In February of 1968 a short, disheveled, seemingly incompetent detective debuted on television investigating the murder of a psychiatrist’s (Gene Barry) wife in “Prescription For Murder.” Thirty-five years and 68 episodes later, this detective solved his last case. Of course without further description, everyone recognizes Lieutenant Columbo, LAPD played so brilliantly by Peter Falk.
So popular and timeless, this series appeared in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and the first decade of the new millennium. Starting at NBC rotating with other shows on the Sunday Mystery Theater, Columbo’s final home would be at ABC where it was presented as a number of “Specials.”
Although every Columbo episode is enjoyable and features a big name star committing murder within minutes of the credits, here is a list of this author’s top ten episodes.
10. It’s All In The Game.
First aired:October 31, 1993
Writer:Peter Falk
Director:Vincent McEveety
The Killers: Faye Dunaway as Lauren Stanton
Claudia Christian as Lisa (Lauren’s daughter)
The Victim:Armando Pucci as Nick Franco
The Motive:Gigolo dates (and abuses) younger woman moving on to seduce her mother
The Means:Victim shot in the middle of the night as enters his apartment
Clearly the best work done on Columbo at ABC, this fine episode garnered Golden Globe nominations for both Faye Dunaway and Peter Faulk. Emmy nominations also followed with Dunaway winning for “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.”
This episode, the only episode where Columbo allows one of the murderers, Lisa (Claudia Christian) to go free, centers on a mother/daughter team that has been set-up and fleeced by the same con man, Nick Franco (Armando Pucci). The girls get the last laugh and the gigolo comes home to the duo hiding in his apartment waiting to end his abuse of women once and for all.
What makes this episode so special is the chemistry that flows between Falk and Dunaway. What seems. to start as flirting to divert the detective from his investigation ends with feelings of genuine caring. Columbo allows Lauren to take complete responsibility for the murder even though he knows her daughter was involved.
Clever Killers- The killers wrap Franco’s body in an electric blanket to fool the police as to the actual time of death.
Key mistake- A wet refrigerator (from melted ice in the freezer) alerts Columbo to the fact that the electricity had been turned off in the victim’s apartment.
9. Swan Song.
First aired:March 3, 1974
Writer:Ronald Kibbee and Dean Hargrove from a story by Stanley Ralph Ross
Director:Nick Colasanto
The Killer: Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown
The Victims: Ida Lupino as Edna Brown
Bonnie Van Dyke as Maryann
The Motive:Woman blackmails singer-husband into staying to perform exclusively for her enterprises
The Means:Victims drugged in small plane left to crash
Two things distinguish this very pleasurable episode, the cleverness of the murder itself and the “good old boy,” psychological poker played between Columbo and unlikely guest star, Johnny Cash.
Cash plays Gospel Singer and ex-con, Tommy Brown who is being blackmailed by his wife, Edna (Ida Lupino) to remain singing to packed auditoriums with the money going directly to her self-righteous enterprises. Craving to go out on his own and rid himself of Edna, Tommy drugs both Edna and young singing companion, Maryann (Bonnie Van Dyke), as he pilots the small plane containing the three of them after a night concert in Bakersfield. Tommy parachutes allowing the plane and sleeping passengers to crash. In his fall, Tommy breaks his leg, only adding to his story after he hikes to the plane wreckage and pretends to have survived the crash
Johnny Cash’s music adds to the quality of the story.
Clever Killer: Packing the parachute in a map case, drugging the passengers, parachuting and then going to the wreckage as if he’s a survivor.
Key mistake- Going through the plane wreckage, Columbo notices that that there are neither maps, nor ashes from the maps in the map case. Of course we know that is where Tommy Brown had stashed the parachute.
8. Troubled Waters.
First aired:September 14, 1975
Writer:Jackson Gillis and William Driskill
Director:Ben Gazzara
The Killer: Robert Vaughn as Hayden Danzinger
The Victim: Poupee Bocar as Rosanna Wells
The Motive:Ex-mistress blackmails lover with threats of telling wife
The Means:Victim shot in cabin of cruise ship
Nothing is more enjoyable than watching a killer who’s a “snob,” deal with Columbo. In this episode, successful executive Robert Vaughn kills his blackmailing mistress, Rosanna Wells (Poupee Bocar) while on an ocean cruise. Unfortunately for him, Lieutenant and Mrs. Colombo (obviously never seen) are also on the cruise. The ship’s Captain solicits Columbo for help with the investigation.
Danzinger’s plan requires him to induce a faked heart attack and be taken, overnight, to the ship’s infirmary. Once he is presumed to be asleep, Danzinger slips down to the cabin of his former mistress, Rosanna Wells (who is also the vocalist in the ship’s band). Danzinger confronts the singer as she returns to her cabin during a costume change and kills her. Before leaving the scene, he plants clues trying to implicate Well’s band-member boyfriend. He then slips back up the stairs to the infirmary in time for his next bed check.
