[HN Gopher] Columbo: an origin story (2018)
___________________________________________________________________
Columbo: an origin story (2018)
Author : MaysonL
Score : 105 points
Date : 2021-07-27 08:24 UTC (14 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (columbophile.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (columbophile.com)
| jhbadger wrote:
| >They based the character squarely on Porfiry Petrovich, the
| astute but meandering lead investigator in Dostoevsky's Crime &
| Punishment - a book both had studied at college.
|
| Perhaps, but I would find it difficult to believe that the
| creators of Columbo hadn't also seen the 1955 French film
| _Diabolique_ (also known as _Les Diaboliques_ ). This film
| features a detective who seems very friendly and not very
| competent but who is cleverly setting up a rhetorical trap for
| the murder suspect, very much like how Columbo acts.
| mikebannister wrote:
| amazing, just downloaded recently and in the middle of episode 1
| just now...
| leephillips wrote:
| This series is one of the very rare ones in which my favorite
| actor, Patrick McGoohan, makes a couple of guest appearances, and
| even directed one episode.
|
| https://columbophile.com/2020/08/30/episode-review-columbo-a...
| lqet wrote:
| One of the earliest (and also one of the best) Columbo episodes
| ("Murder by the Book", 1971) was directed by Steven Spielberg. If
| you watch it, it is _immediately_ clear (even during the initial
| shot) that this episode is simply in another league. Not only
| when compared to other Columbo episodes, but also when compared
| to other TV shows during that era (see for example this short
| documentary [0]). It is crazy to think that Spielberg was only 25
| when he directed this.
|
| If I remember correctly, the quality of that Columbo episode was
| what really started Spielberg's career. He got the offer to
| direct a TV movie afterwards, and he presented Duel [1] (also in
| 1971), which is simply a masterpiece and got a theatrical release
| after the TV success. It established Spielberg as a major film
| director. Just watch the title sequence:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0707XtiFPs
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gb62FxCH-Ks
|
| [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel_(1971_film)
| drcongo wrote:
| The shot choices in that opening are spectacular. One of my
| favourite episodes.
| scandox wrote:
| Respectfully disagree on Spielberg. Many episodes from the
| early series show exceptional visual flair. Watch the opening
| sequence of Publish or Perish or the post murder cover up from
| Death Lends a Hand.
|
| Spielberg was young and had enormous talent obviously but I
| think a blind taste test wouldn't show the difference.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| You beat me to mentioning Death Lends a Hand.
|
| "How do we trump split screen? Let's do it _on sunglasses_ "
| (which always seems to get cut in syndication)
| parenthesis wrote:
| "Murder by the Book" was also an early writing credit for
| writer/producer Steven Bochco.
| Witoso wrote:
| Apparently this episode is in the public domain, and is
| available on the columbophile's website[0]
|
| [0] https://columbophile.com/2018/03/25/full-episode-columbo-
| mur...
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| Wow, driving from downtown LA (Broadway), up 110 to I-5 towards
| Palmdale, using that unique connecting ramp where you turn left
| at the end of the tunnel.
|
| I've driven these recently and remember the horrible smog-
| belching cars from my youth. Also, nice to see the freeways
| without tagging everywhere.
| NextHendrix wrote:
| I was introduced to Columbo by a housemate a few years ago and
| was instantly hooked. The episode you mentioned is excellent,
| as are all the Jack Cassidy ones.
|
| For me the standout episode is 'Any Old Port in a Storm' (1973)
| with Donald Pleasance.
| lqet wrote:
| I think there are 4 things that make a Columbo episode
| enjoyable:
|
| 1) Peter Falk 2) Creative murder ideas 3) Great plot 4)
| Supporting performances
|
| In "Any Old Port in a Storm" the acting by both Falk and
| Pleasence is outstanding. Regarding 2), I always adored "Now
| You See Him" (the magician episode, also with Cassidy) and
| "Swan Song" (the airplane murder with Johnny Cash).
| Comevius wrote:
| I think what makes Columbo good is how out he is of his
| element. The perpetrators are always from a higher social
| class and he always takes advantage of their hubris,
| lulling them into a false sense of security, agitating them
| until they give up clues. All that while being polite and
| sympathetic. There is no shoehorned social commentary in
| Columbo. It's pure entertainment, which is hard to find
| these days.
