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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Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

I really liked J Cash's performance and it's one of my favorite episodes. Throughout (of course espec at the end) it is clear Columbo genuinely likes, and is in some awe of the talent of, the Cash character. BUT it's strange - Cash's character not only murdered his battle-axe wife, but a totally uninvolved, innocent teenage girl. IN FACT, we learn at the beginning Cash was guilty of statuatory rape of the girl, then he kills her for in essence no reason. THAT is cold-blooded.

Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

I agree. In fact, I think it's one of his finest film appearances, but Tommy Brown had good reason to snuff them both, and he was only exercising a tailor-made way to do it. That was "pragmatism my friend, not insanity".

Truth be known, the girl was far from uninvolved being used as a pawn of extortion by her guardian for having been raped by her guardian's spouse and if you ask me, THAT is cold-blooded.

Re: Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

Well, these things are stories constructed for the formula, i.e. how will he catch him.
This is one of my fav. epis. The excuse to now find the coffee thermos and the celebrity target was a great trap. My most favorite Columbo reaction is also here when the ROTC colonel tells Columbo that Tommy Brown was a parachute rigger in the Air Force.

Re: Re: Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

I got a laugh when the airforce colonel tells Columbo that the phone is "really for official use only." Oh, and Columbo's reaction to the plane ride that he took was classic.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

"Elevators bother me too. By the way, I don't even like being this tall !"
Great character colorizing when you piece together bits from several episodes. Almost all episodes at a certain point started to have referential laughs.

Dr. Strangelove

I also liked the scene with the Air Force "it might be an alert" Colonel. He kinda reminded me of character that might have been in the Doctor Strangelove film.

Re: Re: Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

Good point about the thermos, which relates to another subtle gaff they allowed to slip by.

In response to Tommy's supposition about it,
Columbo states "You see, a thermos wouldn't be consumed by fire ... METAL INSIDE OF GLASS."

Of course, we never saw a thermos constructed that way, but I'm sure the pre-household-VCR producers of these shows never anticipated such microscopic scrutiny this many years down the road either.

I mean, sure, we catch their errors now, but how can we fault the fast-paced studios back then for avoiding costly retakes to re-shoot otherwise perfect scenes? After all, that's why they recycle music, character actors and stock footage.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Interesting thing about "Swan Song"

i have to say i totally enjoyed this one myself...i love johnny cash but i liked the repoire between columbo and the murderer..you could see that he doesnt really underestimate columbo as the others usually do and that he thought maybe he could get away with it...he truly is one of the characters that had true remorse at the end...