This is quite brilliant! My favorite part was actually the ending where the camera pans to just barely leave the tail pipe out of frame, teasing the audience, leaving us in suspense of whether the potato story was a confession or merely a prank if we looked.
Oh, it obviously was a confession of what he had just done without actually saying it, but of course the potato would have been long gone, so nobody could be the wiser.
Very similar to the ending of Blueprint for Murder. The killer thinks he’s alone and protected by the cover of darkness only to have the good lieutenant flip on the bright hot spotlights and expose him and his guilt.
The introduction of this episode is great (Robert Culp is one of my favorite Columbo's Villain). Seeing the scene through the glasses reflection was quite stylish.
@@jlh4jc I love Cassavetes too, when he decomposes himself near the piano when he realizes that Colombo is on his track seriously, "That's my specialty: homicide"...
3:18 Subtle. It's impressive that on replay, you literally do see him make the motions to grab the diamond and put it in the cigarette pack. Can you imagine they took that much attention to detail in things then far before the ability of people to rewind and playback? They cared about those details even when they didn't have to.
This episode has quite a few problems. Right at the start, Brimmer shoots a revolver indoors without wearing any ear protection, later Columbo's haircut changes when he enters Kennicutt's house, etc.
Contact lens columbo put in the boot of the car anyway even if he succeeded by putting the diamond in the cigarette packet if columbo had suspected him wouldn't he have checked his belongings back at the station and found the diamond?
Ray Milland and Robert Culp, two awesome actors who made several appearances on this show.... Both have since passed away, but definitely are NOT forgotten....
The shag carpet came and went (thank God), as did the ties and the infuriating rotary phone (ever been in a rush to call someone who has a lot of 9's and 8's in their number on one of those things?). But Columbo will never, ever go out of style. That character holds up even now. His gotcha moments were SO satisfying.
Great show. Just starting season 2. This episode was from season 1. Just love how Columbo at the end makes the person feel they are in the Clear. When he had them pegged within 5 minutes of meeting him.
Beverly Hills Cop. Banana in the tailpipe gag. I love how Columbo always "busts" Robert Culp characters. Soooo slick, Smug, and ARROGANT! Just all the more enjoyable to see the perceived "mighty" to fall and FALL hard. I'm dying as Ray Milland contemplates looking in the tail pipe. The music @ the end has been used many times, but is soooo cool! It just says Columbo.
Fun Fact: The music at the end was one of several potential "themes" for Columbo, this one composed by one of Universal's contract composers, Gil Melle (who also did the theme for Kolchak). As it turned out, they never really did settle on a single Columbo theme ... ever. ("This Old Man" doesn't count; it was never used as a theme in any of the shows.)
@@mikedoran9851 With a nick knack paddy whacK Columbo whistles. This old man came rolling home. OMG! Thanks! The nuances of the character Peter Falk created was unparalleled. Murder Inc, Cookie, Princess Bride. Peter was a cherished GIFT + so humble.
Others have pointed out the attention Columbo paid to subtle details - in this case, the way Milland takes one hesitant half-step toward the car (as if he's going to look in the tailpipe), stops, and then briskly walks away as if he's thinking, "Nope, I don't want to know!"
Ray Milland deciding at the end that ignorance is bliss regarding the possible potato in the tailpipe 😂🤣 Of course, by now that potato is no longer there. If it ever was. Allegedly.
4:03 Apologizing after you got caught instead of being a man and admitting to what you did means nothing. You ran, you lied, and worse you tried to cover it up and got caught in the act. You're only sorry you got caught.
Hearing that detail about how the palm reading / astrology talk he was doing halfway through the episode basically sealed Brimmer's fate was wild. Columbo immediately noticed the bruising and the cut on the cheek and basically found his lead suspect from the half way mark, while Brimmer still thought he was in the clear/was being clever assigning himself on the job. Even the golfer (who was logically one of the main suspects) was immediately written off because of this little detail and he also basically forced the confession of an affair out of him effortlessly, fully confirming Columbo's leading theory (which was word for word how the murder happened). Rewatching this episode you can really tell how intentional every single little thing Columbo does. Sometimes what he says can feel like filler, but it's those parts that criminals have to be especially careful about.
