I'm a huge fan of our crumpled hero and watched most of the episodes numerous times, never get tired of seeing them... fantastic scripts, great production values and Peter Falk absolutely mesmerising.

BUT... what the hell happened with Last Salute To The Commodore? Up to this point, through the early to mid 70s, the show had been top quality throughout.

Then, all of a sudden, a hideous car crash of an episode!

Everything about it is bizarre. The long, pointless silences between lines, the long tortuous sequences where Columbo and an assortment of dumb detectives examine the 'cleats' and 'jibs' (pronounced 'jibes', for some weird reason) on the boats, the ridiculous camera angles and close-ups, the hysterical drunken woman going for the Oscar, the rubbish sound quality, the amateurish editing, the pitiful storyline... everything was wrong!

But worst of all is Falk's performance. If he had maintained some semblance of the character we were all familiar with, then there would at least have been some stability holding the mess together.

Instead, he appears with a ridiculous coiffeured hairstyle (so un-Columbo like, it hurts) and plays it like some sinister mumbling weirdo, throwing his arms about in exaggerated gestures, muttering his lines like some goofball trying to send the whole show up.

Perhaps he had got tired of the character by then and couldn't care less. Perhaps it was because his good mate Patrick McGoohan was directing the episode, and McGoohan just let him do his own thing for a laugh. Perhaps Falk had fallen out with the studio and wanted to kill the series off with an over-the-top, hammy and ridiculous performance.

Or perhaps they'd all taken drugs, or something, and filmed it all for their own private fun.

Whatever, this is a truly painful episode to watch, slow, cumbersome, disjointed, totally lacking in any kind of dramatic tension whatsoever, a total mess.

I forced myself to watch it again last night, as it is the least-viewed show in my entire collection, just in case I'd missed something.

But no. It was worse than ever, a truly rock bottom moment in the whole Columbo series.

And what's even more mystifying is that there was no indication that this nightmare was coming. All the episodes leading up to it had been superb, and the ones that came after it were also top quality.

What in God's name happened when they filmed this?

george, i have little doubt that this is exactly what happened. yay for them.

This is without a doubt the best description of this episode I have ever read.

I agree. And let's not forget - although that might be preferable - the terrible shouting scene when Columbo tries to interview someone over all the noise of a working shipyard. I have also tried rewatching this episode with the faint hope that there must be something in there I like, but there just isn't!

What makes it all the more disappointing is that there are several actors who are capable of putting in good performances in other episodes (Vaughn, Hyde-White, Dehner, Draper, Falk himself) but are worse than embarrassingly awful in 'Commodore'.

And to top it all off, Columbo appears, uniquely, to focus on the wrong man at the start of the investigation, and only catches the killer with the help of the quite dreadful final "tisn't" clue.

Very left field but fun episode. Starred Dennis Dugan as Sgt Albinsky, once married to Joyce Van Patten. Well I never.....

I consider myself a purist of Columbo (thought I love Columbo Cries Wolf), but is very hard to love LSTTC.
It's a bore. Just to be kind.
But the last time I saw it, I found it a very "mystic", "visionary", "dreaming" episode. Well, the first thing that Columbo says is more or less "Where's the ocean?", like a child that had never seen it. And then, the long scenes where Columbo seems so thoughtful, lost in his mind. If I'm not wrong he asks where is Japan: sounds as he wants to escape. And the final scene, too. He goes away, adrift, I can say: will he come back? (maybe for another season?).
But beyond all these personal ideas, nothing more to save.

Ciao

PS: sorry for my english...I wrote in a few seconds and I fear that all the grammar rules (and not only that) are gone.

This is without doubt the worst episode ever made for me which is surprising because the 70's array of episodes were the best!!!!!!

...and the sargant continuing to hold the lamp like he's under strict military orders and cannot lower it without permission.

Everybody whispering or quietly talking into each others ears for no reason.

I have never like this Columbo either , it is awful
"tisn't" It.

