo is barely hinting that Mayfield may have planted evidence that points to Martin’s death being drug-related, Mayfield demands to know what motivate he would have. Columbo responds, “You ask tough questions, sir.” Mayfield flashed a grin. “So do juries.”

Ultimately, when Columbo learns Doctor Hidemann’s life is at risk, he confronts Mayfield and when Mayfield begins laughing at him, Columbo has one of his few bursts of anger as he slams a carafe of water down and accuses Mayfield of murder.

The only thing that surpasses that moment is the end of the episode. It’s more typical for Columbo to spend several minutes exposing the murderer in grand style.   However in A Stitch in Crime,  Columbo nearly failed. Columbo’s final gambit appears to fail and he concedes to Mayfield and walks away. The surgeon showing signs of relief. It appears the murderer has won until the final minute when Columbo returns and we find that Mayfield’s calm demeanor proved to be his undoing.

The ending is a great payoff for what I think is Columbo’s greatest episode. It was an episode that knew when to follow the formula the series was already becoming famous for and when to diverge. It featured two fine actors who were used to their full potential to create an episode that stands out even in a series that was full of great episodes.

Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Golden Age Article

Four Difference Between 1970s and Later Columbos

by  • 5 Comments

Columbo in the 70sColumbo 90s

Peter Falks run as Columbo can be divided into two sections. The first ran from 1971-78 over NBC as part of the network’s Mystery Wheel. Columbo returned in 1989 over ABC in a series of TV movies.

There were four key differences between the newer Columbo films and the originals:

1) Length

Most of the original Columbo films had a 90 minute time slot which made them about 70-75 minutes without commercials. The new Columbo films took up 2 hours and had running time of approximately 90 minutes. I have to admit that in general, this was a case of “less is more.”

One key example was the second ABC Columbo, “Murder, Smoke, and Shadows” where the film started really strong but dragged on too long and at the end of Columbo’s denouement we had (and I kid you not), the police coming out and doing a musical number when they announced the arrest.

The old Columbos worked because of their limitations. They didn’t go on forever and ever, and when there was a longer case thrown in such as with, “A Friend Indeed,” the time was well-spent while the only new film that I think actually benefited from the longer running time was, “Agenda for Murder.”

2) More Adult Content

Columbo in the 1970s remains a mostly tasteful family friendly TV show. The latter Columbo could be something else with a lot more sex in the plot and a lot more skin on the screen.   There were a few episodes with featured lurid plots and disturbing murder scenes. Of course, this isn’t to say that all of the latter Columbos were strictly adult affairs, but there were quite a few that pushed the envelope.

The general incidents and prevalence of sex and violence in the media and on various TV shows is certainly for a debate. I think that with a couple of exceptions, it tended to detract rather than add from Columbo. At its core, the strength of Columbo are great characters and their interactions, and the episodes that tended to have the most adult content such as, Uneasy Lies the Crown and Murder: A Self Portrait tended to not to sacrafice quality charagers. If there was an episode that seemed more “Grown up” that did work, it was, “It’s All in the Game” starring Faye Dunaway as a suspect who is trying to seduce Columbo to keep him off her trail but that works because of the character interactions.

Too often, the content inserted comes off as gratuitous or trashy. The seventies series was more stylish and tasteful.

3) More Experimentation

Of the 44 1970s Columbo films, only one messed with the formula of Columbo being an inverted mystery (Season 5’s Last Salute to the Commodore). Of the twenty-four revived shows, there were half a dozen different attempts to break with the formula. These variations ranged from following the killer up to the point of the murder and finding someone else had already committed the murder, not showing the murder and then planting doubt as to the killer’s guilt, and then there were two adaptations of Ed McBain novels.

While Last Salute to the Commodore was one of my two least favorite 1970s episodes, some of these later experiments aren’t too bad. Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo begins with the funeral of “Mrs. Columbo” and is then told through flashback from the point of view of a woman seeking revenge on the good Lieutenant  through murdering his wife. The McBain novel adaptation, Undercover is a fine thriller if you can get past the fact that Columbo’s behavior is completely inconsistent with everything we know of the character. Columbo Cries Wolf had its moments.