3:23 is the last moment he, mr Falk, was on safe ground. But then he walked across this narrow bridge, a plank of wood. While following the other actor. And all of that safely done with only one eye. I find that amazing. I mean: if you only have one eye to work with, you have difficulties in some areas. Depth for example.
The typical plot of Columbo solves the age-old problem of "whodonit" detective stories. In most detective stories, the writer tries to make you guess who is the murderer. However, with a TV series, as soon as you see the guest star, you KNOW he is the murderer, so the mystery is spoiled. The Columbo writers realized this, and changed it... you know from the beginning who the murderer is, but the mystery is ... how will Columbo figure it out and trap the criminal.
We used to play a drinking game called the "culp gulp" everytime Robert said lieutenant we took one drink and everytime Mr.Culp looked guilty or menacing we gulped 2 drinks we had a lot of time to kill in those days...
You know, I'll bet most of us would be able to suss out the smell of a burning cigar. Our lieutenant pops up with a burning stogie and "no harm, no foul." Something a bit too "cartoon time" about that...
I believe that nice golden Rolex GMT Master Robert Culp wore in this episode was his own watch and not a movie prop. He also wore it in the episode "Double Exposure" and also in "Most crucial game".
Robert Culp was one of my two favorite guest stars in "Columbo," along with, naturally, Patrick McGoohan, who was a more versatile actor, but did not always give the same level of nuance that Culp brought to each role. He played the killer in three episodes (he was in four total), imbuing in each one a deliciously suave bravado. And yet he gave all three characters a distinct flair, with an unnerving complexity revealed by their own quirks and foibles. He didn't phone these in like a lot of guest stars did in one-off episodic shows like "Columbo." And he brought that same energy and focus to his work in film. Check him out as the president in the 1993 film "The Pelican Brief." He gave a creepily sublime yet vulnerable performance as a corrupt commander-in-chief. It was written more or less as a one-dimensional role -- typical sleazy politician -- but his portrayal made the character a lot more interesting and complicated than what you find in most minor supporting film roles. What's more, he was as good in comedic roles as he was in dramatic ones. He found fame in "I Spy" and worked pretty much continuously -- or at least as much as he wanted to -- right up until his death, but I still think he was one of the more underrated actors of his day. RIP, 1930-2010.
Who is playing the piano in this scene? The Hulk? The music might make sense if this was a scene in a slasher movie but it's just a guy searching the trunk of a car in the dark.
I think the implication is that Columbo planted it there when it was in the garage. He likely didn't want to openly admit it in front of a civilian, but how else would it have got there?
No they wouldn't get off on a technicality. One, we have every faith in the good Lieutenant's scrupulosity and fastidiousness when it comes to the law and its technicalities and loopholes then even as now and two, they basically confess in front of officers and other witnesses despite most likely knowing their rights which pretty much cooks their goose right then & there.
Most of those cases probably result in plea deals for lesser charges/time. Then if they go up on the stand, they need to explain why they lied to the cops. Otherwise the prosecution is going to paint these people are liars with a certain narrative.
