Customer Reviews

Columbo - The Complete Sixth and Seventh Seasons

5 star:		(57)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Here's a list of the eight episodes featured on this 6th and 7th season collection:

Episode 38: FADE IN TO MURDER (Airdate: Oct/10/76). This is the segment with the one and only William Shatner as an actor who plays a popular TV detective that murders his blackmailing agent. The episode also features Walter Koenig who played Chekov on Star Trek. This one doesn't touch Leonard Nimoy's fabulous Columbo installment "A Stich in Crime," but works simply because of Shatner's undeniable star power.

Episode 39: AN OLD FASHIONED MURDER (Airdate: Nov/28/76). A bland female museum curator hires a questionable guard to kill her brother so she can collect the insurance money; she then kills the guard and makes it look like a break-in gone awry. There are no notable stars in this one. It's okay but definitely one of the lesser Columbo outings.

Episode 40: THE BYE-BYE SKY HIGH I.Q. MURDER CASE (Airdate: May/22/77). Two former college friends, now partners in an accounting firm, are members of an elite intellectual club. One is murdered after he threatens to squeal about the other's embezzling from the firm. No notable stars. This episode features the longest and most peculiar story title of any "Columbo" outing.

Episode 41: TRY AND CATCH ME (Airdate: Nov/21/77). Ruth Gordon plays a mystery writer who kills her nephew-in-law as revenge for murdering her niece. The beauteous Mariette Hartley is also on hand. I can't remember how this popular segment ends, but this is definitely one time where Columbo should have let the person go like Dirty Harry in "Sudden Impact."

Episode 42: MURDER UNDER GLASS (Airdate: Jan/30/78). A popular television food critic murders a restaurant owner via blowfish poison. This one features Peter Falk's new wife, the incredibly beautiful Shera Danese, whom he married Dec. 7, 1977 (and remains married to!). Shera also played 'Molly' in "Fade in to Murder" (Episode 38, above) and starred in four 'second generation' episodes as well. The lovely France Nuyen, who played the haughty Elaan in the Star Trek episode "Elaan of Troyius," is also on hand as Mary Choy.

Episode 43: MAKE ME A PERFECT MURDER (Airdate: Feb/28/78). Laurence Luckinbill plays a network executive who gets a promotion and is about to move to New York; his attractive, ambitious lover, played by Trish Van Devere, expects to get his old position but Luckinbill declines, thinking the job is out of her league. Feeling betrayed, Trish murders him and takes the position. Laurance would go on to play the renegade Sybok in "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."

Episode 44: HOW TO DIAL A MURDER (Airdate: Apr/15/78). A famous psychiatrist utilizes a conditioning reflex technique on his dogs to kill his dead wife's lover; this technique also involves a phone call and the key word "Rosebud." A youthful Kim Cattrall is on hand; Kim of course stars on "Sex in the City," but is also known for roles in "Porky's" and "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" (How does "Columbo" attract so many Star Trek alumni?).

Episode 45: THE CONSPIRATORS (Airdate May/13/78). A charismatic Irish poet, who runs a peace organization while running guns as a covert revolutionary, murders an arms dealer who tries to swindle him. Clive Revill and Bernard Behrens are featured.

This would mark the end of the "First Generation" of Columbo episodes. The "Second Generation" would run from 1989-2003. I personally find something to like in every "Columbo" outing, after all, with Peter Falk as Columbo, how can you go wrong?

There are no extras, as usual, which doesn't bother me a bit since I rarely watch 'em.