I never quit understood the letters of the name of the boat , either , and that young girl meditating in the sun .......the whole episode was very strange , I also never did understand exactly why the guy actually killed the Commodore either

as explained in 'the columbo phile', daughter joanna was to inherit everything from the commodore.
swanny was trying to frame joanna for the murder of the commodore...leaving her lipstick behind.
if joanna was convicted of the murder she would be put in jail, and he would inherit the commodore's entire estate.

Thanks Lee :)

holy hell! i've gone over the edge, and now am quoting myself! there should be some type of penalty for that. my apologies... but i must say that i have my reasons.

i never really understood why swanny had to kill off charles clay. it was always a puzzle to me. (this whole episode is a Puzzle to me, but that's another story. )

anyway..from reading mark dawidziak's short explanation in 'the columbo phile', i can see why swanny HAD to get rid of clay/vaughn. (thanks yet again, mark! )

since columbo was already hot on clay's heels, he may have been convicted/sent to jail, instead of joanna. swanny's plan would have been foiled. so he had to kill clay off in order for it to all fall into place.

(i'm sure most of you have realized all this stuff before, but i'm just understanding it now.)

what i don't get is why didn't swanny knock off joanna for his second murder? he could have staged a drunken suicide or some sort of thing.
or was he only good at clunking people over the head?

Yeah, it's a piece of trash, but I still believe that it was meant to be the series finale before someone decided to ruin it further.

Three words that remind me of this dreadful epsiode:

"The mizzenboom . . . jibed"

Have any of the actors in this episode commented on it?

Falk liked it a lot, as did McGoohan. Producer Everett Chambers didn't particularly like it, though preferred it to Old Fashioned Murder. According to The Columbo Phile, Richard Levinson saw it years later for the first time and liked the meditation scene. Those are the only creative opinions I have heard on the subject.

At the very least, it had one of my favorite lines of any Columbo. Swanee (even though it might have been a little reckless of him) half-way admits to Columbo about being the kind of hanger-on the Commodore complained about. He says that he's gotten a regular allowance from the Commodore his whole life, then says "Well - it's called a salary, but who's kidding who?"

another question i have is, what evidence did columbo have that swanny killed charles clay? was anything ever mentioned, or was it just 'a given' that he killed him just like he did the commodore?

Those are perfectly legitimate questions, Cassa. But who really cares?
This episode is a schoolboy prank, an enormous fit of laughter from beginning to end. And I like it for that. In fact, it's one of my favourites, and I'm of the opinion that people who loathe it (all for very good reasons) are unimaginative.
The beauty of the images, too, seems to me underestimated.
What are your sources, Lee, if I may make so bold?

yeah, i guess you're right, noll, who really gives a rat's behind!!




happy 9/9/09!

Personally I agree with Noll's answer... it is for sure a strange episode (just think at the car scene...) but if you see it a few times you can also start appreciating some little, yet funny, things (I remember, for example, the little chat with Commodore's lawyer talking about a girl he spent a night with as a "sail passing through his life" or Mac's mackintosh at the end, trying to resemble Columbo's appearance )

Again, one of my favorites. It was a departure, very playful but I thought Columbo still maintained all his characteristics.

This whole episode is a puzzle, but actually there might be an explanation to Falk's play that fits the story.
Columbo is in the proces of quiting his cigars in the episode, and you really feel like drunk when you lack your dose of niccotine - and you are seen as such by others. I know, my boss once told me :P

Am one who has a real dislike for some columbo episodes, mainly the 80's onwards, but also had for LSTTC for ages. However i watched it recently on sky+ and actually enjoyed it. You can see everyone is having a good time when they made it and really enjoying themselves. Seems like they decided to forget about making a normal columbo episode and played it for strictly their own amusement, hence Peter and Patrick enjoying it when looking back.
Maybe because it was planned to be the last before the decision was made to make series 6 & 7.

Have always wondered if they changed their minds during the making of this episode with what Columbo says at the beginning about quitting and then at the end not (ok it was about cigars but nevertheless).