The two of you make good points. I can understand you questioning whether the cases would get tossed or not based on what many incompetent or corrupt judges have done. And then there is Columbo. Probably would have his evidence very well organized. A lot of these folks do get caught with witnesses in the midst
Nah, the end of a Columbo episode isn't the end of Columbo building his case, it's only the beginning. Once he has incriminating evidence like this, he can finally get warrants to go through the guy's entire life with a fine-tooth comb, which he couldn't do before. That's almost certain to turn up more evidence. For example now he can get a warrant to go through the guy's business records including his client list. Once he has the client list he can interview former clients and find out how often this guy runs his blackmail scam on them. Bank and phone records will confirm those stories. First will come the trial for the blackmail because they'll have a mountain of evidence for those charges. Once those charges are proven and he's convicted, the murder charge comes. Once you can show a jury that a defendant is definitely a criminal, even on lesser charges, he gets far less benefit of the doubt on graver charges. Once Columbo and the prosecutor walk the jury through the defendant's history of blackmail in all the sordid details, they're ready to hear how he was blackmailing the victim, too. The jury will see the same details of the blackmail process play out, but then get told that this time the blackmail victim ended up dead. Half the battle is making the jury WANT to believe the defendant is guilty, and at this point they will. Then finally the prosecutor will call the coroner who can tell the jury that the marks on the body match the defendant's ring exactly. And then Columbo gets called back to the stand to tell the jury how he lied to the defendant about a contact being missing, and how the defendant was shortly thereafter observed (by MANY reliable police witnesses) sneaking into a garage to search the trunk of his own car, how the same witnesses saw him conclude his search satisfied, how they saw him try to dispose of a contact lens he'd found in that trunk upon being arrested, and how at that point he then spoke (things said in front of police isn't hearsay, which is why lawyers tell you to keep silent as soon as they show up) about how "it was an accident" and not "premeditated". Then the prosecutor sits back and defies the defence attorney to concoct a story that could possibly explain all of that. The only story that fits that evidence is "he's guilty".
Some years later, a Detroit PD detective by the name of Axel Foley, having learned from the great Columbo, tried a similar tactic. The difference of course was Detective Foley used a banana, not versus a suspect, but rather against two unwitting Beverly Hills PD officers.
finding a contact len in the middle of the night, in a dark garage, in the trunk of a car-- with a flashlight, wearing glasses... gotta love hollywood.
God when that music starts to kick in as Columbo explains his little trick is a perfectly put together moment
This is quite brilliant! My favorite part was actually the ending where the camera pans to just barely leave the tail pipe out of frame, teasing the audience, leaving us in suspense of whether the potato story was a confession or merely a prank if we looked.
And the man starts to look and then thinks twice to not look so he has deniability if ever asked
Oh, it obviously was a confession of what he had just done without actually saying it, but of course the potato would have been long gone, so nobody could be the wiser.
I don’t remember the rest of the story, but I do remember that potato in the tail pipe part from probably 50 years ago. Brilliant writing!
@@AAAskeet Ray Milland played it brilliantly.
If I'd been writing it, Columbo would have been waiting in the trunk.
"I did a terrible thing,sir"Columbo's traps are the best !!!
Very similar to the ending of Blueprint for Murder. The killer thinks he’s alone and protected by the cover of darkness only to have the good lieutenant flip on the bright hot spotlights and expose him and his guilt.
Your are correct. However, this episode came first
Don't forget the Johnny Cash episode too!
@@aarongoldstein7614 So?
Blueprint for murder was great 👍
And this somehow makes the show less good or? Of course you have some elements of formula, otherwise its difficult to make a serie
Just finished watching almost full Sunday, of columbos..never get tired of watching Peter fantastic actor and seemed a real nice guy..R.I.P..
it's my Sunday. I don't go anywhere so I can spend the day with C olumbo
The introduction of this episode is great (Robert Culp is one of my favorite Columbo's Villain). Seeing the scene through the glasses reflection was quite stylish.
When Mad magazine spoofed Columbo the murderer was clearly based on him and named Dr Robert Culpable.
Robert Culp and Jack Cassidy were the best Columbo villains. Both had 3 episodes a piece.
@@jlh4jc I love Cassavetes too, when he decomposes himself near the piano when he realizes that Colombo is on his track seriously, "That's my specialty: homicide"...
Great show. All I can think about is the heart attack OSHA would have nowadays over that board they kept walking over lol!
Murder is one thing, careless disregard for safety regulations is quite another
Idiotic comment.
LOL! You're in my mind! I'm thinking the same thing.
Saying nothing of smoking in the workplace...