The other three are more problematic but not for messing with the formula but for other issues. Still, I have to say that while the revived Columbos that go in other directions can actually be entertaining, they still can’t beat the best of the “normal” Columbo episodes.

4) Less Star Quality

The original Columbo, even more than its plots were known for the amazing casting. Among the actors who played Columbo killers in the gold old days were Anne Baxter, Robert Culp, Leonard Nimoy, Roddy McDowell, Martin Landau, Dick Van Dyke, Patrick McGoohan, Ricardo Montalban, Ruth Gordon, and so many more. Peter Falk was a fantastic actor and had great chemistry with so many guest stars.

The new series had a virtual power outage, particularly in 1989 and 1990. Of the first eleven villains, the only actor in Falk’s league was Patrick McGhoohan. The second best of the group was Fisher Stevens. A big let down from the 1970s.

The series did better guest stars between 1991-94 when Columbo cut back from 4-6 films a years to between 2 and 3 films a year with better stars. The results were among the best of the new series as Faye Dunaway was nominated for both an Emmy and a Golden Glove for her apeparance, and Dabney Coleman, George Hamilton, and Rip Torn turned in memorable and satisfying performances.

Of course, not even a good guest star could save some films. A mustached William Shatner’s is miscast in Butterfly in Shades of Grey. Tyne Daley did the best she could with a fairly stereotypical flirty lush roll in, A Bird in the Hand but deserved far better as a Columbo villainess.

There did seem to be a fair share more stories in the later years that strained credulity in terms of motive or were just plain derivative (i.e. Stange Bedfellows.)

Yet, the one thing that remained the same was Peter Falk. There are episodes were it felt like the only thing good in the movie was Columbo…but almost always that still made it worth watching. There’s so much in every moment when Falk’s on the screen that he can carry the show by himself which was a good thing because he often had to.

By almost every measure, ABC’s Columbo was an inferior product to its predecessor, but it provided two dozen opportunities to see Peter Falk in action as his greatest character and that alone makes them worth viewing.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Golden Age Article

Review: Columbo Mystery Movie Collection 1994-2003

by  • 0 Comments

This collection contains the last seven TV movies featuring Columbo from the mid-1990s to 2003.  I wasn’t in a rush to be out of Columbo so I watched them during platelet donations at the American Red Cross over the past year or so.

Columbo production slowed in the late 1990s. In 1994 and ’95 there were a total of three films released, then four more from 1997-2003. Quality varied quite a bit.:

Butterfly in Shades of Grey: The good part is that this film marked William Shatner’s second Columbo appearance. The bad part? His performance was a little off. He plays as a loud mouthed talk show host and the protective adoptive stepfather. He murders an aide whose trying to help her sell a broadway play and get away. The show really suggests that Shatner’s character may be more sinister with hints that his interest in his adopted daughter may not be platonic. It was a disturbing plot twist and one they really didn’t sell us on. Unlike Shatner’s 1976 Columbo outing, “Fade to Murder,” he felt miscast. Still, there were some decent interactions, so I’ll give this one a B-.

Undercover: Once again, Falk attempts to have Columbo depart from the inverted mystery style of storytelling for an Ed McBain police procedural adaptation. The results? Not half bad actually. It’s an intriguing story of people who are being killed over possession of parts of picture that provides a key to a fortune. True, this jigsaw murder stry is more procedural boilerplate than the typical more charming Columbo mystery, but Falk shows his talent that even near 70, he was able to stretch his usual characterization. Grade: B+

Strange Bedfellows: George Wendt plays the brother of man addicted to gambling. He’s desperate to get his brother’s stake in the family business in addition to the horse stables. He sets up a pretty decent murder scenario which begins to unravel but apparently not enough to convict. How Columbo gets the solution comes off as pretty cheap. Columbo did a far more appropriate and subdued version of this in a 1970s film in a way that worked and didn’t stretch credibility. It really falls apart towards the end. The highlight of the film was Wendt saying to Columbo, “There is no one more thing.” Otherwise,  this was just a failed attempt for Wendt to escape from his Cheers character of Norm. Grade: C

