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Columbo

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Does anyone else like these?

I just got the first season's movies, which you can get at amazon.com or a local media store. There are seven in total and they are all very good, with some good guest stars as villains.

The great thing about Columbo is his ingenious use of his wits to foil all of the great and sometimes ingenious plans of the murderers he's always busting. Peter Falk is hilarious and believable as the rumpled and disorganized detective, I just think that all the ones I've seen are well done films, plausable in terms of plots, and satisfying in that Columbo gets his man ethically and through rational detective work.

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I like the Columbo series as well.

I like Falk's portrayal. He comes across as honest, smart, understanding of human psychology, etc. I always enjoy that moment when the villian realizes that he has underestimated his nemesis and is in danger. The majority of the villians commit their murders because they are supremely confident that they are smarter than anyone else. They are sure they will get away with it because they are certain that they are smarter than that annoying little man in the rumpled coat. Columbo's seemingly slow wittedness, his incessent "innocent" questioning, his penchant for showing up at the most inopportune moments, all work insidiously to break down the villian's confidence and bring on a slow panic.

I like, too, that the villians are alike only in the act of murder. Each one's evil is different in degree and motivation. Not all of them do murder to cover up something, or because of greed. There are those who murder to keep something they love, which a person of lesser character is trying to destroy, for instance. There are a couple of episodes where I find myself completely in sympathy with the murderer -- and so does Columbo. In these episodes, he shows respect where it is due, while completing his job He may not justify what has been done, but he understands it. I appreciate that.

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I like the Columbo series as well.

I like Falk's portrayal.  He comes across as honest, smart, understanding of human psychology, etc.  I always enjoy that moment when the villian realizes that he has underestimated his nemesis and is in danger.  The majority of the villians commit their murders because they are supremely confident that they are smarter than anyone else.  They are sure they will get away with it because they are certain that they are smarter than that annoying little man in the rumpled coat.  Columbo's seemingly slow wittedness, his incessent "innocent" questioning, his penchant for showing up at the most inopportune moments, all work insidiously to break down the villian's confidence and bring on a slow panic. 

The Columbo character is intriguing. As you have described him, he sounds much like Plato's early Socrates: unfashionable, seemingly slow, forever questioning, comfortable in dealing with anyone, always persistent -- and victorious in the end.

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Columbo was one of the best series on television. I agree with every comment made above. The title character’s reliance on logic rather than force to uphold justice and Falk’s endearing performance made for great entertainment.

But let’s consider an additional reason for the show’s success. Each episode followed a sure-fire formula: an intelligent and well-to-do murderer enacts the "perfect crime." The villain's hubris and underestimation of Columbo’s deductive powers precipitate the culprit’s downfall. The plots were varied and ingenious, but the viewer knew he could always count on the killer’s vanity and the detective’s modesty to tip the scales.

And that leads us to another dynamic: there is clearly an aristocrat vs. commoner conflict in every episode -- at least in every one I’ve seen. Call it class envy if you like, but the writers obviously use Columbo’s shabby overcoat and decrepit car as a play for sympathy. And the villain’s wealth and prestige are invariably essential to his performance of the crime.

I for one do not find the class conflict troubling. Columbo isn’t a hero because he’s underpaid. The villains are not evil because they are rich.

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