@@artmallory970 LOL! Never known a mechanic that didn't smoke in the garage.
It's nice to know I'm not the only person who has watched every episode of Colombo. My favorite is Murder By the Book
I watched every episode at least 10-15 times. Every year the same procedure
Jack Cassidy another great villain. And I agree. My favorite as well. Directed by a young Steven Spielberg.
And it's me again... Saw it 2024 just once but obviously all episodes
Classic stuff! This never grows old.
Just meg. I Guess IT was the second episode I remember😭😭
3:18 Subtle. It's impressive that on replay, you literally do see him make the motions to grab the diamond and put it in the cigarette pack. Can you imagine they took that much attention to detail in things then far before the ability of people to rewind and playback? They cared about those details even when they didn't have to.
This episode has quite a few problems. Right at the start, Brimmer shoots a revolver indoors without wearing any ear protection, later Columbo's haircut changes when he enters Kennicutt's house, etc.
diamond???
Contact lens columbo put in the boot of the car anyway even if he succeeded by putting the diamond in the cigarette packet if columbo had suspected him wouldn't he have checked his belongings back at the station and found the diamond?
I guess you can't scratch a "diamond" contact lens))
@@victorsuarez3546 In those days they were glass contact lens, now we have dailys
Ray Milland and Robert Culp, two awesome actors who made several appearances on this show.... Both have since passed away, but definitely are NOT forgotten....
I watched this episode again last night!!! The Lieutenant is brilliant of course!!! The potato in the tailpipe is great!!! 👍👍🙂
Ray Milland as a "good guy" is great, but still seems wrong somehow. 😂👍
Dial M For Murder as the bad guy.....OUTSTANDING!
@Jeff Massey Ray Milland made a brief appearance in Where Eagles Dare as the pilot flying the plane extracting the team at the end of the mission
@@iskrajackal9049 I didn't know that. i'll check that out
Don't worry. In Season 2, he plays a murderer.
alas overshadowed by his toupet.
No sir I did not leave the car breaking down to chance. It is great the way he says it without saying it.
The shag carpet came and went (thank God), as did the ties and the infuriating rotary phone (ever been in a rush to call someone who has a lot of 9's and 8's in their number on one of those things?). But Columbo will never, ever go out of style. That character holds up even now. His gotcha moments were SO satisfying.
Shag is coming back. 😉
I remember rotary phones. Good point about the 8 and 9's. Makes you wonder why the emergency number was 911.
Oh man, good riddance to rotary phones. And you didn’t own them either, Ma Bell did!
Or try to call a radio station to win a contest lol
Rotary phones I never minded, but shag carpets were hell with vacuum cleaners.
I watched Columbo when I was young. The story about the potato was one of the lines that stuck with me over the years.
Great show. Just starting season 2. This episode was from season 1. Just love how Columbo at the end makes the person feel they are in the Clear. When he had them pegged within 5 minutes of meeting him.
The music score by Gil Mellé is the best of the whole serie.
I agree.
Needs water chime.
Series
Beverly Hills Cop. Banana in the tailpipe gag. I love how Columbo always "busts" Robert Culp characters. Soooo slick, Smug, and ARROGANT! Just all the more enjoyable to see the perceived "mighty" to fall and FALL hard. I'm dying as Ray Milland contemplates looking in the tail pipe. The music @ the end has been used many times, but is soooo cool! It just says Columbo.
Fun Fact:
The music at the end was one of several potential "themes" for Columbo, this one composed by one of Universal's contract composers, Gil Melle (who also did the theme for Kolchak).
As it turned out, they never really did settle on a single Columbo theme ... ever.
("This Old Man" doesn't count; it was never used as a theme in any of the shows.)
@@mikedoran9851 With a nick knack paddy whacK Columbo whistles. This old man came rolling home. OMG! Thanks! The nuances of the character Peter Falk created was unparalleled. Murder Inc, Cookie, Princess Bride. Peter was a cherished GIFT + so humble.