A Trace of Murder:  A woman (played by Falk’s real life wife Shera Danese) and her lover (David Rasche) plan to kill one of her husband’s enemies and frame her husband  for the crime. This is helped by the fact that the other man works as a police scientist. This is actually a very well-done episode. Columbo doesn’t psychically know the complete solution until a couple key clues give it away, but once he puts it all together, he lays a very clever trap for the killers. A very solid, well-done episode. Grade: A-

Ashes to Ashes: Patrick McGoohan returns for his fourth Columbo appearance. This time he plays mortician to the stars Eric Prince. When a gossip reporter threatens to expose a misdeed at the center of Prince’s successful mortician venture, Prince kills her and cremates the remains.  Really, if Falk had been looking for a classy story to exit on, this would have been it. McGoohan and Falk have great chemistry together, the mystery is pretty clever, and like the best Columbo films, this one features an unusual quirky. In this case, it’s Falk questioning McGoohan at a mortician’s convention where a morbid sense of humor is on display. An absolutely solid entry and the equal of McGoohan’s other performances. Grade: A

Murder with Too Many Notes: A young uncredited composer (Gabriel McEnry) is perceived as the protege but of Scottish mystery film composer Findlay Crawford (Billy Connolly)  has (in reality) been providing the scores that Crawford has taken credit for. When the young man threatens to expose Crawford, Crawford kills him after promising him the opportunity to start his own career and guest conduct.  The mystery itself has some clever features as Crawford set it up to look like a suicide and his interactions with Columbo were humorous enough, and the bits about music in cinema were fun for fans of movies.

The weak spot in the story is total lack of motive.  Part of Crawford’s lie to the young composer was that Crawford would talk things over with the studio boss in a way that would make clear that the young man was a talent worth of hire while still maintaining the older man’s reputation. The younger man was happy with that. Why didn’t the older man decide to pursue murder instead? Dead or alive, he was going to lose the younger man’s services. The younger man wouldn’t expose him if he just helped him get started, a reasonable request. To actually kill the younger man, Crawford would have to be deranged.

Yet, that’s never stated and we never get a handle on why he committed the crime. It would have been okay had the motive been unknown before the investigation. That was  the case in the 1976 story “A Matter of Honor,” we really didn’t understand why the matador played by Ricardo Montalban committed the crime and to solve the crime, Columbo had to find the motive. The story helped us believe the motive. However, we get no such satisfaction here. In addition, the film contains one of the most violent scenes in Columbo history though its not related to murder, but showing the scene that the musicians are playing over in a murder mystery. Very disturbing. Grade: C+

Columbo Likes the Night Life:  This film was released in 2003 when Peter Falk was 75. A man with underworld ties who is planning to invest in a new rave is extremely jealous about his ex-wife, who is dating the club he’s about to invest in. When he finds about the relationship, he attacks his ex-wife and he’s accidentally killed in the struggle. She and her boyfriend hide the body and keep up the appearance that he’s live until the investment goes through. However, a down and reporter spots the killing and tries to blackmail the couple. The club owner kills the reporter and tries to make it look like a suicide. However, Columbo sees through it and unravels the case.

The actors in this film are virtual unknowns and the interaction between Columbo and the killers are quite a bit less than in older Columbo films. This is a much more workmanlike solution to the case.  Yet, what comes through is truly the greatness of Peter Falk in this role. His portrayal is spot on and great right up until the very end. If not for the ravages of time on his mind and body, Falk had the God-given Talent to play this role forever.  His portrayal was truly timeless.

This film also features one of the three best denouements in the latter day Columbo (and clearly the best since 1990) as 21st century cutting edge technology backs up Columbo’s old fashioned intuition. Grade: B+

Overall, the collection was not as good as either the 1970s shows or the 1991-93 collection, and about on par with the 1989 and 90 movies.  It was a mixed bag with some gems and also a couple stinkers. Overall, I think the collection deserves a grade of: B.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Golden Age Article

DVD Set Review: The Columbo Mystery Movie Collection: 1991-93

by  • 0 Comments

If quantity was more important than quality that the first two seasons of Columbo’s revival in the 1989 and 1990 movie sets would be a high point. The truth is that Peter Falk remained brilliant as Columbo making the programs worth watching. However, an old spark was missing.

