az- Columbo - The Complete Third Season: DVD: Peter Falk...

Amazing, July 18, 2005 M. Olender (San Juan, PR USA) - See all my reviews
What can be said of Season 3? Let's break it down, shall we?
yes ok! just the game I was playing in my head last nite
after watching Double Exposure, wh I was thinking was a favorite. Robert Culp is very good and doesn't try to play innocent, so instead he & Columbo tarry. "Right or left? you didn't tell me where it happened. Nice try, though." Columbo: "Can't win 'em all." and geez what a classic idiot asshole. correcting Columbo to call him Dr not Mr. correcting the complement that he revolutionized advertising in three not five years. and! telling Columbo that 70% of homicides are committed by the spouse, it's a fact, look it up. He's talking to a homicide detective!
but did I like each the best after seeing them? sorta...nah. my other favorite is Johnny Cash bcs of Johnny Cash.
and then there were two where I really liked the smaller scenes though not esp the villain & investigation:
Mind over Mayhem, for the likeable boy genius "Guess what I wanted to be when I was three." "That's easy, you wanted to be a cop." "How'd you know?" "All kids want to be cops. Plus, I could tell by the way you asked me. And me being a cop and all" and esp for the sweet dog who Columbo had to pick up from obedience school bcs "he demoralizes the other students" aw. and Columbo asking the mechanic to watch the dog "He's alright, he just doesn't like to be alone. he likes to be with a human person."
Publish or Perish for the somehow pleasant writer's office and interaction at the beginning with the other cops & the night guard who brought the victim his coffee. Columbo: "Someone say coffee? You still have any?"
Nightguard: "Well yeah but it's probably cold BY NOW." I love how he says that.
Columbo: "That's alright, I'll drink anything. ...(to others of the police on the scene) Know how much sleep I had the last two nights? maybe five hours. 2 in the morning last nite, my wife wants to watch Bettie Davis. so we're watching Bettie Davis, 2 in the morning. now she is some actress, that Bettie Davis. Forget about it. ...(drinks coffee) Oh this is brutal."
ok! back to your review, M Olender!

3.1 Lovely But Lethal
Not my favorite episode, but still features some great moments. And who can deny Vera Miles her beauty, charm, and sophistication? Did you know that Miles was Alfred Hitchcock's first choice to play Madeline in Vertigo? yeah I did not like this one that much, the look of it, kind of like how I don't like Ugly Betty, the future-y design of beauty businesses, weird. but this wasn't a bad episode, no.
3.2 Any Old Port In A Storm
This is held by many Columbo fans - including those who frequent the Ultimate Columbo Site - as the all time best Columbo episode ever. While its not my personal favorite, it is within my top 3 and I can easily see why this would get top ranking by some. It is a masterpiece. Falk is absolutely amazing, Donald Pleasence is just as good. And the story makes you want to go out and pick up a bottle of port! oh my gosh. this is the only one I have not watched yet. and might have just not watched. a masterpiece! well wow.
3.3 Candidate For Crime
Ah, Nelson Hayward and his camel hair sports coat. Jackie Cooper makes an excellent Columbo killer, as well as a great politician! He schmoozes everyone, including his wife and girlfriend, like a pro. As usual, Columbo is great in this, and his pestering gets under the skin of Hayward like no one else, pushing Hayward to tell him that he likes Columbo a lot, but that he's a busy man and doesn't have time to fool around. Great moments are when Columbo goes to the shop to get fitted for a coat and later when, during the taping of a political commercial, Columbo absent-mindedly makes too much noise by clanging the victim's watch against an umbrella poll to prove how indestructible it is. Classic! does seem like a classic episode. high stakes like the last one below, A Friend Indeed, re the police commissioner. by the way I did not get why there were police checking Columbo's car at some sort of checkpoint, what was that?
3.4 Double Exposure
Can you say, double your pleasure? This is definitely one of my top favorite 3 episodes. yes me too. Robert Culp is back as Doctor Kepple, a highly organized and anal retentive research scientist specializing in cognitive science, and gives a stellar performance. But aside from the top knotch acting and tense character relationships (which includes one of the relatively few times where Columbo comes right out and tells the killer he believes they're guilty of homicide well even more to the point rare that the killer comes right out and says they believe they are being accused of homicide) is the story itself: subliminal cuts, mind games, and beating the killer at his own game make for some intriguing story here. Top knotch all the way. The ending is second to none, perhaps the best one yet. Doctor Kepple is so proud of his abilities, he is almost proud of having gotten caught by his own method! oh right. the ending is another bit of how he is such an asshole for wanting to be brilliant. This is a must see episode.
3.5 Publish Or Perish
Jack Cassidy is back! The second victim (who is the first killer) is creepy with a capital "c", but it adds to the nature of his character. right that hired bomber guy Vietnam vet, he was creepy, made it int, more so than the Cassidy character. Cassidy himself is on fire the whole time, playing a great drunk in one scene and a charming gentleman caller in another. The ending is pretty good, not my favorite, but good. yeah. I am remembering that I liked how strategic the villian was, how he acted afraid that he was guilty and had committed the crime in a drunken blackout, but oh look what a relief an alibi.
3.6 Mind Over Mayhem
This isn't my favorite story but the cast boasts of a favorite of mine from my childhood - Robert Walker, the little guy who played the "bad" Hulk twin in the Incredible Hulk TV series. huh. The victim's wife is a knock-out, which isn't a bad deal, either. the young psychologist. Jessica Walter ~ name was familiar, and it turns out: she is Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development. son of a gun! I do like the killer's method though... very good alliby! robot was at his controls. the robot made by the lovely sweetheart boy genius.
3.7 Swan Song
Ahh, the one and only Johnny Cash, God rest his soul. If there was ever a killer for whom you could feel bad, it is Cash's Tommy Brown. yeah that's what I say. Cash plays music, wears black, and kicks back as a killer who was caught in a corner and gave it to a woman who deserved it! yeah she was mean. (though I guess the death of the young girl should be sad) This is one episode I know a lot of people treasure. oh and this is where Columbo says, when Cash says the happy singing and gathering must look bad, "Oh no, sir. It's refreshing. You see in my business somebody's always dead. They don't even call me unless somebody is already dead."
3.8 A Friend In Deed
This is perhaps my all time favorite episode. Columbo nabs his boss! It happens to be the first episode I ever saw. Richard Kiley is fantastic as Commissioner Halperin, John Finnegan is top knotch as Lt. Dryer, Michael McGuire is chilling as Hugh Caldwell, and Val Avery is second to none (not even Falk) as Artie Jessup. yeah the best part to me is the thief with honor Artie Jessup. The characters in this are so well developed, it makes for great TV right there. But the story itself is great and the ending... I can't give it away. He nabs him SO BAD its not even funny! Fantastic! Classic lines: "Are you crazy, I ain't goin' to no roller derby" - Artie Jessup.