Wesley Britton's Blog - Posts Tagged "peter-falk"

51 years ago yesterday, F-Troop debuted on ABC starring, among others, impressionist Larry Storch. I had the opportunity to meet Larry and interviewed him for both online radio’s “Dave White Presents” and for my spywise.net website. You can read “From F Troop to Get Smart– The Many Voices of Larry Storch” and learn about his career on F-Troop and elsewhere in his own words at—

http://www.spywise.net/larryStorch.html

Another anniversary to celebrate is for the first adventure of Columbo which debuted on Sept. 15, 1971. As with Larry, I was able to twice interview show co-creator William Link for radio, the second time was, as it happened, Sept13, 2011 to discuss the passing of Peter Falk three days before what would have been the star’s 83rd birthday. (Falk was born Sept. 16, 1926).

The first time Bill and I talked, as it happened, was also in September, on September 29, 2010 to discuss his then new book, The Columbo Collection. Here’s my review of the book which should interest any Columbo fan:

The Columbo Collection
William Link
Crippen & Landru Publishers

Richard Levinson and William Link made their first major contribution to TV history when they created the detective series, Mannix. A few years later, during a Screen Writers Guild strike, they came up with a script that became a stage play called Prescription: Murder. Much to their surprise, according to Link’s “Foreword” to The Columbo Collection, audience response didn’t center on the star, the legendary Joseph Cotten. Instead, audiences applauded wildly for actor Thomas Mitchell playing the minor supporting role of a homicide detective named Lieutenant Columbo. This surprise developed into a series of TV movies originally intended to star—Bing Crosby. But a fella named Peter Falk k, a raincoat, a notebook, and a cigar came along, and a hit was born.

Decades after Columbo left the air and the passing of Richard Levinson, Link decided to return to his beloved character anew and craft a series of 12 short stories starring the frumpled investigator. Columbo fans should be delighted he did. Likely for the first time, a creator of a TV favorite took the time to spin some new yarns relying on the old formulas, but with the twists requisite of all good detective fiction. As with the 90 minute mysteries, most of these tales reveal the murderer in the opening paragraphs and readers watch the criminal’s irritation grow as they find a certain policeman showing up again and again asking just one more question.

The essential difference between the TV movies and these stories is length. These stories are short enough most readers can absorb one or more cases in an evening. Little details might jolt purists, as with Columbo—still with no first name—answering his cellphone. And suspects carrying Blackberries and making recordings on CDs. True, Columbo isn’t exactly PC—he still brandishes his cigars, both lit and unlit, just about everywhere he goes.

But Link doesn’t always stick too closely to any set pattern. In “Ricochet,” the opening scene is of an unsettled Columbo being sent off to New York on an assignment. If he doesn’t exactly have a fear of flying, he has major discomfort and asks his boss to raise his one drink limit to three. Columbo devotees will likely look for such clues into the character’s elusive background. For example, when Columbo tells one witness his wife’s father didn’t want her to marry a cop because Dad too was a cop, you have to pause a moment and wonder—did we just read a small revelation or just a bit of Columbo banter? Well, in “Trance,” it’s very clear he has a niece named Julia. He seems to have countless uncles and aunts. He has a wide range of interests, from boxing to opera. And, of course, there’s his very opinionated if never seen wife.

But beyond the detective himself, character development is rarely the point as the pace is tight, economical, and focused on Columbo thinking out the one clue that will undo a killer’s best laid plans. In each story, the killers emotions inevitably erode from feelings of triumph to increasing nervousness to stunned acceptance.

There’s a tone of nostalgic innocence about it all—Lt. Columbo seems to get all the cases of methodical, intelligent, and often very cultured killers out for one victim, never serial killers, gang bangers, nor child molesters. He doesn’t have to duel with supervisors, defense attorneys, nor the DA’s office. He doesn’t have a partner to spar with nor any assistants beyond the unnamed police squads who collect the evidence at crime scenes. Unlike the ensemble casts prevalent on more current dramas, Columbo still arrests his prey alone, never fearing they’ll turn violent in the final scene. Or make a mad dash for it.