| sumtechguy wrote:
| Kinda a lot of episodes were like that. The more
| interesting episodes I think it was more of a he was 'a
| sly little elf perched on his toadstool'. He was
| unassuming. He disguised himself to be invisible and
| would pick apart everything usually very methodically. He
| 'took a defect and used it as a tool'. Even the way he
| would blow people off was to be unassuming 'oh my boss he
| is a very exacting man', 'oh just a routine question'.
| When it was usually him looking for that information. He
| would many times make the perp 'self own' themselves by
| their own lies.
|
| The writers were also very good on making sure motive,
| means and opportunity were clearly picked apart in all
| ways. Apparently the whole crew was in on it and would
| make sure that the story stayed true. Making sure things
| were filmed so they did not contradict later or past
| actions.
|
| The 90s series was a bit less tight and more of the
| 'stick it to the rich'. They were enjoyable enough. But
| something was missing.
| hellbannedguy wrote:
| Although the writing was superb, I don't think Columbo would have
| been such a good show without Peter Falk.
|
| He had talent, and natural charisma. I don't think I have ever
| seen him in a bad performance, even before Columbo.
| pimlottc wrote:
| It's also quite lucky that they decided to go with the "too
| young" Falk, who was then able to play the role for over thirty
| years!
| tempodox wrote:
| Agreed. In "Murder by Death" he also plays Columbo's parody,
| and it's hilarious.
| [deleted]
| jaclaz wrote:
| If you are an estimator of Peter Falk in "light" roles, you
| surely know it, I have to confess that I still re-watch from
| time to time The Inlaws (with Alan Arkin besides Peter Falk)
| and still laugh out loud on the same lines, even if I almost
| know them by heart:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_In-Laws_(1979_film)
| philiplu wrote:
| Came here to see if anyone mentioned "The In-Laws". Just a
| perfect, farcical gem. I still crack myself up yelling
| "serpentine, serpentine" when running with my kids, who
| have no idea what's funny. Probably about time I watched it
| with them.
| hawski wrote:
| Columbo is my and my wife's favorite series. There are many
| things that separate it from most. Nowadays there is a big focus
| on series where every episode ends with an addictive cliffhanger.
| I hate that. You can watch a single episode of Columbo and be
| satisfied. There are a few things mentioned from other episodes
| here and there, but overall nothing important. I also love how
| the lieutenant is above all kind. Lately everything has to be
| dark and quirkiness is used to explain how someone is directly
| rude. I like the fact that they did not bend and show Mrs Columbo
| (I now that there was a separate show with that title).
|
| I'm sure, that it will get a reboot sometime in future. I just
| hope that it will not receive the same treatment as Star Trek
| with Discovery. I would appreciate i.e. Natasha Lyone to make it
| something different enough not to look like a cheap uncanny
| valley copy. But kindess and clear separation of episodes is a
| must.
| dazc wrote:
| A murder detective show where you already know who did it and
| how should never work but somehow it does, perfectly.
| uniqueid wrote:
| According to Hitchcock it just means Columbo is a Suspense
| show, rather than a Mystery: https://youtu.be/-Xs111uH9ss
| bbx wrote:
| Yes, the viewer has way more information than Columbo, so
| should be able to solve it even more easily. And yet it's
| still extremely hard.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| I think the show would be improved if it did not use that
| device. I feel like it was almost like a detective show for
| dummies. You didn't have to (get to) match wits with the
| detective (or is it the writer?, ha ha) but did get to enjoy
| some justice porn, watch the guilty squirm.
|
| I love the character of Columbo and he would lose nothing if
| they followed the more traditional detective format where all
| the bits revealed throughout are tied together in the end.
| leephillips wrote:
| Because, after all, who cares who killed Roger Ackroyd?
| andi999 wrote:
| Yes. I think the real ingredience is that the culprit is rich
| and has a beautiful house and Colombo is the underdog
| bringing them down.
| realce wrote:
| It's totally the rich people going down.
| altcognito wrote:
| Not just rich but often "smart people". They might be
| professors or scientists etc.
| SCNP wrote:
| I think my favorite aspect of the show is how there are
| still societal remnants of the fancy, Victorian era customs
| and Columbo uses breaking social norms to put people off-
| balance.
