Travis Simpkins: Columbo

Saturday, March 26, 2016

"Old Fashioned Murder": Columbo and a Staged Museum Heist

Directed by Robert Douglas, and released in November of 1976, Old Fashioned Murder was the 39th episode in the long-running Columbo TV series. The story centers on the privately-owned and financially unstable Lytton Museum, where the curator stages a heist with the help of a security guard… but the robbery turns to murder in a sinister twist, and Lieutenant Columbo is on the case and prowling the museum's galleries for clues. Art theft sets the stage for an intriguing plot involving one of the great TV detectives. Peter Falk is superb, as always, as the somewhat-bumbling Columbo, solving the case with an easy-going savant style. The supporting cast is good as well, including Joyce Van Patten, Celeste Holm and Jeannie Berlin.

Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder

"Old Fashioned Murder"

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Columbo and Art Theft: "Suitable for Framing"

Columbo and Art Theft

"Suitable for Framing"

Brief Review by Travis Simpkins

Lieutenant Columbo, played by Peter Falk, ranks amongst the best TV detectives of all time. His unique methodology, deliberately calm and understated until the clever reveal, is always shrewd and admirable. In "Suitable for Framing," his sometimes-clumsy, savant style of crime solving was pointed at a murder case centered around the art theft of two pastels by Edgar Degas. Directed by Hy Averback, the episode was part of the first season of Columbo, and was debuted on November 17, 1971. The story concerns an art critic, who murders his rich uncle for his valuable art collection, and frames the man's ex-wife for the crime. Columbo, as always, gets to the bottom of things and retrieves the art. Peter Falk is superb as Lieutenant Columbo. The supporting cast is good as well, including Don Ameche and Ross Martin.