Who did not deserve to be murdered?
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lanceus — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 06:46 AM)
"Bird in the Hand": Fernando the gardener did not. It can argued that his death was an accident, but Harold could have stopped it in time.
"Swan Song": The girl (Tina?) flying with Tommy and Edna. True she was aware of Tommy's misdeeds, but she wasn't the one trying to control him and the money.so this one is questionable.
Incidentally, in "Try and Catch Me", I've always assumed that Abigail's niece DID accidentally drown, but Abigail could not accept that; so I would add Edmund to the list as well. -
scamper67 — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 05:49 PM)
I don't think it's so much a matter of "deserving" to die, nevertheless real life murders happen for some of the same reasons represented here; Blackmail, jealousy, money, or just plain hatred.
Having said that, the one who really did not deserve murder was Leonard Fisher in "Murder, Smoke and Shadows". He did threaten to ruin Brady, but only because Brady left his sister to die during an accident, he wasn't blackmailing him because he never asked for money, he wanted revenge when he found out the truth on how his sister died, not smart the way he went about it but understandable. -
rosarypliers — 9 years ago(April 21, 2016 01:24 PM)
I think nobody "deserves" to be murdered. There's a reason why every civilized society has homicide laws. However, some Columbo characters seemed to push their luck, or they made themselves assessors to murder after the fact by choosing blackmail instead of telling the police.
Also, some murder victims were obnoxious people, like Edna in Swan Song, or Verity Chandler in Ashes to Ashes. We tend not to feel sorry for such people.
Characters who were neither obnoxious nor pushed their luck: Louise in Murder: A Self-Portrait, Maryann in Swan Song, or the old physician husband of Janet Leigh's character in Forgotten Lady.
You may cross-examine. -
mg! — 9 years ago(April 25, 2016 01:14 PM)
Maryann Cobb was the other plane victim. She was a co-conspirator and silent blackmailer. She also was a lead vocalist (forgive me, as I do not remember the phrase) and was replaced by a better voice. Her name was Tina.
Could Maryann had elbowed her way there? Had anyone else wondered why she gets to fly with the Browns while everyone else takes the backseat to the bus behind a guitar? -
rosarypliers — 9 years ago(April 25, 2016 02:40 PM)
I had the suspicion that Edna was controlling her and was keeping her as some kind of personal assistant, and that Maryann was afraid of her ire.
Brown claimed that he had the song re-arranged for Tina as the lead vocalist of the choir just because he wanted a new version of the song, but it may also have been because he wanted Tina closer to him. The scene at the piano speaks for itself.
I think it's a bit strange to have the song re-arranged while on tour for artistic reason. It would have made more sense to have it re-released after the tour was over, on a new album or so.
You may cross-examine. -
Jennie_Portrait — 9 years ago(April 24, 2016 05:56 PM)
No one deserves to be murdered.
In
Any Old Port in a Storm
Donald Pleasence kills his younger brother. What is very troubling is that he does it in a way that must have caused a lot of suffering to the poor guy.
Never say never
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Justice5 — 9 years ago(April 28, 2016 08:02 AM)
I not sure I am aware of a loving way to kill one's brother, but that episode is rare in that the murder is a crime of passion. The Columbo killers' premeditate their murders. As angry as Adrian was in that scene, if I were brother, I would not have turned my back on him. I love that scene as well as the one in the restaurant where he rails against "liquid filth".
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eldo-19-715289 — 9 years ago(May 24, 2016 05:48 PM)
Well put! But remember, the actual murder was NOT a crime of passion - Rick was still alive after he got clocked in the head that's why Adrian tied him up & turned off the a/c. I, too, have always found that a rather cruel way to do him in, but I guess after the fit of rage, Hyde turned back into Jekyll and he couldn't bring himself to do the 'kind' thing and finish bashing his head in.
That aside, this is my favorite episode and
also
Peter Falk's favorite. It just barely edges out Jack's final episode, Now you See Him. Donald Pleasance does a wonderful job playing all of Adrian's different moods, 2nd only to the brilliant schizophrenia of William Shatner as John Schnelling as Charles Kipling as Ward Fowler as Lt. Lucerne 80)
This is one of the times (possibly the first) that Columbo truly respects & even likes the killer (exactly the opposite of Nimoy & Robert Conrad.) Not only did he bring Carsini in himself instead of handing him off to a uniform cop, but it tickles me that he uses his newfound knowledge & brings along "an excellent desert wine" as a friggin' surprise. He not only give alcohol to a prisoner, he drives back with an open container in the car! LOL It was also pleasantly (Pleasancely?) surprising that Adrian not only surrenders with grace but also tells Columbo that he learns very well, the nicest compliment he says he's ever had. -
Justice5 — 9 years ago(May 25, 2016 08:07 PM)
Love your response, BUT, the fact that Rick did not die initially was a lack of execution, not a lack of passion. While we see that they were not close, there was nothing to indicate that Adrian would have killed him but for the bad news that was sprang on him and at a most inconvenient time. Remember, he had guests in the other room, while too preparing to fly to New York.
I agree and can easily see why Columbo liked Carsini, he was respectful, unlike many of the others who mocked him. He kinda dug the Sky High IQ guy too.
The William Shatner performance as Lucerne and Ward Fowler was one that has to be seen to believed. It's quite popular on my Columbo night parties. -
eldo-19-715289 — 9 years ago(May 25, 2016 08:48 PM)
Thanks for your reply. I agree about Theo Bikel (who just died in 2015) and I also remembered how close Columbo seemed to come to giving in to Ruth Gordon - they got along famously. Plus, while someone else panned Johnny Cash's performance, I thought he acted terrifically for a non-actor - and the last line of the episode is Falk saying that (to the tune on the Eldorado's tape deck) "no one who sings like that can be all bad."
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Dagwoodie — 9 years ago(April 29, 2016 03:25 PM)
A couple more, for the sake of this discussion -
- Dr. Howard Nicholson (Lew Ayers) in "Mind Over Matter." He was a man of principle who wanted the deceased chemist, not the plagiarizing son of Jose Ferrer, get his proper credit.
- Eric Wagner (Dean Stockwell), the irresponsible owner of a pro football team in "The Most Crucial Game."
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lanceus — 9 years ago(April 29, 2016 08:37 PM)
^ ^ Both good ones, Dagwoodie.
The more I think about it, without seeing a lot of these episodes for awhile, it seems like maybe the majority of the victims were just standing in the way of the killer's greed, not necessarily going out of their way to try to harm or stop the killer. These include (IIRC) Prescription: Murder, Ransom For A Dead Man, A Friend in Deed - although victim #1 didn't have anything to do with greed,
Death Hits the Jackpotand on and on.