Others have pointed out the attention Columbo paid to subtle details - in this case, the way Milland takes one hesitant half-step toward the car (as if he's going to look in the tailpipe), stops, and then briskly walks away as if he's thinking, "Nope, I don't want to know!"
One of the finest, most excellent episodes of Columbo. One of my top 5 favourite. ❤️
without a doubt one of my favorite episodes
Acting. Just superb. All of them.
My favorite soundtrack in all of the series starts playing at the end. It was used quite frequently in S1, but never afterwards.
the music is always so good, great talent in those who created it
The part whete he explains about the potato always makes me laugh for some reason.
Love the way Columbo is so quirky....to confuse his murderers, is outstandingly fabulous! ♥️🥇🌟🌟🌟🌟🌨 🕯
I think he’s just quirky. Naturally. That’s what trios them up. If it was an act, they’d see through it.
@@davsaltego Its both. He is naturally quirky but hes conscious of it and he overplays it and uses it to his advantage.
My favorite part of the episode is how the editing was done on him at the beginning of the episode hiding the body and covering his tracks.
The music score is everything!
Another great Columbo takedown!
Another excellent Columbo finale..👍thanks again 😀
Ray Milland deciding at the end that ignorance is bliss regarding the possible potato in the tailpipe 😂🤣 Of course, by now that potato is no longer there. If it ever was. Allegedly.
*we're not gonna fall for a* potato *in the tailpipe*
Made me laugh 🤣🤣🤣🤣
1:43 I want to play that piano part! 😂
I think the type of music at the end is great!
Watched this episode just last night on television. Great gotcha ending.
I remember in the late 90s seeing that rug on a showroom floor. It was considered New old stock and had been there at least 25 years.
6:14 And the world is better for it my friend. God bless you, Frank Colombo.
The music in this clip is one of my favorites in the entire series.
The green carpet...waouh ! So 70's 👍
again I thank you.
4:03 Apologizing after you got caught instead of being a man and admitting to what you did means nothing. You ran, you lied, and worse you tried to cover it up and got caught in the act. You're only sorry you got caught.
When I think of Columbo, this music at the end is the music I always hear in my head
5:56 when you think you're driving a lemon but it's just a potato in the exhaust
Culp: "Am I under arrest"? Columbo: "I guess you can say so". Not one of Columbo's best lines, IMO.
That Shag carpet at the beginning lol
Hearing that detail about how the palm reading / astrology talk he was doing halfway through the episode basically sealed Brimmer's fate was wild. Columbo immediately noticed the bruising and the cut on the cheek and basically found his lead suspect from the half way mark, while Brimmer still thought he was in the clear/was being clever assigning himself on the job. Even the golfer (who was logically one of the main suspects) was immediately written off because of this little detail and he also basically forced the confession of an affair out of him effortlessly, fully confirming Columbo's leading theory (which was word for word how the murder happened). Rewatching this episode you can really tell how intentional every single little thing Columbo does. Sometimes what he says can feel like filler, but it's those parts that criminals have to be especially careful about.
Fab music... especially the large grand piano cluster chords!
the contact lens 👁️
It seems to me that Brimmer would have smelled Columbo’s cigar smoke as it appears the Columbo’s cigar was already lit while in the garage.
Loved this theme song.
At various points, I seriously thought there was supposed to be an angry pianist in the garage somewhere.
Ah....this was the THIRD episode where Robert Culp played the murderer....
The one I couldn't think of the other day.
Thanks.
That piano player was really going for it
This was the best columbo episode ever made.😊
Aside from everything else, I love the score.
3:23 is the last moment he, mr Falk, was on safe ground.
But then he walked across this narrow bridge, a plank of wood.
While following the other actor.
And all of that safely done with only one eye.
I find that amazing.
I mean: if you only have one eye to work with, you have difficulties in some areas. Depth for example.
Another great Columbo episode.
The music is just fantastic for the series 🙂🙂
dear god that carpet
When you know, you know. A nasty petri dish.
