“Seven….
It would be a mythic number.”
Melissa Steadman
‘THIRTYsomething’
In my family, this is a day of celebration as my nephew turns thirty. But
in Toobworld, it is a day of sorrow as this is the seventh anniversary of the
death of Peter Falk, the star of 'Columbo'.
I can watch those first 69 episodes of the series over and over again; they
never get old. There are a few clunkers in the batch - nothing is ever
perfect. But the majority are classics. As for the later ABC
series, the inverse is true: I like a few of them, but on the whole they lack
the luster of the original run on NBC.
There’s nothing to be done for it now of course, but if only we never had that
Great Hiatus – that decade without any new ‘Columbo’ investigations. What a missed opportunity!
To mark the occasion in remembrance of Mr. Falk and Lt. Columbo - Peter and
Frank - herewith is a Super Six List of my favorite episodes from the series....
1] IDENTITY CRISIS
For over forty years,
'The Prisoner' had been my favorite TV show. It is now permanently locked
in as "the new Number Two". So this episode, with my favorite
actor, Patrick McGoohan, is a treasure with all of the callbacks to that series.
But even without that, there is so much to savor in the interplay between
McGoohan and Falk. And McGoohan - did I mention he's my favorite actor? -
has the most marvelous inflections in his delivery that makes simple words and
phrases like "I know!", "Is it?", "Geronimo...",
"Luxuriant.", and "Mah Jong" indelible in the memory.
In fact, for any other fan of this episode, I doubt they could read those
examples without doing so in McGoohan's style.
And Mr. Falk matches every
step with his more mundane presence to keep McGoohan's character
grounded. (Even when Falk himself is floating in the air....)
2] TRY AND CATCH ME
Again, the glories of this episode can be attributed to the guest star, Ruth
Gordon. I suppose by that point in her life she earned the right to the
mantra of "Anything Goes" ('Harold & Maude' should prove that.)
and so you can tell how much fun she has playing the role at full tilt.
And again, Falk proves he is on the same plane as she is. Sure, the
script dictated it, but Falk is strength and empathy personified when he holds
firm to the only possible outcome to the case.
3] DAGGER OF THE MIND
As a member of one of the best 'Columbo' pages on Facebook (Columbo-TV), I've
been amazed that anybody should hate this case, let alone the numbers of those
who ridicule it. Sure, it's full of cliches about the UK and the English people
and there are plenty of noticeable errors from trying to reconcile the footage
filmed in London with that done back in Hollywood on the sound stages.
And perhaps there are some over-the-top performances – but these are theatre
people; they’re supposed to be hammy!
And even though I believe ‘Columbo’ is like a Kabuki play in that it
should always adhere to a certain structure, that doesn’t mean it can’t provide
some variations. I always enjoy a good
fish out of water story and while the Lieutenant is almost always in that
situation while dealing with the socially elite, in this case he was not on
familiar ground to anchor him. Plus an
amazing array of guest stars, right down to the character actors in small roles
like Arthur Malet, Ronald Long, and Richard Pearson.
4] ANY OLD PORT IN THE STORM
Probably the first episode that finally made me realize how special this series
was. And considering the reputation as
an actor Donald Pleasence had before and after this episode, his murderer was
imbued with great dignity that elicited more sympathy from the audience than
perhaps any other during the show’s run.
And once again Mr. Falk showed he had what it takes to go toe-to-toe
against an actor of a differing style.
5] NEGATIVE REACTION
This is the episode that made me buy my first TV. I was in at university when this first aired
and I couldn’t take the chance that I could commandeer control of the dorm’s TV
set when ‘Columbo’ came around again in the ‘Mystery Movie’ rotation. When I saw that THE Dick Van Dyke (Accept no
substitutes!) was going to be the guest star, I had no choice but to buy myself
a small TV. This episode had everything –
a fantastic guest cast, wonderful wordplay in its title, and one of the best “Gotcha”
moments at the end. Van Dyke proved
superlative in the role – to this day, as much as I love the actor, I so despise
that character! And Falk got to shine in
so many small bits of business throughout.
6] DOUBLE EXPOSURE
The last entry in any list such as this, no matter how many choices you get to
fill (like the usual Top Ten), has to be the hardest to make. And I was sad to think that because of my
druthers, I couldn’t get any of the Cassidy episodes included. At least I have two out of three of the Great
Triumvirate of Columbo Killers included, and of Robert Culp’s trio of
murderers, I think Dr. Kepple is the most fun to watch opposite Peter
Falk. I will admit, however, that it
took me a long time to reach that conclusion.
(I used to be more favorable to “The Most Crucial Game”. But eventually I found Hanlon too strident
throughout with nowhere to go on an emotional level. As for Brimmer? Well he killed Patricia Crowley and I had a
crush on her just as I was entering my teen years. LOL)
This may not have been the first episode where Columbo entered the
investigation at a disadvantage in knowing how that particular world operated,
but this may have been the most complicated up that point. Luckily, he was always quick to learn enough to
help him solve the case and this world of subliminal advertising proved to be
no match.
(There is another reason I
chose this episode over others – the fact that another favorite was in the cast
– Chuck McCann. I’m so glad there was a scene which brought these two together. Even if the poor schlub was trying to play
the game above his capabilities, if you know what I mean, it was still a joy to
see Uncle Chuck get the chance to play against a talent like Mr. Falk.)
I may not have been as big a fan of the later episodes, but I still wish Peter
Falk was with us, if only to give us a final episode in which he got to retire
(perhaps against his wishes), but first had to solve one last case.
And perhaps we could
have had the opportunity to finally meet Mrs. Columbo. (Mrs. Columbo as Levinson and Link envisioned
her, of course.)
Oh! Just one more thing….
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NEIL!
BCnU!
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