| Cybotron5000 wrote:
| Oh, so they're 'rebooting' it. I wish they would hire a writer
| with the imagination to do something completely new without all
| that baggage. ...I agree - there's darkness in Columbo, but
| it's much subtler and is tempered by the kindness and charm of
| Columbo himself. I see why they do it, but the 'just one more'
| episode netflix-thing easily gets tiresome and ends up
| prolonging some plots/story arcs unnaturally and
| unsatisfactorily. The little of 'Discovery' I watched I felt no
| engagement with at all - the writing I thought was generic and
| boring and the characters seemed two-dimensional - but maybe
| I'm just behind the times: 'Enterprise' grew on me a few years
| down the line (though not the opening theme!)
| [deleted]
| stronglikedan wrote:
| > There are many things that separate it from most.
|
| Matlock is another great detective(?) show for self-contained
| episodes.
| shantnutiwari wrote:
| >Nowadays there is a big focus on series where every episode
| ends with an addictive cliffhanger. I hate that.
|
| Me too. And most of the cliffhangers are stupid, you know they
| were added in just to pad out the episodes.
|
| > Lately everything has to be dark and quirkiness is used to
| explain how someone is directly rude.
|
| Yeah, I've stopped reading crime fiction (and watching crime
| drama) for exactly this reason: Every detective *has* to be
| rude/obnoxious, hate their life, be an alcoholic with marriage
| problems.
|
| And I'm like, why can't we have a mentally stable detective who
| solves crime because of duty, and not to excorcise their "inner
| demons" (or other such psychological BS reason usually given).
|
| For this reason, I love Columbo, Poirot and Midsomer murders:
| The detectives are honourable people, very polite and
| respectful, but polite doesnt mean they let people walk over
| them.
|
| It seems to me most crime writers cannot grasp the fact that
| one can be polite and ruthless (or relentless) at the same
| time.
| dharmab wrote:
| I recommend watching Knives Out- Daniel Craig plays the kind
| of detective you want to see. (It helps that he is not the
| sole point of view character.)
| swhitf wrote:
| The BBC drama The Missing and spin off Baptise have a calm
| and friendly lead detective. Not sure where you are but it
| you can get them in your country maybe give them a try.
| dubya wrote:
| I recommend the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon. He is
| portrayed as a genuinely decent human being, and the stories
| are interesting.
| lokedhs wrote:
| I agree. I have recently been watching a lot of Star Trek and
| Mission Impossible. Two shows where you can watch one episode
| and be done with it until the next time.
|
| I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one getting really
| annoyed with the style with which most shows are made these
| days. I understand that there are good things about having a
| continuous storyline, and the last season of DS9 shows that it
| does work. But all shows don't have to be that way.
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| The key is that your long-form stuff needs to take a back
| seat to a plot that starts and ends in with each episode. In
| my personal opinion, Stargate SG-1 is a master class in this.
|
| Shows these days are written for streaming, they are clearly
| meant to be binged a season at a time. You'll have 4 plots an
| episode and not a one of them starts and ends in the same
| one, with several episodes having resolution of anything at
| all. It's maddening.
|
| Like, there are memorable episodes of some shows, like SG-1's
| Ergo, that you can sit down and re-watch and enjoy yourself,
| but this made-for-streaming format just doesn't have that
| quality. What episode did that cool thing happen in? They all
| blur together.
| db48x wrote:
| SG-1 was good but B5 was better.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Even with the deus ex machina aliens?
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| The plot wasn't resolved thru magic--the first ones
| realized they were doing more harm than good and decided
| to finally take their leave. This characterization has
| some merit but is stretched to fit.
|
| Also, the thread was discussing how a show could best
| weave short and long term story lines together, not their
| absolute quality.
| db48x wrote:
| Which aliens did you think of as a Deus Ex Machina?
| throw0101a wrote:
| The short-ish lived _Veronica Mars_ was quite good a having
| both a season long story arc, but having self-contained
| mysteries as well. Some episodes leaning more one way or
| another, but there was usually some mix of both.
| at_a_remove wrote:
| Yes, that's one of the things that impressed me most
| about the show before it went off the rails. You had your
| season-long mystery, some multi-episode questions, and
| then your single episode mysteries.
|
| It also has one of the best father-daughter relationships
| I've seen on screen.
|
| I have noticed that quite a lot of how Veronica Mars
| "worked" got shifted over into iZombie.