Perhaps, the biggest difference between these early films and the 1970s Columbo were the guest villains. The 1970s series had featured some of Hollywood’s most distinguished actors as foils for Columbo: Gene Barry, Robert Culp, Jack Cassidy, Donald Pleasence, Roddy McDowall, Leonardy Nimoy, William Shatner, Janet Leigh, and Patrick McGoohan.

By contrast the first twelve Revival movies over ABC had a cast of Hollywood unknowns. The exceptions to this were McGoohan who starred in Agenda for Murder (1990)  and walked away with an Emmy nomination and Golden Globes winner Anthony Andrews who led off with Columbo Goes to the Guillotine. When researching the actors, many of them looked good on paper with many nominations for awards. A surprising number of Soap Opera actors made their way to be Columbo guest villains.  When cast with the Columbo in his iconic rain coat they showed they weren’t quite ready for “prime time.”

The next six movies took a difference pace. Over 1991-93, a total of six Columbo movies were released and in 2011, these six were released on DVD. However, these had far superior guest murderers which produced some better movies, particularly the first three.

The set has absolutely no extras, but Columbo fans will glad take the presence of our favorite police Lieutenant with no bells and whistles:

Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health (1991): George Hamilton became the second actor to play a Columbo killer in both the 70s and 1990s. He plays Wade Anders, a man who hosts an America’s Most Wanted Style TV show. The man who he beat out for the job (Peter Haskell) threatens to reveal Anders participation in a porno decades previously: information sure to undermine his credibility. The non-smoking Anders poisons the chain-smoking Anderson’s cigarettes, and plans to make the death look like an accident. Then Columbo comes on the case. He and Columbo have some memorable scenes including a hilarious non-speaking scene in a parking lot.  Overall, a very well-done professional Columbo film. Grade: A-

Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star (1991): Dabney Coleman, in an Emmy-nominated performance, plays a high-powered defense attorney who murders his live in girlfriend. Coleman’s lawyer is slick and charismatic,  making this game of cat and mouse between him and Columbo particularly enjoyable. Grade: A-

Death Hits the Jackpot (1991): A man going through a divorce wins the lottery but doesn’t want to split the proceeds with his soon-to-be ex-wife. So he turns to his Uncle Leon Lamar (Rip Torn) for help. The Uncle (who is financially in trouble) comes up with a clever idea: let him cash in the ticket and then he’ll pay off the nephew later quietly once the attention has died down. Instead, he murders his nephew and attempts to keep the money for himself with the help of the nephew’s ex-wife.  Torn is perhaps the most sinister and cold-blooded Columbo murderer since Lee Grant in “Ransom for a Dead Man.”  I cheered for Columbo like never before in this one. Grade: A

No Time to Die (1992): “No Time to Die” was based on an Ed McBain novel and really tossed the Columbo formula out the window in favor of a more straight police procedural. The result was an “okay” somewhat average TV mystery movie. For fans of the series, there’s a lack of Columbo being Columbo and he does unColumbo-like things like carrying a gun.

Of course, other TV shows such as The Rockford Files and Simon and Simon adapted novel plots for TV episodes. The difference was that they adapted that fit the tenure of the series. Columbo comes from a much more soft boiled tradition like Poirot. Throwing him into a procedural was entirely bizarre. The whole case centers around the kidnapping of a policeman’s new bride on his wedding night by a psychopathic sexual pervert. It’s not Columbo stuff. Falk did the best he could with it, but from me it just gets a: C+

A Bird in the Hand (1992): A problem gambler (Greg Evigan)  decides to murder his sports team owner father.  He wires his dad’s car with a bomb, but his father dies in an apparent hit-and-run accident, and his bomb instead kills the family gardener. This episode is an interesting experiment as we follow one person who plans the killing, but another person executes in an entirely different way. It doesn’t work out quite as well on the screen mainly because the writers did not give the talented Tyne Daley enough work with in her role as the not-so grief stricken widow. Grade: B

