Hi again, ecarle...I loved reading your response. I'll try to address your points as best I can:
1) Robert Forster: I'm not really qualified to address this one, because I've only seen Forster in "Jackie Brown." And, yes, I agree that he's great in it...a very interesting character and a great performance.
2) Johnny Cash: He was such an interesting figure in real life...a very flawed, but very talented performer. His voice was just so unique and amazing. I agree that he comes off as friendly and charming at times in this episode. From what I've read and heard about Cash, that was how he mostly was in real life. I thought he did a very good job in this episode...but I liked Cash a lot, so I do have a bias there.
3) Dick Van Dyke: Yes, you nailed it with him. He seemed so cold-hearted in his episode and it was so satisfying to see Columbo nail him in the end. I do think Van Dyke is/was a better actor than Cash. Dick Van Dyke also played a corrupt judge on the old TV show "Matlock," which was one of the more memorable episodes of that show. For someone who seems to be nice and pleasant in real life, he did have a gift for playing SOBs..very talented actor.
4) The spouses (and lover, in Cash's case): Yes, I get that Cash's spouse was "shrewish," so I did have some understanding for him in that regard. I think if she had been the only one to die on the plane, then he would've been one of the more "sympathetic killers." But, yes, I think the way he killed his lover was pretty heartless...that crossed the"sympathy line" for me.
As to Van Dyke's character...I didn't have any sympathy for him and was so glad to see Columbo nail him. Yes, his wife was a shrew also, but the way he killed her was so cold and calculating...he pretty much tortured her physically and (especially) emotionally before he killed her. The ex-con killing was pretty cold-hearted as well. He really seemed like an evil man inside (and credit to Van Dyke for his portrayal).
Merry Christmas to you!
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
Hello, there, golfnguitars!
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1) Robert Forster: I'm not really qualified to address this one, because I've only seen Forster in "Jackie Brown." And, yes, I agree that he's great in it...a very interesting character and a great performance.
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Tarantino says that at first he felt that "Max Cherry, bail bondsman" was the kind of major role that would require Paul Newman or Gene Hackman in it(good casting, sure.)
Then he started thinking of "specialty actors" for whom he had fondness. John Saxon was a possibility(except I can't say that Saxon ever projected "nice guy.")
So he locked it in for Robert Forster. And QT said he HAD to lock it in because other actors wanted that role bad. So he could say "I promised it to Robert Forster and I can't go back on my word."
One actor who wanted the role was -- Robert DeNiro. But QT gave him his Forster speech and DeNiro said "OK, then let's talk about this guy Louis." Which DeNiro took. And was GREAT!
It occurs to me that Robert Forster -- very handsome and fit in his youth -- might have been an OK Columbo, what with his quiet warm manner. But-- NAH - Columbo was Peter Falk as much as Norman Bates was Anthony Perkins and Spock was Leonard Nimoy. (I don't care who else played those roles.)
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
2) Johnny Cash: He was such an interesting figure in real life...a very flawed, but very talented performer. His voice was just so unique and amazing.
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His voice could actually be kind of SAD , I thought. Regretful, tired. I suppose that's another reason he was sympathetic to me on Columbo.
They tried Johnny Cash as a Western movie star versus Kirk Douglas in some seventies movie(A Gunfight), and then put him in with his "Highwayman" country artists(Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings) in an OK 80s TV movie remake of Stagecoach. But Cash's stardom was on stage and in his records I guess. He had too much charisma as himself to effectively play other people.
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I agree that he comes off as friendly and charming at times in this episode. From what I've read and heard about Cash, that was how he mostly was in real life.
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That's good to know.
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I thought he did a very good job in this episode...but I liked Cash a lot, so I do have a bias there.
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Me, too.
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
3) Dick Van Dyke: Yes, you nailed it with him. He seemed so cold-hearted in his episode and it was so satisfying to see Columbo nail him in the end.
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Van Dyke did put across -- as you mention below -- a truly evil personality. Very conceited, too. Part of the delight in how Columbo nails him is how CERTAIN Van Dyke is that Columbo is his lesser("I like you...you're not too smart, but I like you") and then how his own ego about camera expertise does him in and his ego shatters into a very devastated looking ...loser. ("You KNEW I'd do that...")