Planting evidence doesn't matter? I'd say it does, lieutenant! Very much so!
A minor detail - in the Columboverse!
honestly pretty lucky he admitted to murder itself. who knows if a jury would convict on him visiting his car and the previous evidence
The typical plot of Columbo solves the age-old problem of "whodonit" detective stories.
In most detective stories, the writer tries to make you guess who is the murderer. However, with a TV series, as soon as you see the guest star, you KNOW he is the murderer, so the mystery is spoiled. The Columbo writers realized this, and changed it... you know from the beginning who the murderer is, but the mystery is ... how will Columbo figure it out and trap the criminal.
We used to play a drinking game called the "culp gulp" everytime Robert said lieutenant we took one drink and everytime Mr.Culp looked guilty or menacing we gulped 2 drinks we had a lot of time to kill in those days...
To me, this is the best episode
It's my favourite episode too!
jesus christ go easy on that piano would you
Yep, that a Caddie. A trunk you can actually climb into and move around in a squatting position. Love 'em.
I think it's "yup"
Yep another gotcha moment.
The trunk of that car must have been huge. Because he kept on hitting the keys of a piano in it.
You know, I'll bet most of us would be able to suss out the smell of a burning cigar. Our lieutenant pops up with a burning stogie and "no harm, no foul."
Something a bit too "cartoon time" about that...
I believe that nice golden Rolex GMT Master Robert Culp wore in this episode was his own watch and not a movie prop. He also wore it in the episode "Double Exposure" and also in "Most crucial game".
Watched last week and now have seen all of season 1 and working my way thru season 2 ! Just watched lude in black ?
Robert Culp was one of my two favorite guest stars in "Columbo," along with, naturally, Patrick McGoohan, who was a more versatile actor, but did not always give the same level of nuance that Culp brought to each role. He played the killer in three episodes (he was in four total), imbuing in each one a deliciously suave bravado. And yet he gave all three characters a distinct flair, with an unnerving complexity revealed by their own quirks and foibles. He didn't phone these in like a lot of guest stars did in one-off episodic shows like "Columbo."
And he brought that same energy and focus to his work in film. Check him out as the president in the 1993 film "The Pelican Brief." He gave a creepily sublime yet vulnerable performance as a corrupt commander-in-chief. It was written more or less as a one-dimensional role -- typical sleazy politician -- but his portrayal made the character a lot more interesting and complicated than what you find in most minor supporting film roles.
What's more, he was as good in comedic roles as he was in dramatic ones. He found fame in "I Spy" and worked pretty much continuously -- or at least as much as he wanted to -- right up until his death, but I still think he was one of the more underrated actors of his day. RIP, 1930-2010.
"It's an emergency!" Hehe.
The only killer who didn't mean it. He just lost his cool.
Oh there was others. Like Donald Pleasence in 'Any Old Port in a Storm'.
If Columbo is on the case the crime getting solved 100% great episode
🚬
Great episode
👍🍷😂🍷I never thought that potatoes could have that much of significant to the operation of the cars!😂
Ray Milland always had the capacity to somehow make others feel inferior to him..... Except Columbo of course.
Who is playing the piano in this scene? The Hulk? The music might make sense if this was a scene in a slasher movie but it's just a guy searching the trunk of a car in the dark.
Random contact lens laying in the boot?
No one vacuum clean their cars in the USA?
It is an extremely odd coincidence. It's still a clever episode, but that bit is very contrived.
@@NiceTryLaoChe What coincidence? Columbo obviously planted it.
@@JBurdoo you are correct Jennifer.
I think the implication is that Columbo planted it there when it was in the garage. He likely didn't want to openly admit it in front of a civilian, but how else would it have got there?
@@tonguelessghostofsin - not admitting it? Ok? That kind of break the 'logic' of the Colombo
I’ve always felt that Mr. Kennicutt should’ve checked for the potato.
reminds me of red auerbach with his victory cigar.
You have to love Columbo.
