I have very mixed feelings about this episode. Ricardo Montalban's outstanding performance, the Mexican ambience, the bullfighting (which few Americans understand) all make it a very entertaining episode. My only problem is that the very premise of the murder is silly. Montoya would kill his closest colleague because he saw his fear? Rangel does say that things will never be the same, but you don't hear him insulting Montoya, or taunting him for being a coward.
BTW-when Columbo says he doesn't approving morally of bullfighting, Montoya replies by saying something like "I suppose you think it is okay for two prizefighters to beat each other senseless in the ring". That is a really dumb comparison, the fighters are both volunteers, the bull is not a volunteer!

When I was in Latin America recently I was watching a soap opera on TV, and Comandante Sanchez appeared! He is of course about 70 years old now, and has put on a bit of weight, but he is still going strong, making Latin American telenovelas

YM, maybe he should have likened it more to someone who goes fishing.
And that Sanchez was a cutie in this episode...

In addition to the bull not being a volunteer, the bull is heavily drugged before the fight so that it never is a threat to the matador. The bull has no idea what is going on, and it just becomes a matter of the matador showing off for a little while before giving the audience a nice bloody spectacle.

"A Matter of Honor" is the most underrated episode of the series, probably because some of the personality traits and values with respect to honor are difficult to understand. It is well-written and well-performed and I always enjoy watching it.

I like the episode, but probably the most unsatisfying thing about it for me is the ending. It is almost like a Murder She Wrote ending where Columbo has to explain to Sanchez how and why Montoya commited the murder. As they are walking to the car Columbo explains the reasoning and motive...and if you listen to the audio it is almost like it was dubbed in later because the producers or writers didn't feel that the motive was explained clearly enough.

KAAAAAAAHN!!
Love Ricardo Montalban. Great foreboding presence and perhaps the most intimidating murderer Columbo faced.
The reference to "Troubled Waters" gives the series a nice touch of continuity, the details about bullfighting are interesting, and the music,locations are all good. Different kind of ep and I'd have to say an under rated one.

I love it on this site when we talk about Ricardo Montalban and someone invariably puts out the call for KAAAAAAAHN!!!!
Thanks for not disappointing me, Mark!

OH MY!!! It is on right now on the SciFi channel!!!!!! KAAAAAAAHN!!!!!

This is one of my favorites, too. A really different setting and feel (as well as motive), and Montalban and Pedro Armendariz (the police chief) were perfect.

You can't beat a bit of Ricardo Montalban. His best scene in this episode is where he remembers his last bullfight as the camera slowly closes in on his face.

Didn't he do the voice over for some car advert in the 80s smoothly purring about the leather seats or something.

www.20six.co.uk/jiltedbarfly

Co-rin-thian leatherrr... How many times does a line from a commercial become a classic?

Wasn't the car the Cordova(sp)? Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this episode, too. I love the locale, the relationship Columbo has with his counterpart, and Ricardo has much potential for the best of all Columbo murderers. Is it possible the cultural differences are such that WASP's--as some of us are--just can't "get" the motive? I can certainly understand honor--but I do have difficulty understanding how killing a close friend would preserve my honor. Was the Ricardo character afraid his friend would tell someone? This seems doubtful given their long friendship. Or did he just not want him around as a reminder that he showed his fear? It seems to me the murderer has to choose between two private "hells." Does he want to be tormented by the fact that someone close to him has seen his fear, or tormented by the fact that he has killed a loyal friend--he chooses the latter. Then again, maybe the writers were going after something else entirely.

I recall that when he got the job to advertise the car called the Chrysler Cordoba he told them that the name "Cordoba" (cities in Spain and Argentina) is pronounced CORdoba (accent on the first syllable) but they insisted he pronounce it "CorDOBa" (accent on the second syllable). I guess for thousands of dollars he was willing to compromise on his Spanish pronunciation!

WASP ????

Pardon my use of an old acronym: WASP stands for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, often used by us former flower children as a synonym for the Establishment.

White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant

I thought I said that already!!!

Right, I think I once knew that but had forgotten

And now you know it again!!!!