This is the finale of the great Columbo series and I heartily
recommend it. However, the episodes in this DVD set are a mixed bag as compared to the earlier seasons. Whereas at first, Columbo's persona is "modest and mildly eccentric", for some reason, it was decided to experiment with another version of him (starting with the poor "Last Salute to the Commodore" episode which ended season 5) and they made him "arrogant and goofy" in some of the episodes. When the series was revived in the 1980's, Peter Falk continued with the "arrogant and goofy" Columbo, so as far as I am concerned, the revival series is not "really Columbo". In spite of this, there are some fine episodes in seasons 6 and 7 where we see the old Columbo such as
"Fade Into Murder", where William Shatner (an uneven actor at best) puts in a fine performance as the TV star/murderer Lt. Lucerne/Ward Fowler. However, the best was saved for last, the final episode "The Conspirators" (this is where I got the title for my review) in which Clive Reville puts in a BRILLIANT performance as Joe Devlin who plays Irish terrorist who escaped to America where he became a celebrity writer and poet but where he also quietly raised money for IRA terrorist activities in Northern Ireland. The "Joe Devlin" character is based on a real-life alcoholic Irish writer name Brendan Beehan who as a youngster was involved with IRA activities. I am glad that the writers were not afraid to shy away from a controversial subject and they turned out a gem of an episode (watch out for the hilarious "duel of the limericks" in this episode). Well, "this far and no farther"!

Great, the last two seasons of Columbo finally featured in one
pack,after this Columbo took a break and came back in the late
80's with that guillotine episode I think. Well, the highlights
from these two seasons are "Try and catch me" with the great
actress Ruth Gordon, "Murder under glass" with Louis Jordan,
this is one of my favorite episodes that involves Italian
Restaurants,exotic fish and a attempt to poison Lt Columbo. "How
to dial murder" features a very young Kim Cattrall in an episode
where a couple of trained dogs kill a family friend of a Doctor
that discover a past affair with his wife and the victim."The
Conspirators" is a classic and closes the seventh season, this
one features an Irish caracter that is involved in suppling guns
to the Irish war. I still feel that there are some good extras
that might have been included, I also dream with a documentary
on Peter Falk talking progresively on the episodes, the unsusal
things that he perceived, working with Spielberg in the
beggining and with so many great actors and actresses, who knows
if this personal wish will see the light of day.

Series 6 and 7 of Columbo contain some great episodes.

Series 6 only had three episodes, but they are all terrific. In 'Fade In To Murder' Columbo is on the trail of a TV detective (William Shatner)who murdered his blackmailing producer. In 'Old-Fashioned Murder' a museum curator is willing to kill in order to prevent her brother from selling off her beloved collection of antiquities. And in 'The Bye-Bye Sky-High IQ Club Murder' it won't surprise anyone to find that Columbo is smarter than the average genius. In all three of these episodes Columbo establishes a close rapport with his murder suspect, the exchanges between him and William Shatner are particularly enjoyable.

My favourite episode in series 7 is 'Try and Catch Me' in which Ruth Gordon gives a superb performance as an crime writer who murders her niece's widower, who she believs was responsible for her niece's death. Another great episode is 'Murder Under Glass', in which Louise Jordan plays a ruthless restaurant critic who murders the chef he has been blackmailing when his victim threatens to expose him. I would advise you not to watch this particular episode if you happen to be hungry,or on a diet, because Columbo is tempted with delicious food in almost every scene, and it may prove too much for you.

However, whether you are hungry or not, this set should satisfy your appetite for watching Columbo solve another batch of cases in his unique and charming way.

This is a bittersweet DVD. I am so happy that I will have all of these wonderful shows, but sad because there won't be any more to look forward to.

The brilliant Ruth Gordon is the guest star on Try And Catch Me, notice how she takes Columbo's line of "just one more thing."

To sum up, just get this, sit back and enjoy!

Is Universal high on crack? They have had a series of problems with their Columbo (and other TV show) DVDs. This time they did it again - why is the MUSIC TRACK missing at the end of "The Conspirators"??

Suddenly we have nearly blank audio stretching out with Columbo driving over the Long Beach bridge and chugging along to the binoculars on the docks, etc. Ludicrous. Everytime I saw this on TV and video previous to this release there was a cranking bagpipe incidental soundtrack. Can Universal turn out ONE tv series without some kind of jacked up mistake??

Aside from that the DVDs seem fine. SEEM fine. Who knows what else they missed.

I'm thirty-something, soon to be forty-something, I have friends that are twenty-something... they always look at me strangely when I reach back in time and pick these sets up as we go out for our New Release Tuesday jaunts. I think they consider this on the same level as my other vices; the Brady's, and other era shows of the ilk. Sadly, they do not know the beauty that is Columbo, sadder still, if I showed them I doubt they would get it.

