Death Hits the Jackpot Either this is a Halloween party or Columbo has travelled back in time to the 1700sĭeath Hits the Jackpot features an immensely enjoyable turn from the scenery-chewing Rip Torn as a treacherous uncle to a lottery winning stooge, whose murderousness is ultimately exposed by a juvenile chimpanzee. This time out he’s vengeful TV show host Wade Anders, who murders a rival with a poisoned cigarette to prevent his own shameful porn film past from being divulged. Gorgeous George Hamilton was back playing a Columbo killer for the second time here, 16 years after his debut as Dr Mark Collier in A Deadly State of Mind. Caution, Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health Wade Anders was famed for having the biggest hand in showbiz Neither the best nor worst of Columbo, one thing most fans agree on is that it was nice to have the Lieutenant back after an 11-year hiatus.Ĩ. The episode that kicked off his comeback in 1989, Columbo Goes to the Guillotine may have a distinctly ludicrous ending, but it does have some cracking moments, including the highly memorable trick the Lieutenant pulls off in the isolation chamber to bust Elliot Blake’s aura of invincibility. Columbo Goes to the Guillotine It takes a lot of energy to be this hammy Sex and the Married Detective The quality of this briefcase was an unlikely episode sub-plotĮven the sheer torture of the infamous tuba scene hasn’t prevented a reasonable proportion of voters from showing their support for wronged sex therapist Dr Joan Allenby, and her shadowy alter ego Lisa.Īll credit to Lindsay Crouse, who delivered a sympathetic, smart and sexy performance in making Allenby one of the most interesting killers of the new age.ĩ. Just one more thing: for a sleuth who delighted in bamboozling his quarry, this might actually have been the perfect absurdist full stop.10. There is a genuine sense that this berserk episode might actually have undone Columbo. Last Salute to the Commodore, though, ends on a weird visual flourish, with the aqua-phobic lieutenant pushing off in a tiny rowing boat, seemingly abandoning his car, seemingly abandoning everything. Director Patrick McGoohan has gleefully scuttled the formula his great friend Falk even seems a willing accomplice.ĭue to Columbo’s non-serialised nature – helping it remain a random Sunday afternoon schedule-filler even today – the classic narrative blueprint was quietly restored for season six and the series returned to an even keel. It feels like a Columbo-related cheese dream. Eventually, all the suspects are assembled in a room so the murderer can be revealed Agatha Christie-style, making a mockery of the show’s signature device. The lieutenant has his head turned by transcendental meditation, attempting a lotus pose on a marina boardwalk. Then Vaughn turns up dead, and the format disintegrates. When we witness son-in-law Robert Vaughn disposing of the commodore’s body at sea, it seems obvious he is the murderer. In the fifth season finale, Last Salute to the Commodore, set among the yachting set, the victim is a crotchety, self-regarding millionaire who resents his drunken coterie and grasping family. If classic Columbo is good and late-era Columbo is bad, then the lieutenant must have jumped the shark with the 1989 return of the mac? In truth, you have to go further back – to 1976. This modern phase veered towards outlandish plots and slapstick, to the extent that hardcore fans cannot quite agree on its most heinous crime: was it Columbo parping away on a tuba or unexpectedly wielding a gun? It made him beloved.Īfter a pilot in 1968 – featuring the odd sight of a slicker, slightly more aggressive Columbo – the series ran from 1971 to 2003, albeit with a decade-long break from 1979 until the character was relaunched in 1989. He was justice incarnate: rumpled of the Bailey. The snooty maestro, the chess grandmaster, the crooked politician … all were undone by Columbo. Wealth and influence could not dissuade the little guy in the shabby raincoat. Columbo would identify the culprit seemingly through intuition alone, then patiently chip away at their alibi with his sly mantra of “just one more thing” until they incriminated themselves or begged for jail simply to escape him. Yet underneath the slovenly suit was fierce cunning. To look at his clapped-out Peugeot, you might suspect this shambling lieutenant would be late for his own funeral. The headline star, embodied by Peter Falk, would only amble in after an ad break or two. Here was a murder mystery where the key eyewitness was the audience, made complicit by watching the killer execute their foul deed at the top of each episode. T he Columbo character-type is so familiar – paving the way for gun-shy, cerebral TV tecs such as Morse or Fitz from Cracker – that it’s easy to forget how revolutionary it was when the series became a global smash in the early 1970s.
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