The Lt. Columbo Forum

An area where fans from all over can ask each other questions and voice their own ideas and opinions on anything Columbo.

This Forum is fondly dedicated in memory of  "cassavetes45"  (Carleen Zink),
Columbo's greatest fan and a great friend to us all.
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The Lt. Columbo Forum
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Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

Wow! I totally missed that. What a nice subtle point. It makes sense to me.

Re: Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

I'm glad this point about Danny Green was made; I never thought about this before either. However, I've always thought one reason Columbo was a superior series was its ability to hint at much larger issues than the crime itself (which other series in the genre do not). For example (and I'm certain I'm not the first to point this out) in Prescription: Murder, aren't the writers warning us of our misplaced faith in the omniscience of physicians and psychiatrists, who are often mistaken for modern-day miracleworkers? In the end, we realize our trust should be in folks like Columbo, who "walk humbly" so to speak. On the other hand, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

Michael, I don't think you are reading too much into it at all. I truly agree with you that Columbo is such a great show because it goes beyond a murder mystery. It delves into social issues that many other shows feared to encounter. And it exposes the high and mighty, who may seem to be the great ones in society, as mere mortals and sometimes not very nice mortals.

In the same vein as Prescription: Murder you have the ruthlessness of Dr. Mayfield in A Stitch in Crime, who murders twice, and almost kills a third. His profession warrants him to save lives not take them away.
And in The Bye-Bye-Sky High I.Q. Murder Case, we witness the top 2% of intelligentsia, and they all come off as babbling idiots who seem to know nothing about a simple thing called "common sense"

Re: Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

I agree completely, but I was trying to say that Columbo hints at even larger issues. The "good" see themselves as part of a whole, whereas the "bad" cannot see themselves as a part of the whole--they are "separate" and unto themselves. And people who believe in their separateness often view themselves as superior to the whole. While Columbo is eccentric as the dickens and quite the unusual character, he realizes that life doesn't revolve around him--he's a part of life, not the center of it. Columbo has--I think--a near religious message about the value of humility. Isn't pride the worst of the Cardinal Sins?

Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

Interesting stuff...and of course we have the great Columbo line at the mensa club, something like "Here I am among the top 2% (etc etc) and I didn't even realize"!

Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

Well Michael......what can I say?...........you bring up a very interesting and insightful point. And I believe that what you say is true. The humility of the Columbo character is what draws us to him...because in our own lives, that is the way most of us deal with things everyday. Those "others" are so filled with their own prestige and presence in life that they cannot imagine a world which didn't have them as a member. Their self-centered ways will not allow them to do so. And your point about Columbo being an almost spiritual experience is well-taken with me. You have made that fairly clear to me. The values he possesses...politeness..humility..are all things that are the makings of a blessed human being...and they are qualities which should be admired and emulated.

Re: Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

So eloquently stated! This sounds a bit far-fetched, but I'm sure you've seen those books with titles like "The Gospel in Peanuts" and the like. It would seem to me that an imaginative person could make the case for "The Gospel in Columbo."

Re: "Danny Green" character in "Now You See Him"

Thank you Michael.
And yes, I have heard of those Peanuts books....they are quite similar to the books The Tao of Pooh and The Tao of Piglet....there is a deeper meaning to Pooh and Piglet....as well as Columbo.