Ricardo Montalban should have been the victim for fooling us all in to thinking there was such a thing as Corithian Leather

The nerve of that man!

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Replying to:

Just watched "A Matter of Honor" again.

Could be me, but I can't get into Ricardo M. as a killer. Although he was pretty ruthless on the Star Trek series as "Kahn." But only Columbo could have found that dart mark on the victim's back-side. The story does have some good moments, but overall not one of my favorites.

"A Matter of Honor" is the most underrated episode of the entire series. It is very special and has strong elements leading to the powerful ending. Ricardo Montalblan was the perfect choice to play the part of Luis Montoya.

I agree that it is an enjoyable episode,
and that Ricardo Montalban was really
great...the only problem is that the plot
makes no sense to me. I can't believe
Luis Montoya would kill his closest
comrade under those conditions and for
that reason, no matter how "embarrassed"
he was. If Hector had gone and ridiculed
him about it and threatened
to tell the whole world about Montoya's
cowardice, then maybe, but all he said
was that "things had changed".

I'm sorry but the episode was somewhat ho-hum for me.

Ricardo was too busy watching for "THE PLANE ! THE PLANE !" to see columbo coming at him.

I like Ricardo M. but I think he was not right for this role. Too suave. Not convincing to me in the cat and mouse mind games of the Columbo formula.

I think the role needed a more arrogant/unlikable murderer.

Ricardo is VERY arrogant, in my opinion.
Don't forget the scene where he dismisses
Columbo's objection to the very idea of bullfighting...he says "our culture is different, not better or worse, just different". He used the example of boxing being popular in the US...well the boxers are both VOLUNTEERS unlike the bull. Don't forget his threat to call the governor when they start getting on his nerves. He was very good for the role, IMHO. Still, the plot is unbelievable for me.

No my favorite by any means, but the episode was good. The main point I was making was that Montalban's persona has a suave likable image. I thought the culture difference speech was very poignant.

I can't divorce that suave image of him from my idea of a more evil/cunning killer.

I have Ricardo Montalban on tape on 2 other programs.
One was the first season of Mission Impossible where he played Gerard Sefra, the sadistic commander of a Devil's Island-like prison colony. He was VERY arrogant and sadistic in that one. Then, of course, there is his classic role as Khan in Star Trek. Again, very arrogant. That is how I picture him. I never saw more than 1 or 2 episodes of Fantasy Island which I didn't like, so I don't think of him in those turns.

I did not see him in those other shows.

Your opinion is not disputed.

We each had a different refernce point.