| HideousKojima wrote:
| The X-Files did a goodish job alternating between
| standalone episodes and overarching plot. Roughly 2/3rds
| of episodes were standalone monster of the week episodes,
| while every third episode or so was about the conspiracy
| to help aliens colonize Earth. Also occasionally stuff in
| the standalone episodes had effects in later episodes
| (for example Scully's dog is from a person who died in a
| standalone episode)
| AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote:
| Oh my god, Discovery...
|
| Discovery is just written by toddlers or something.
|
| Like, I was willing to blame it on continuity baggage for the
| first 2 seasons, plus the first season of every Star Trek is
| lackluster so whatever. But in season 3 it looked like they'd
| finally hired a competent writer for a few episodes, Osyraa was
| suddenly a more nuanced character, the Federation was offered a
| path to its goals that meant they'd have to compromise their
| ideals, Burnam was becoming Han Solo [0], Tilly was being
| slotted into the leadership role her character is actually good
| at, etc. Then at the last second the toddlers took over again,
| Deus-ex Burnam'd[1] the ethical decisions, shoved Tilly back
| into a science role, put Suru on a bus, and put Han Solo in
| charge of a starship for some reason. What the hell!?
|
| [0] Which is what her character should be, clearly. She doesn't
| follow rules, she doesn't work well with others, can't lead
| worth a damn, and she readily compromises her ethics to achieve
| her goals. She's a terrible Star Fleet captain but she'd be a
| great chaotic-good rogue.
|
| [1] What the fuck is with Marry-Sue God-Queen Burnam anyway?
| She has like 95% of the screen time or something and her Picard
| speeches inspire nothing but contempt for the writers. Like,
| answer me this: There are regular characters on the bridge
| other than Tilly, Burnam, and Suru. What are their names?
| There's Detmer, who we kinda know about because she had that
| PTSD episode on screen, and I guess that one woman is a cliff
| diver or something, but I don't know her name. And dude in the
| back who got horribly murdered by Mud that one time? These
| aren't red shirts, why aren't we getting any character
| development for them?
|
| Alright, sorry, I went on a bit of a rant there.
|
| P.S. I'm hesitant to blame the actors for bad performances. I
| feel like there's a lot of bad direction and obviously terrible
| material to work with.
|
| P.P.S. I actually think the hack writers are are a pretty good
| fit for the mirror-universe stuff. It's still garbage writing,
| but it just sorta fits that place.
| LordN00b wrote:
| Rant or not, I have to agree entirely. They literally tried
| to do a Die hard in Space episode...
|
| If you think of it as `Star Trek: Burnham and the continuing
| voyages of Discovery`, then it sort of makes sense. Doesn't
| make it any good though
| mixmastamyk wrote:
| > every episode ends with an addictive cliffhanger
|
| By chance I noticed if you watch from the midpoint of one
| episode to the next, there is no cliffhanger. ;-)
| LordN00b wrote:
| In a minor dev related way, projects where clients keep piliing
| on requirements during dev, that's a Columbo. Just one more
| thing...
| glandium wrote:
| I hate Columbo because in the Double Exposure episode they
| explain the cue marks that appeared during movies to indicate to
| the projectionist they need to switch reels, and after that I
| couldn't not notice those cue marks (Fight Club did the same
| reveal, much later).
|
| But really, I love Columbo. RIP Peter Falk. 10 years already.
| yawaworht1978 wrote:
| I agree, sadly there is nothing like Colombo produced these days,
| the CSI series are tangentially similar but using hitech instead
| of old school police work. Interesting movie recommendation would
| be murder on the orient express , old or new version are equally
| good.
| throw0101a wrote:
| I was always disappointed that Apple never got Peter Falk to
| appear on stage at WWDC and say " _Oh, there 's one more thing
| Mr. Jobs..._".
| cardiffspaceman wrote:
| Too true. I don't care for all revivified old shows but I've
| been seeing a lot of this show recently (MeTV in some cities)
| and of course, Columbo doesn't wear a stylish turtle neck, but
| I think some would find the callback hilarious.
| telesilla wrote:
| For an extra blessing of Peter Falk should look for Wim Wender's
| _Wings of Desire_. It 's an incredibly touching addition to an
| already profound film.
|
| https://youtu.be/u7s-H4EqP4I
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2021-07-27 23:00 UTC)