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
I do think Van Dyke is/was a better actor than Cash.
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Probably so. Van Dyke honed his skills in comedy(on that sitcom) which is hard to do and acted a LOT more than Cash -- TV , Disney movies(Mary Poppins above all, so what if his accent was wrong, his charm was good) various serious "against type" roles. After his Disney period, there was an attempt to make Dick Van Dyke into a movie star from about 1966 to about 1972 (Divorce American Style, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Fitzwilly, The Comic, Cold Turkey), but it didn't take. Still, this made him more "starry" when he did his Columbo in 1975.)
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Dick Van Dyke also played a corrupt judge on the old TV show "Matlock," which was one of the more memorable episodes of that show.
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Hmm. Have to catch that. Here's a weird one: he did a version of Strangers on a Train for the old "Supertrain" TV series -- and played the Robert Walker villain part. I suppose for some "good guy comedians" it is fun to play bad.
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For someone who seems to be nice and pleasant in real life, he did have a gift for playing SOBs..very talented actor.
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He was so good at evil that I worried about him sometimes. Is he maybe NOT such a nice guy in real life? He's lived a long time, I think he must be nice.
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ecarle (14979)
2 years ago
4) The spouses (and lover, in Cash's case): Yes, I get that Cash's spouse was "shrewish," so I did have some understanding for him in that regard. I think if she had been the only one to die on the plane, then he would've been one of the more "sympathetic killers." But, yes, I think the way he killed his lover was pretty heartless...that crossed the"sympathy line" for me.
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And they probably wanted it that way. Same with Van Dyke callously killing the "nice" ex-con in his episode. As if killing the wives wouldn't be enough to show villainy!
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As to Van Dyke's character...I didn't have any sympathy for him
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None whatsover. Certain Columbo killers DID get our sympathy(Donald Pleasance, Ruth Gordon) but certain ones were HATEFUL. Indeed, Van Dyke's killer turn came right after fellow good guy Robert Conrad (The Wild Wild West) was a REALLY evil guy on Columbo the episode before.
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and was so glad to see Columbo nail him. Yes, his wife was a shrew also, but the way he killed her was so cold and calculating...he pretty much tortured her physically and (especially) emotionally before he killed her.
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Yes, it was rough to watch the shrewish wife's commanding manner slowly collapse as Van Dyke manhandled her and made all his evil pronouncements. He probably married her for the money anyway. Here the victim very much deserved sympathy and we're reminded: just because people are irritating, you can't KILL them.
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The ex-con killing was pretty cold-hearted as well. He really seemed like an evil man inside (and credit to Van Dyke for his portrayal).
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Yes. I suppose the Columbo show was interesting that way - a villain written as truly evil could allow a "good guy actor" to show their talent. Ross Martin(ALSO from The Wiid Wild West) was another particuarly evil villain. And Leonard Nimoy. And George Hamilton(the first time). They killed more than one victim and were really cruel and callous.
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Merry Christmas to you!
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And a Merry Christmas to you!
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[email protected] (5868)
2 years ago
I recently watched the van Dyke episode for the umpteenth time. It really is one of my favorites. The character had my sympathy at first. I mean, his wife was only on for ten minutes and I wanted to kill her myself! lol What sane person could listen to her shrewish harangues on a daily basis and NOT contemplate an unfortunate ending for her?
Galesko could have divorced her on the grounds of mental cruelty. But he probably didn't like the idea of alimony (and there wouldn't have been an episode). But I lost sympathy for him when he framed poor Deshler for the kidnapping and killed him. That was really coldblooded. Albert Deshler never did anything to HIM, yet he was willing to use him to further his own plans. The ec-con seemed like a nice guy who was sincere about staying on the right path and never going back to his criminal ways.
This episode has two of the finest "comedy" scenes in Columbo; the nun who mistakes the rumpled detective for a homeless man (That coat, that coat) and the driving instructor who is terrified by Columbo's driving.
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