Some of these new mysteries could be easily classified as short-short stories (“Ricochet,” “Sucker Punch.”) while others, such as “Requiem for a Hitman” and “The Blackest Mail” involve a killer forced to take extreme measures to cover their, well, extreme measures. Some plots are a bit contrived (“Trance”) but all reveal, again and again, the most calculating of murderers, whether “The Criminal Criminal Attorney,” conspiratorial musicians (“Murder Allegro”), or vengeful vets (“A Dish Best Served Cold”) can’t compete with the unflagging instincts of Lt. Columbo.

All together, this is light reading and no Edgar nominations are likely for Link, although he has won four of these prestigious awards in the past. It’s an ideal companion for airport terminals or bedtime reading, for times when you want to enjoy a writer and his character being their clever best. I’ll take seconds, Mr. Link.

This review first appeared at:
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitep...

Columbo Under Glass
Sheldon Catz
Publisher: BearManor Media (October 26, 2016)
ASIN: B01MG5VKHVPublisher: BearManor Media (October 26, 2016)
https://www.amazon.com/Columbo-Under-...


Sheldon Catz’s exhaustive analysis of the Columbo TV series and made-for-TV movies is strictly for Columbo aficionados. The show’s 69 mysteries are indeed placed under a hot glass, a magnifying glass in fact, that requires a reader to be interested in a show that aired, off and on, from 1968 to 2003 and be knowledgeable about the cast and crew, plots, supporting players and not be bothered to be told, again and again, details like Henry Mancini wrote the theme music for ABC’s rotating Mysteries.

One puzzling aspect of this new study is that Catz is far from an adoring fan, at least in terms of his conclusions about so many aspects of the show. The first 100 pages are his hit-and-run reviews of each episode and TV movie, and most are rated as fair or poor with few branded “excellent.” He points to weaknesses in storylines, especially what clues are credible or convincingly discovered by the frumpy detective, what Catz sees as poor acting, or the “bloating” he discusses that we saw, most notably in the two-hour stories. Obviously, he watched all the mysteries multiple times with a critical eye, so obviously Catz caught details few casual watchers would have noticed or cared about. For example, he spends several pages noting the 31 fleeting appearances by utility player Michael Lally who is only seen or heard briefly, usually so quickly it took Catz watching and freeze-framing video tapes of the show to spot Lally in the background as a bartender, cop, photographer, whatever.

Still, to point out so many foibles makes one wonder—why did Catz spend so much time investigating a series he seems to find more flawed than quality entertainment? Throughout his episode guide, Catz keeps cross-referencing his discussions with the short mini-essays in the second part of the book where he looks at nearly every aspect of the stories including what sorts of endings worked, or didn’t, the morality of Lt. Columbo, how the character developed over the decades, and the continuity, or lack of it throughout the decades. He even devotes an essay to suggesting why a number of episode titles weren’t the best and offers his suggestions for improvement. In fact, he puts forward a number of suggestions on how the stories and characters could have been better as well, especially when Columbo the character could have been truer to himself.

Clearly, Catz knows his subject intimately. In 1991, he began a ten year tenure as editor of The Columbo Newsletter. He has the full endorsement of Mark Dawidziak, author of The Columbo File (1989) who wrote the foreword for Catz’s study. Columbo Under Glass is 99% told from a viewer’s point-of-view, that is, it discusses what we see on the screen but there’s precious little about how it got there. Not until page 319 do we get much about the origins of the character on stage, and that too is a short discussion. There is next to no discussion of production histories, there are no interviews with insiders or participants. In short, this is from first to last Sheldon Catz’s take on Columbo and the reader is free to compare his own feelings with those of a man who has spent a lot of time dissecting every minute of Columbo ever aired.

If you’re extremely familiar with Peter Falk’s raincoated character or at least want to be, this book is for you. If you’re a less devoted fan, this is a book to skim but not immerse yourself in cover-to-cover reading. If you’re not already a fan of the cigar-smoking investigator who is always asking, “just one more thing,” Columbo Under Glass likely isn’t for you. Most of your questions are readily available online on the websites Catz lists in his final pages.


This review first appeared at BookPleasures.com on Nov. 14, 2016 at:
goo.gl/T9f35r