I"ve read that Falk wanted to get angry more times as Columbo, but the producers wouldn't let him. Here and with Leonard Nimoy, mainly.
Though sometimes he would sternly let on with a suspect he hated that he was gonna get him. The 70s one with George Hamilton:
Hamilton: You still consider me a suspect?
Columbo: Oh, I think the word I would use is stronger than that. (Columbo is angry that Hamilton has committed a SECOND murder during the investigation, of a nice woman.)
Weirdly, I've always felt that Columbo was a bit more justified in raging at Nimoy(and slamming a plastic coffee pitcher on Nimoy's desk.) Nimoy had just laughed at Columbo and Columbo knew Nimoy's victim was a doctor who wasn't dead yet, but could be saved with surgery.
With Conrad, Conrad is acting nice and concerned(about Wilcox being hospitalized.) So Columbo's anger seems "wrong" even as its right:
Janus: I hope she pulls out.
Columbo: Growling. What do you care?
Interestingly, this triggers Janus to STOP being nice, and the two men have it out. Also interesting: Janus physically could easily pummel Columbo...but circumstances won't allow it. The tough guy has to pull all punches.
Surely Columbo's "niceness" to the killers was always an act, but I think the character always had toughness to him.
Look at him around underling cops(especially uniformed ones) as he barks commands and says things like "don't touch that!" I always got the feeling that in the para-military world of policemen, Columbo was respected and feared by his underlings, and fully backed by his bosses. So he doesn't play nice with his underlings. Polite, yes. But tough.
Another thing: in one early episode where Roddy McDowall is the killer(and a great, smarmy, arrogant one), somebody early on tells McDowall "they say this guy Columbo is the sharpest guy on the force" and then McDowall looks at Columbo coming in like "I can't believe it --- but maybe." In other words, that's one episode where the killer is tipped off to Columbo...and treats Columbo with some respect.
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Martoto (5024)
7 years ago
I guess "Exercise..." being a fairly early episode explains the slight deviation from the familiar characterisation. In Etude In Black we also see Columbo going immediately for the shakedown with Cassavettes character, like he was back in NYC on Sgt Mahoney's (or was it Mooney's?) precinct.
You could put it down to Columbo wanting the suspect to drop their "nice" subterfuge. But as the series went on, it became the Lt's usual M.O. to allow the suspect to remain being nice until they simply can't sustain it any longer.
The telling things is how Columbo doesn't even try the subterfuge on with colleagues and subordinates (except that one time with the commissioner, which makes no sense but is fun anyway). In fact he's almost unnecessarily brusque at times. The few occasions we see Columbo in innocent mode with colleagues, you can see them rolling their eyes and thinking "I'm not the suspect Lt. You can drop the schtick."
Anyway. I love all the little moments of Columbo not being Columbo. There's a little moment in Old Fashioned Murder where Columbo makes an aside to another policeman about antiques that shows how articulate and intuitively adept he is at getting his head around stuff.
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ecarle (14979)
7 years ago
I guess "Exercise..." being a fairly early episode explains the slight deviation from the familiar characterisation.
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Columbo was an interesting series in that it focused on this one great character and even as it seemed to "lock in" his personality and approach, there were always little changes and twists along the way. This probably reflected different writers and different show runners and what Falk himself would like to do sometimes(again, FALK wanted more scenes of anger.) Reading a book on the 70's series, I was surprised to read that a fairly late showrunner(I can't remember his name) said "I found the series rather synthetic. I worked hard to give Columbo more backstory and depth." Eh, it was never synthetic. And even its "formula" was wonderfully re-worked depending on the personality of the killer and the nature of the crime.
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In Etude In Black we also see Columbo going immediately for the shakedown with Cassavettes character, like he was back in NYC on Sgt Mahoney's (or was it Mooney's?) precinct.
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I can't help you there. Interesting thought, though.
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ecarle (14979)
7 years ago
You could put it down to Columbo wanting the suspect to drop their "nice" subterfuge. But as the series went on, it became the Lt's usual M.O. to allow the suspect to remain being nice until they simply can't sustain it any longer.
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Its a nice aspect of the cat and mouse duel. Columbo didn't want to show his plan too early to the suspect.
I liked in the Conrad episode how eventually Conrad rages at Columbo and says "from now on if you want to talk to me, you talk to my lawyer." Conrad coulda/shoulda sought a lawyer earlier on but...he was hoping to "personally neutralize" Columbo and avoid the need FOR a lawyer. But eventually Conrad "can't sustain it any longer." Always a great moment on the show.
I would also like to point out that(I think) Columbo gets angry when the killer has killed ANOTHER victim. In the Leonard Nimoy episode, Nimoy has now killed two people(the nurse and the ex-addict) even as his third victim to be is in danger. Columbo is likely angry at Nimoy AND at himself for letting the investigation drag on to where another victim was killed. This is true in the 70s George Hamilton episode, and kind of , here with Conrad(Wilcox COULD have died.)
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ecarle (14979)
7 years ago
The telling things is how Columbo doesn't even try the subterfuge on with colleagues and subordinates ---
That's right. It was what I was alluding to above. He's brusque and he's respected and he is somewhat feared.
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(except that one time with the commissioner, which makes no sense but is fun anyway).
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A tricky episode. Somebody said the idea was: "What if the killer was Columbo's BOSS?"
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In fact he's almost unnecessarily brusque at times.
We cut him slack on the "brusque" part because he's always thinking on the case and can brook no interruptions to his thought process. He's "the absent minded professor" type, but with bite.
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The few occasions we see Columbo in innocent mode with colleagues, you can see them rolling their eyes and thinking "I'm not the suspect Lt. You can drop the schtick."
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Ha. I'm not sure I remember one of those instances. I think you are more "in depth" on this series than I am. Its helpful educational information.
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Anyway. I love all the little moments of Columbo not being Columbo. There's a little moment in Old Fashioned Murder where Columbo makes an aside to another policeman about antiques that shows how articulate and intuitively adept he is at getting his head around stuff.
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Yes, you sense Columbo had a curiosity and read all the time. He definitely learned about wine from Donald Pleasance's wine maker -- Pleasance was proud of the wine Columbo selected to give him -- upon arresting him.
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Martoto (5024)
7 years ago
And in that one, he demonstrates how tenacious and thorough he is when Pleasence wonders aloud if the remarkably high temperatures that spoiled his wine and incriminated him might have been a record. No, Columbo replies, sheepishly pulling out his notebook. Two prior instances in the past one hundred years sent the mercury even higher. They don't keep records before that. In other words, this is what Columbo does. He needs to know. And do you know how hard it is to find out last week's weather in the middle of the night?
In a modern cop show, this kind of thing is the remit of the smart alec rookie sitting at the PC, reading stuff off the screen as if they already know it. Totally perfunctory and charmless unless you count sassiness or affected nerdiness that seems to be mandatory.
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