Part of this episode’s enjoyment is in watching Columbo work without the benefit of police technology. He uses graphite from a pencil to take fingerprints and shoots the murder weapon into a mattress to check the ballistics of the bullet using a microscope borrowed from the ship’s doctor.
Clever Killer: Convincingly faking a heart attack to be placed in the ship’s infirmary where access and alibi are easily available.
Key Mistakes: After shooting the victim through a pillow, a feather lands on Danzinger and later falls to the floor in the infirmary. This alerts Columbo that something is amiss since feather pillows would not be used in the hospital. A second key mistake is when Danzinger uses lipstick to write an “L” on the victim’s mirror, implying she was trying to leave a clue to the killer’s identity. Columbo confirms with the doctor that the shot killed her instantly thus making the writing impossible.
7. The Conspirators.
First aired:May 13, 1958
Writer:Howard Berk
Director:Leo Penn
The Killer: Clive Revill as Joe Devlin
The Victim: Albert Paulsen as Vincent Pauley
The Motive:Illegal arms dealer extorts IRA representative for additional money
The Means:Victim shot in hotel room
Lovable Irish poet, humorist and singer, Joe Devlin (Clive Revill) comes to the United States to raise money from his book signings and personal appearances for the victims of violence in Ireland. Devlin’s real mission is to procure a shipment of guns for the terrorists themselves with the help of some prominent American sympathizers. Foolishly, Devlin’s underground contact for supplying the weapons, Mr. Pauley (Albert Paulsen), tries to extort more money from him. Good-bye Mr. Pauley.
In the course of investigating this hotel homicide, Columbo finds numerous strange details about the victim surmising he was a seller of illegal guns. The story follows the chase of Devlin by Columbo for the murder as well as the race by Devlin and his co-conspirators to get a shipment of guns out to sea and on its way to Ireland. Devlin plays with Columbo with wit and poise. In once scene the men go drinking on the town competing for “who has the best limerick.”
Clever Killer- Near the end of the story, Columbo has an Irish bound ship inspected from stem to stern convinced it bestows the illegal guns earmarked for Ireland. The clever Devlin and associates instead, put the guns on the tugboats that are to tow the ship to sea.
Key Mistakes- Mr. Pauley first makes contact with Devlin by having him sign a copy of his book at a bookstore. Columbo finds the book in the victim’s room. Devlin also has a habit of marking a whiskey bottle with a scratch from his ring as he says, “This far and no farther,” indicating his own drinking limit. A bottle marked accordingly is found at the murder site.
6. Lovely But Lethal
First aired:September 23,1993
Writer:Jackson Gillis from a story by Myrna Bercovici
Director:Jeannot Scwarc
The Killer: Vera Miles as Viveca Scott
The Victims: Martin Sheen as Karl Lessing
Sian Barbara Allen as Shirley Blaine
The Motive:1.Chemist steals formula from employer (and ex-lover) and plans to sell it to her competitor
2. Assistant figures out first murder and extorts killer for a better position within her company
The Means:1.Victim killed in his home with a microscope
2. Victim drugged through a cigarette and dies in an auto crash
The vicious and competitive world of cosmetics sets as the backdrop for this great episode. Beauty Mark Cosmetics, Viveca Scott’s (Vera Miles) company is near bankruptcy and a prime target for her arch industrial rival, David Lang (Vincent Price). However, Ms. Scott knows her salvation is near as brilliant chemist, employee and jilted lover; Karl Lessing (Martin Sheen) has developed the miracle cure for wrinkles, aptly named, “Miracle”. Karl, however, has plans of his own and pirates the formula to sell it to Lang. Ms.. Scott confronts Lessing at his home using techniques that range from threats, to seduction. Viveca reluctantly agrees go give her chemist half of her company in exchange for the formula. Resentful of her previous treatment toward him, Lessing then laughs in her face. A nearby microscope serves as the murder weapon and Karl literally becomes a victim of his own research.
Columbo’s investigation takes him to the highly secured offices of Beauty Mark Cosmetics. Columbo, dressed as usual enters the world of beauty and glamor clearly looking out of place. At one point, extremely embarrassed, he even stumbles into a woman’s tanning and exercise class where many of the women have opted to go topless.
Shirley Blaine (Sian Barbara Allen), Scott’s assistant, performs industrial espionage as directed by her boss. Along the way, the chain-smoking Shirley (Sian Barbara Allen) connects Lessing’s murder with Ms. Scott. Trying to blackmail our killer (never a wise decision!) she soon finds herself the victim of a car wreck.
An interesting paradox comes near the end of this episode. Viveca Scott actually has the Miracle sample back in her hand, but is faced with destroying it to hide evidence of her crime.