Columbo is just a cut above everything else. Ignited by dialogue and then fast cooled by innuendo and suspicion. Rarely will you see a show that every time out is a swing into the bleachers of history and Columbo almost accomplishes that. There does seem to be ONE episode each season I feel falls short, and this set is no different; Murder Under Glass is not palatable to me. But when you factor in the AMAZING Lt. Lucerne and the wit and charm of the marvelous Ruth Gordon; who cares!!

Someday I may let my friends in on this near perfect series, but for now when they enter a room I will be armed with Rosebud.

Universal has wisely condensed Columbo's sixth and seventh seasons six into one collection. We still have Columbo, one of the best characters conceived on television, but there are distinctive features in his finale seasons. There's still the murders of the rich and famous, but their methods are often different. This collection also lacks the star-studded line-up of past collections. While Ruth Gordon gives one of the best and most genuine performances, and William Shatner is as likable as ever, the big names aren't as prevalent. In some ways this is a plus, for the murderers are often as mysterious as their crimes.

`Columbo' goes out in style, but they still find new ways to kill their victims. Innovatively, in `Try and Catch Me' the victim is locked in a safe, so his death is meant to look like an accident. For `Murder in a Glass,' a restaurant critic uses fish poison in a bottle opener to kill a restaurant owner who will blow the whistle on his blackmail. Perhaps the most unusual scenario is when a psychologist trains his dogs to kill a colleague in `How to Dial a Murder`. But one of the most overlooked episodes is also one of the most rewarding: `The Bye-Bye Sky-High I.Q. Murder Case,' involves ingenious timing. It hardly plays in syndication to the best of my knowledge. `The Conspirators' offers a murder that has international import where an Irish terrorist is double-crossed by an arms dealer. In this case the motives are harder to pin-point. And the series goes out with `Make Me a Perfect Murder'. While the latter may not entirely live up to its title, it comes close enough to work as a final episode.

Columbo, the series and the character, went out as it came in: fascinating, and a likable presentation of human nature with clever methods by murderer and detective alike.

Another outstanding collection featuring our favorite detective and a set worth adding to your collection....several winners include "Fade in to Murder"--(was it live or on Betamax?)--featuring Bill Shatner as a popular TV detective, Lt. Lucerne, who murders his agent; "The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case" with veteran actor Theodore Bikel, a genius accountant who believes he has pulled off the perfect crime; "Murder Under Glass"--was it the wine that was poisoned or the stopper? Columbo takes on Louis Jourdan, a vain world-reknown restaurant critic and TV cooking host, in a case involving blackmail, murder and world-class cuisine; "Try and Catch Me"--veteran actress (and real-life screenwriter) Ruth Gordon ("Harold & Maude") plays a masterful mystery writer whose weapon of choice is a iron clad safe and an air tight alibi.

As a sidenote, fans of Ruth Gordon's work would be interested to know that the talented stage and screen actress co-wrote the screenplay to the Academy Award winning 1948 drama "A Double Life" featuring Ronald Colman (see my review).

But by far, the best episode and my personal favorite is the two hour feature, "The Conspirators," directed by Leo Penn (yes, that is Sean Penn's father) featuring actor/comedian Clive Reville, as a celebrated Irish poet with ties to the IRA who eliminates the middleman to an international arms deal.

As typical of this series, the transfers and markedly clean and the sound quality, in Dolby 5.1 stereo surround, is excellent. As usual, however, Universal has provided no extras (surprisingly, since Peter Falk just published his autobiography, "Just One More Thing: Stories From My Life" this year), interviews, features, or even a banal installment of "Mrs. Columbo"--then again, maybe that is a blessing! Enjoy!

Being a bit of a Columbo nut, I have seen each episode god knows how many times. The last two seasons of the regular run were I believe the best.The Columbo character was in full bloom and the William Shatner episode is possibly the finest of the entire series.My compliments to Peter Falk for creating one of the most memorable characters in the history of television.