This is a fantastic ep with Ruth Gordon, G. D. Spradlin (he played a corrupt senator in Godfather II), and Mariette Hartley. Love that Columbo mentions several famous people Gordon, as bestselling crime novelist Abigail Mitchell, has known: Truman, Eisenhower, Mahatma Ghandi. Ruth Gordon rules and probably had met all those famous folks. And who doesn’t love “Harold and Maude?”
The brilliant Jack Cassidy played three different murderers in three different Columbo eps. His alcoholic scene is particularly crafty (and ironic), but, as usual, our raincoat-clad hero nails the case yet again. So sad that Cassidy not only died very young (49), but also so tragically. Long live Jack Cassidy!
I was just struck by the number of murders on rowboats in lakes: Columbo’s “Murder By the Book,” with Jack Cassidy killing Barbara Colby after knocking her out and schlepping her body to a rowboat on a lake, the episode directed by a very young Steven Spielberg; “A Place in the Sun,” where Monty Clift kills Shelley Winters on Loon Lake (accidentally, but he had “murder in his heart”); and the brilliant Ripley movies, including Matt Damon snuffing out Jude Law and the limited series starring Andrew Scott, written and directed by Steve Zallian.
I see him in “Death Hits the Jackpot,” with RIP Torn. Any others?
Season 6, Episode 7. Can it get any better than Sir Ben, Betty Bacall, Christopher blasted out of his mind and the swag that Tony ultimately eschews (Burberry pocket dog pouch, ladies wrist watch, perfume, round-trip tix to Australia!!)?! And the coup de grâce? The unheralded cameo by David Chase on the plane going back to NY. It’s the perfect palate cleanser for this ink-stained wretch, no matter how many times she’s seen it.
Sorry if this sounds idiotic, but I can’t recall our beloved lieutenant ever having drawn a gun. Please correct me if I’m mistaken.