God bless,

Mat

Hello Mat & all: "Commodore" has never been a favorite of mine. Most of the reasons for this have been stated by others. Perhaps it was intended as an inside joke (awful, instead of greatness), by the production team and the actors. If this had been the 1971 premiere, instead of "Murder by the Book", it might not have seemed so bad. But, after five seasons of excellence, it comes off as very weak. But, it had to be a joke of some kind. Neither Falk, nor McGoohan, nor Vaughn, would have accepted this low quality level, otherwise. Best regards, Chris.

More "Last Salute" bumping.

I just watched this Salute to the commodore episode on vision TV in Toronto, Canada. It was a very weak and different Columbo episode with awkward pauses. However, I asked myself the same question that Cassa asked at the beginning and nobody answered. Why did Swanny have to kill Charles Clay? There was no reason because the evidence was pointing out to Charles as the Killer and therefore there was no motive. Strangely, Columbo did not even mention it in the his final big talk, what was the motive for the second murder and how did Swanny do it?!!!
As someone said, maybe McGoohan was drunk when he directed it!!!!!

I started liking this episode when I stopped thinking about the story and about how different it is from other Columbo episodes.

I think it's a great episode because of great moments. There are a lot of them and they are great. One of them I didn't even notice until I read someone mention it here, that is Johnny the scuba diver.

I would agree with all those who pointed out that it was an episode purely played for fun and humor. There's no pretense involved, in that I don't believe the episode was ever even attempting to live up to or outdo the standards of drama and tense interplay of the other episodes. It seems as though it was more of a stand-alone attempt in taking the undercurrent of humor running through the series and, just once, making it a distinct focus, rather than only one of many elements.
As a showcase for the comedic talents of both Falk and McGoohan, I don't think there could have been a better opportunity than with such a poor script that would have been completely worthless if played seriously and by the book. To me, at least, given the surreal nature established in the episode, even the vapid way Columbo wraps up the case has an almost strange verisimilitude that it would have been utterly devoid of if played straight (of course, one could argue that the script shouldn't have been produced in the first place).

I agree, Clay, that there were a lot of great moments in the episode. One of my favorites is when Columbo, Mac and Kramer are trying to figure out the order of the letter stencils and engage in ridiculous antics. It's not the type of behavior one would want to see Columbo involved in most of the time, but as part of a singly unique take on the character, I think it's delightful.

I don't know about drugs, but they were all pals and heavy drinkers. It would not be the only time they "guys" showed up drunk.

I totally agree! I've just watched it and was surprised that it was so rubbish. I'm glad you said the rest are good because I was beginning to regret having bought the complete box set.

The word is that they were all drunk -- and maybe stoned TOO. They were having a great time. The show stank, but they had fun.

Exactly my point! I totally agree ! It just beats me what they had in mind when they made such a terribly bad Columbo episode which doesnt at all fit in the Columbo series we all love.
Peter Falk’s acting is preposterous, as if he’s drunk as a fiddler or high on cocaine , barely able to open his mouth and fully utter his lines. I find it almost an insult for us the viewers. He mumbles in the way a knocked-out drunkard would , and weirdly , needlessly touches and hugs everyone around like a most libidinous fellow.. Odd as hell!
Not to mention the plot, which is a total bore, one can hardly make it past the first 30 minutes . Awful acting from everyone, a far too theatrical lady screaming and crying around up to the point you feel the need to throw something at her just to make her stop ... A bunch of people whose relations with one another is hard to comprehend amidst that horrifyingly nonsensical jumble in which they all keep on moving around painfully slowly ... My , oh my, what a torture!
This episode should be banned or wiped out completely, as if it never existed.
A total embarrassment and a pitiful failure.
If you can torture yourself to bear with it until the end, you eventually might feel the need to slap each actor, starting with Falk, in order to help them recover their sobriety / come back to sober state of mind... Lord have mercy! Facepalm.