It’s All In the Game (1993): A wealthy socialite (Faye Dunaway) plots the murder of her boyfriend with the help of another woman he’s dating. Columbo is very courteous to her at the crime scene, but he’s also suspicious that the theory of a robbery motive for the murder may be wrong. Her plan to stop Columbo? Seduce him.  In the process, she actually starts to fall in love with him, telling her daughter that Columbo is “fun to be with.” While Columbo does like her, there are numerous signs that in the “romance” he’s only playing along until he gets what he needs: signs that she misses. Her confidence that her feminine wiles can get a veteran homicide cop to change a report border between attractive and over the top.

The episode also was made memorable by the fact that while we saw the murder, we were left with many mysteries as to the why and who the young woman with Dunaway’s character was. Overall, this was a very solid latter episode. Grade: A-

Overall set rating: B+

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

Golden Age Article

1990s Mystery Fans Rejoice: Columbo Has one More Thing and Father Dowling Comes to DVD

by  • 0 Comments

I checked the website TVShowsonDVD and came across two interesting items.

First of all, all the Columbo movies will be on DVD in the United States next year with the release of the final DVD movie set.  The final 7 columbo movies span from 1994-2003, though Falk slowed down greatly towards the end with the first three films coming from 1994 and ’95 and Falk averaging a film every other year for the last eight years. Some highlights of the set include the second appearance of William Shatner as a Columbo guest villain in Butterfly in Shades of Grey and Patrick McGoohan plays a killer mortifician in Ashes to Ashes. This is, of course, overdue for eager U.S. Columbo fans. 

It’s worth noting that the entire series will be available on January 10, 2012 or nearly 2 1/2 years after the series was avialable in Great Britain.  Not certain the reason for this. It’s always seemed curious that DVD season for American TV shows come out in other countries before they do in the U.S. just as official releases Bonanza came to Germany long before they made it to the U.S.

Meanwhile another program that had been released already overseas (in this case, in Australia) will find its way to television in February 2012. The first season of the Father Dowling Mysteries is set for DVD release. The release will include the 1987 pilot movie as well as the seven episodes that made up season one.

The show starred Tom Bosley as Father Frank Dowling, a kindly crime-solving priest with Tracy Nelson as Sister Stephanie ‘Steve’ Oskowski. Tom Bosley was best known for his role  as Howard Cunningham on Happy Days. Prior to starring in Father Dowling, Bosley had played Sheriff Amos Tupper on Murder She Wrote. In 1986, he took on the role of a Priest who played a minor role in Perry Mason and the Case of the Notrious Nun. The next year, he made the Father Dowling pilot movie.

Hopefully, the next two seasons of the series will be released without much further delay.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser

Book Review, Golden Age Article

A Review of the Columbo Collection

by  • 0 Comments

[This was originally slated to be posted on July 9th but was moved to today due to the passing of the great Peter Falk. You may also enjoy our look at the top 10 1970s Columbo episodes in parts one, two, and three ]

It’s been nearly eight and a half years since the last Columbo movie and with star Peter Falk’s health issues assured there would be no sequel. Now Falk’s death may have some folks wanting a little bit more Columbo.

Creator William Link, has returned to working on Columbo sans Peter Falk, writing a play, Columbo Takes the Rap. Last year, Link released The Columbo Collection, the first ever compilation of Columbo short stories, featuring twelve Columbo adventures.

The Columbo Collection is a must for any fan of the series. Usually, writing these sort of volumes falls to people who are not really associated with the series or whose affiliation is loose, and they can’t get the character accurate. Link brings credibility to the stories and gets Columbo pretty close to right.

To truly enjoy the book, your expectations have to be properly set.  Reading the stories is not going to come close to replaciating the fun of watching Columbo on television or the depth of the stories.  Each story is between 15-26 pages long. Some of the preludes to the murder in TV episodes would take longer than that to tell.