Just saw this episode last night although COZI TV cuts some of the most crucial parts.
And some great cars in that repair garage. Including the black El Dorado Cadillac.
Columbo and The Buddha are my two favorite heroic characters.
I rewound to look for the potato, lol
I wish we could see what happens when this case goes to court. I have a feeling that several of Columbo's villians would get off on technicalities.
No they wouldn't get off on a technicality. One, we have every faith in the good Lieutenant's scrupulosity and fastidiousness when it comes to the law and its technicalities and loopholes then even as now and two, they basically confess in front of officers and other witnesses despite most likely knowing their rights which pretty much cooks their goose right then & there.
Most of those cases probably result in plea deals for lesser charges/time. Then if they go up on the stand, they need to explain why they lied to the cops. Otherwise the prosecution is going to paint these people are liars with a certain narrative.
The two of you make good points. I can understand you questioning whether the cases would get tossed or not based on what many incompetent or corrupt judges have done. And then there is Columbo. Probably would have his evidence very well organized. A lot of these folks do get caught with witnesses in the midst
Nah, the end of a Columbo episode isn't the end of Columbo building his case, it's only the beginning. Once he has incriminating evidence like this, he can finally get warrants to go through the guy's entire life with a fine-tooth comb, which he couldn't do before. That's almost certain to turn up more evidence.
For example now he can get a warrant to go through the guy's business records including his client list. Once he has the client list he can interview former clients and find out how often this guy runs his blackmail scam on them. Bank and phone records will confirm those stories. First will come the trial for the blackmail because they'll have a mountain of evidence for those charges. Once those charges are proven and he's convicted, the murder charge comes. Once you can show a jury that a defendant is definitely a criminal, even on lesser charges, he gets far less benefit of the doubt on graver charges. Once Columbo and the prosecutor walk the jury through the defendant's history of blackmail in all the sordid details, they're ready to hear how he was blackmailing the victim, too. The jury will see the same details of the blackmail process play out, but then get told that this time the blackmail victim ended up dead. Half the battle is making the jury WANT to believe the defendant is guilty, and at this point they will.
Then finally the prosecutor will call the coroner who can tell the jury that the marks on the body match the defendant's ring exactly. And then Columbo gets called back to the stand to tell the jury how he lied to the defendant about a contact being missing, and how the defendant was shortly thereafter observed (by MANY reliable police witnesses) sneaking into a garage to search the trunk of his own car, how the same witnesses saw him conclude his search satisfied, how they saw him try to dispose of a contact lens he'd found in that trunk upon being arrested, and how at that point he then spoke (things said in front of police isn't hearsay, which is why lawyers tell you to keep silent as soon as they show up) about how "it was an accident" and not "premeditated". Then the prosecutor sits back and defies the defence attorney to concoct a story that could possibly explain all of that. The only story that fits that evidence is "he's guilty".
Some years later, a Detroit PD detective by the name of Axel Foley, having learned from the great Columbo, tried a similar tactic. The difference of course was Detective Foley used a banana, not versus a suspect, but rather against two unwitting Beverly Hills PD officers.
"We're not going to fall for the banana in the tailpipe"
THE 63 IMPERIAL HEADLIGHTS! OMG! My dad sold those at his dealership!
finding a contact len in the middle of the night, in a dark garage, in the trunk of a car-- with a flashlight, wearing glasses... gotta love hollywood.
Columbo is the best!
I ain’t falling for no banana I’m the tailpipe.
0:47 almost Layla
As a Mechanic that open floor is killing me
Nobody could scowl like Ray Milland.
Its true about the potato in the exhaust.
It lacks context. In most of the clips you have at least an idea of what happened but here all we know is that Robert Culp killed Ray Millhand's wife.
Anyone know if that's a pre-existing piece of music playing at the end of the episode? If so, I'd love to track it down.
He thought he would get away with it and be back home in time for Brimmer
when I was in Jr. High, someone stuck a potato in the exhaust of a school bus. It wouldn't start so they had to tow it away.