Clever Killer- Viveca’s first murder is from anger and impulse. Her second murder, however, is well calculated as she laces the cigarettes of her blackmailing assistant with a drug, knowing of the girl’s intention to drive in the hills.
Key Mistake- While trying to bargain with Karl Lessing, Viveca Scott writes a proposed financial offer on the back of a magazine. Not having a pen handy, she uses an eyebrow pencil. Also, unbeknown to Scott, the microscope contains a slide smeared with poison ivy that she gets on her hand.
5. Murder by the Book
First aired:September 15, 1971
Writer:Steven Bochco
Director:Steven Spielberg
The Killer: Jack Cassidy as Ken Franklin
The Victims: Martin Milner as James Ferris
Barbara Colby as Lilly La Sanka
The Motive:1. Talentless partner kills other partner after a business break-up
2. Nosy clerk knows killer is lying about details of the first murder and extorts him for money.
The Means:1.Partner shoots partner in one city just after the victim phones his wife and tells her that he is in another city.
2. Victim hit on the boat with a champagne bottle and dumped into a lake
This great episode was actually Columbo’s first as a regular series. Considered by many to be the “BEST” Columbo ever, it was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg. Adding to that impressive lineup is the outstanding performance by Jack Cassidy as writer, Ken Franklin.
Franklin, an arrogant ass, sees his partnership with James Ferris (Martin Milner) ending after the writing of dozens of successful, lady sleuth books about a character named Mrs. Melville. Ferris plans to do some serious writing but Franklin’s problem is that he contributed nothing to the actual writing. Franklin was merely the mouthpiece for the duo doing all the public relations appearances.
Franklin tricks Ferris into leaving Los Angeles for an impromptu trip to his cabin in San Diego. Unknown to Ferris, Franklin returns to the office before they depart and makes it look as though a fight had occurred. Also, Franklin plants a list of “organized crime” names among the disturbed items in the office. Once at the cabin, Franklin convinces Ferris to call his wife but say that he is still at the office. The end of the call is the end of Ferris’s life.
Franklin keeps the body and does everything to direct Columbo to the “organized crime” list. A few days after the apparent kidnapping of Ferris, Franklin takes the body and places it in front of his (Franklin’s) home. He then fakes a panicked call police. Franklin tells Columbo that he found the body upon getting home and insists that it is an obvious warning from the “organized crime” killers.
Clever Killer- Franklin convinces his partner to lie to his wife about his whereabouts thus creating a perfect alibi for his own killer.
Key Mistakes- Upon hearing the news of his partner’s apparent abduction, Franklin drives back to L/A from San Diego while acting frantically concerned. Observes Columbo, “I’m surprised you didn’t fly back?” Later while waiting for the police to arrive after a panicked call saying he had just found his partner’s body in the front yard, Franklin absentmindedly opens his mail. Of course this doesn’t miss the keen eye of Columbo.
4. The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case
First aired:May 22, 1977
Writer:Robert Malcolm Young
Director:Sam Wanamaker
The Killer: Theodore Bikel as Oliver Brandt
The Victims: Sorrell Brooke as Bertie Hastings
The Motive:Genius partner knows his genius partner is onto his embezzlement
The Means:Victim shot but an elaborate scheme is devised to make it appear the murder happens later- giving the killer an alibi
Oliver Brandt (Theodore Bikel) and his business partner Bertie Hastings (Sorrell Brooke) are both members of the Sigma Society, a group of geniuses. Brandt continually teases the ticklish Bertie who tells him that he knows of Brandts’ embezzlement and plans to expose him.
Brandt concocts one of the most elaborate and effective scenarios in Columbo history to make it appear that Bertie was killed later than he actually was. The charade killing takes place while Brandt is in front of a room full of witnesses. An open umbrella containing firecrackers to fake gunshots, a record player arm set to start a chain reaction ending with a heavy dictionary to drop and sound like the victim falling and the setting of the exit door to close from a draft when the main door is opened (to make it appear as though the killer has just run out of the room), all make for this fascinating façade of a murder.
But the high IQ Club has met its’ match with the ruffled detective who is able to put together all the pieces of the fake alibi.
Clever Killer- The entire set-up.
Key Mistakes- Residue from one of the firecrackers, a record player that is set to start in the middle of the record and a line across the middle of the back of a dictionary all make Columbo suspicious.