Columbo’s unique structure doesn’t lend itself well to these sort of limitations, so it’s no surprise that the book is a mixed bag.

On the positive side, as a master of mystery, Link created several memorable gems, some of which approached the level of being lik e a mini-Columbo episode (imagine Columbo as a half hour TV show):

“The Criminal Criminal Defense Attorney”- A lawyer gets his client acquitted of  rape and then kills him. This story does a good job portraying the mental duel between Columbo and the attorney, and the final clue is classic Columbo. Also, a high powered defense attorney is perhaps the closest any of the stories come to Columbo’s usual battle against an elitest.  The only weak spot of this story is that the motive is hard to believe.

“The Blackest Mail”-The longest story in the book  and well-worth the read. An actress murders a man who is trying to blackmail her by trying to make it look like self-defense. Now she has to evade Columbo. This one did a great job with the cat and mouse chase.

“Trance”-In several stories, Link doesn’t show us the murder, but it’s clear from the beginning who Columbo thinks is “the guy” (to quote Monk.) Such as is the case with “Trance” as we know from the beginning that Columbo’s suspicion lies firmly on a hypnotist that has an airtight alibi. The way that Columbo breaks the alibi is classic. Unfortunately, the way Columbo puts the murderer at the scene of the crime is not credible.

“Murder Allegro”-Another where we don’t see the murder, but are relying on Columbo who is sure that a musician murdered his wife, who was also part of the band. This one is not only a howcatchem but a howdidit. On both points, this story works.

“Photo Finish”-This story was unique in staying in the viewpoint of the murderer from start to finish as she plots the murder of her philandering husband. This character has a very distinct voice as a woman scorned out for revenge at all costs and annoyed by her amateur mistakes in the murder game. Unfortunatley for her, Columbo basically walks into the solution.

Opposite the table of contents, The Columbo Collection also features a very nice sketch of Columbo drawn by Peter Falk.  Link also writes an introduction to his piece that contains much the same information as he’s posted on his website but had a couple interesting added details.

One was about Bert Freed, who was the first actor to play Columbo as the first Columbo telepay was an episode of the Chevy Mystery Show. Link ran into Freed and found out that Freed had forgotten he’d ever played Columbo. Freed had want Link called actor’s amnesia, and it’s easy to forget one role on a forgotten TV show dcades before.  I found it amusing that if Freed had somehow landed on Celebrity Jeopardy, he would missed the question, “The first actor to play Columbo.”

On the negative side,  the story Grief was the weakest of the lot. Everything about the story was tedious. And the story was made worse when Columbo tried to mitigate one elderly man running over another, because the driver thought the pedestrian had committed a hit and run on his dog.

Most of the other stories that aren’t listed above are forgettable, with weak plots, weak conclusions, or weak characters. They don’t possess all of these problems, but they’re seriously handicapped by the short story format and trying to have Columbo have a battle of wits and solve a case in 20 pages.

Also, in many of these stories, Link does a poor job choosing his villains. Part of the appeal of Columbo is the every man again battling the rich, famous, and powerful. Putting Columbo up against other everymen as Link does when he puts Columbo against a Gardener-War Veteran, another cop of about equal rank, a retiree, and a man who lost his girlfriend to a would-be-assassn’s ricochet does just that. Of course, that would be realistic, but Columbo has never been about realism.

The first five stories contain motives buried in psychobabble that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Thankfully, Link proceeds to a pattern of using more traditional motives like jealousy, greed, and revenge which work  far better in short story form.

One hopeful sign is that these stories do appear to be published in the order  in which Link wrote them and the last few attempts are far more refined, with the last three stories all making my list of the gems in the book., which means if he opts to do another Columbo collection, he may be in better form.

Personally, I would probably have much preferred a collection of three or four Columbo novellas which would have provided more time for the format to work.  Still, it was a worthy read, particularly for fans that miss that rumpled rain coat.

Rating:Three Stars out of Five.

If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically delivered to your Kindle.

This post contains affiliate links, which means that items purchased from these links may result in a commission being paid to the author of this post at no extra cost to the purchaser.