I too just received the latest DVD so I saw
Swan Song for the first time. I know it is
popular among the fans...I would rate it
as okay, but not among the greatest. Similar
to "Any Old Port" and "Conspirators" in that
Columbo developes a liking for the murderer.
I realize Johnny Cash is more a singer
than an actor but he was okay, very mellow
but a little weak in the area of the art
of "natural body motion" in acting (i.e.his
body motions were not 100% natural).
Unlike most of the suspects, he never
seems to get rattled by Columbo, always
has a cool response to Columbo's penetrating
questions. I had thought there would be
an exploration of the world of gospel singing
and the nature of hypocrisy among agressive
marketers of religion, (similar to criticism
of Hollywood in "Make Me A Perfect Murder" and
"Fade into Murder" or the corruption of politis
in "Candidate for Crime"), but this didn't
happen.

What I loved about Swan Song was that for the first time, Columbo was up against this regular guy kind-of-guy who appeared to enjoy him (most of the time) on his own Columboesque terms. Rather than being arrogant like most of the Columbo villains, Tommy was sarcastic in a joshing sort of way. The only thing Cash (or the writers) didn't sell to me is the idea that his guilt was mounting to a point where he would have considered confessing. Overall, I thought it rocked (or twanged, given the subject matter), and Season Three's already just about my favorite.

This ep came long before the Oral Roberts/Jimmy Swaggart/Jim and Tammy Fae Bakker scandals, and my guess is the networks would've felt nervous about taking on even aggressive fundamentalists (those Billy Graham specials were showing regularly on the networks and affiliate stations all the time in the '70s). Just imagine if the '90s/2000s Columbo writers had the talent or imagine to take on social or political themes.

I agree with you YM. Johnny was ok as an "actor" but his body movements were a bit awkward and his speech a bit wooden. One scene where his lack of acting experience is exposed is when he is talking to Columbo in what I think is an apartment or hotel room, and Columbo is at the door ready to leave...he says something like "I want you to tell those people down at the station one thing for me..." and then he goes on, and then he repeats the same line again "I want you to tell those people...." well..he says it in the same monotone way he said it the first time...It just seems very unatural.
And as you say, it would have been a great spotlight to show the inner workings of the gospel singing world....and possible the greed of it all. It dabbled in it just a touch when there was the one scene after the concert and they were talking about how much money the "take" was that night....but as I said it could have been so much more.

I thought the same thing...that this show was before Roberts, and Swaggert and the Bakkers....but boy it could have been really great if the writers were able to delve into all of the muckery that went on in the gospel "industry"...years before the real-life scandals came out.
And Martin I agree with you that I couldn't really detect any mounting grief or guilt on the part of Tommy Brown...not enough, anyway, for him to want to confess.

The first time I saw Swan Song, I was actually surprised that it was as good as it was. I was originally not too thrilled with the idea of Johnny Cash and a gospel music setting, but I did find the episode enjoyable.

But I agree that I wasn't convinced at the end when they threw in that line about Tommy Brown possibly confessing. Especially with that wicked smile on his face when he retrieved the parachute!

I agree that his sudden confession of guilt
feelings was totally unexpected and no
indication had been given of this. I had
thought at the beginning that his brother-in-law
would make repeated appearances to
attack him or at least make him feel guilty,
but the writers didn't do this. This,
I think, was a goof on the part of the
writers, we could have delved more into
his personality and his relatioship with
his wife and her brother.

Johnny did a great job of just being himself,,remember
not everyone speaks and moves like an "actor"

Wow! You guys have come up with great ideas to make a police - gospel music industry corruption - small aircraft - family quarrels - funeral industry shenanigans - series for TV. Should it be on HBO or Bravo or on one of the broadcast networks?

Just saw this (again) and thought the whole episode was amazing. The chemistry between Falk and Cash (this is where i got to like Cash's music) was fantastic to watch and i really felt sorry for Mr Brown, his wife was not a very nice person.

I also dont think that any confession would have been made, Brown would have enjoyed life too much of he had gotten away with it. More a case of Columbo suggesting a way for the court to look a bit more favourably on the case.

Just my opinion.

God bless,

Matthew

just a small point - Columbo calls Brown/Cash a Country&Western singer, not a gospel singer.