3. Now You See Him
First aired:February 29, 1976
Writer:Michael Sloan
Director:Harvey Hart
The Killer: Jack Cassidy as The Great Santini
The Victim: Nehemiah Persoff as Jesse T. Jerome
The Motive:Ex-Nazi fears exposure by nightclub owner
The Means:Killer magician strikes with a gun while appearing to be in a water tank
Without question, the two most intriguing killers from all the Colombo episodes
are Patrick McGoohan and Jack Cassiday. In this episode, Cassidy makes our
Top Ten list for a second time. Greedy magician, “The Great Santini,” (Jack
Cassiday) financially squeezes nightclub owner, Jesse T. Jerome (Nehemiah
Persoff). Doing some undercover work, Jerome finds that Santini is actually a
notorious ex-Nazi. After confronting Santini and threatening to notify the INS, Pershoff locks himself in his office during Santini’s performance proceeding to write a letter exposing the magician.
Santini however, has much more than doves up his sleeve. During his signature, final illusion (being restrained in a box and dropped into a tank full of water) Santini, tricks a waiter into believing he is in his dressing room. He uses a microphone to chat with the waiter who assumes he is just on the other side of the door. At the same time, the magician has slipped up the stairs, picked the “unpickable” lock to the office and killed the owner.
Santini’s arrogance only fuels Columbo to keep digging within the world of magic to find the killers real tricks.
Clever Killer- Santini places the numbers 1-4 under objects in front of his office. When the waiter arrives with his drink, Santini asks him to pick a number also between 1-4. Once the waiter picks the number, Santini tells him to pick up the object that contains the same number. All of this is done with use of a transmitter giving the illusion that Santini is just on the other side of the door from the waiter.
Key Mistake- Killer takes the typed paper to the INS but forgets about the text also appearing on the typewriter ribbon.
3. Try And Catch Me
First aired:November 21, 1977
Writer:Gene Thompson
Director:James Frawley
The Killer: Ruth Gordon as Abigail Mitchell
The Victim: Charles Frank as Edmund Galvin
The Motive:Elderly lady is convinced that her niece was killed by her husband
The Means:Killer locks victim in a safe that will not be opened for weeks
This is yet another episode where Columbo matches wits with a mystery writer. Ruth Gordon plays the brilliant, lovable and humorous writer, Abigail Mitchell who is convinced that her late niece was not killed by accident as reported, but in fact killed by her husband, Edmund Galvin (Charles Frank). Edmund, a money-hungry opportunist, is more than willing to join Abigail, in private, to get the combination to her vault and a promise that he will have a larger role in her estate. She then cleverly locks him in the safe just before leaving for a long trip.
Before his death, Edmund tries to leave clues in the vault about the identity of his killer. First he tears the title off of one of Ms. Mitchell’s scripts and then uses a blackened match to mark out all the words on a manuscript’s title page except, “I was killed…by Abigail Mitchell.” He hides the slip of paper under the light bulb knowing it will appear as though the bulb has burned out and needs to be replaced. Then he scratches an arrow in some metal boxes pointing toward the light socket.
Abigail’s personal assistant, Veronica (Mariette Hartley) finds the key to Edmunds car and puts the plot together, knowing Abigail was in fact the killer. She uses this information to extort Abigail into taking her from the role of employee to that of companion, complete with lavish cruises.
Columbo and Abigail play beautifully together as he tries to solve this mystery.
Clever Killer: Locking the victim in a safe before a long trip and then telling others that he had the combination, making it seem that he was trapped by accident.
Key Mistake: Not realizing Edmund’s car key is in her room, not the vault, she panics as the authorities deal with the victim’s body and hides the key under the sand in an ashtray.
1. By Dawn’s Early Light
First aired:October 27, 1974
Writer:Howard Berk
Director:Harvey Hart
The Killer: Patrick McGoohan as Col. Lyle C. Rumford
The Victim: Tom Wilcox as William Haynes
The Motive:Rigid, all male, military academy Commandant kills the school’s owner who is planning to change the school to co-ed.
The Means:Commandant rigs cannon to blow-up and then manipulates victim to insist on shooting the cannon.
In the “best of the best” Columbo episodes, Patrick McGoohan (Commandant)
makes the first of his four outstanding appearances as the killer. Playing the
antithesis of Columbo, this man of ‘spit and polish’ is a strict no-nonsense military
man who expects excellence from his cadets. Unfortunately, the school’s owner,
William Hayes (Tom Wilcox) sees dollar signs by ending the Commandant’s
reign and turning the school co-ed.
The Commandant cleverly loads a heavily charged shell and then stuffs a rag in
the barrel of the canon that is to be fired during the Founder’s Day Celebration.
Goading Hayes, the Commandant gets him to insist on firing the canon.
Columbo stays in the barracks with the cadets as he investigates the murder.
The contempt the Commandant has for Columbo’s apparent lack of self-
discipline makes for excellent entertainment.
Clever Killer- Booby trapping the canon and then using reverse psychology to get the victim to fire it.
Key Mistakes: Commandant denying his recognition of a piece of oil rag from the debris of the blown-up canon and his relentless pursuit of the makers of the jug of fermented cider that he spots as he rigs the canon.
Reference:
- IMBd
