Swan Song

This Columbo episode is a real treat, as it features a singing Johnny Cash and footage from one of his actual concerts. Cash plays a singing evangelist who, with his domineering wife, travels the country performing religious music in order to raise money for a new tabernacle. Johnny's a little upset as he never gets to see any of the money. When he makes noise about it, his wife, well played by Ida Lupino, to keep him in line, prances out an underage member of the choir whom Cash once seduced. The Cash character plots a great murder by crashing his plane with his wife and choir member in it while he parachutes out.

I thought Johnny Cash did a great job. He had such a tremendous voice and presence, and acting was very natural and relaxed. All in all, a wonderful "Columbo."

In this episode, Johnny Cash's Tommy Brown is both an arrogant and a sympathetic figure to behold, and Cash plays it almost perfectly. As is known by now, he executes an original plot to murder his wife and his one-time romantic fling, who just happened to be underage when Brown had an affair with her a few years back. Turns out his current wife, played both annoyingly and convincingly by Ida Lupino, is using this as leverage against him, as he can be sent back to prison. This is his motive to kill the 2 by plane, of which he's the pilot. Is this plot a little far-fetched? Probably. Certain loose ends have Columbo thinking this was more than just pilot error, so his scenes with Cash are both humorous and interesting, and they both have good chemistry with each other. There are many funny moments including scenes with a seamstress, an undertaker, and an older military general, but Johnny Cash shines as the murderer.

Lastly, the only moment in this episode which I didn't totally believe is the conclusion, when Brown admits that the guilt was getting to him, and that he was going to confess eventually. He was too arrogant for me to agree with this; otherwise, this is a solid episode of the legendary Columbo series.

Rich, sexy, haunting and ultimately quite tragic, this classic COLUMBO episode combines a stark and surprisingly powerful performance by country superstar Johnny Cash with an even more sensational star turn by screen legend Ida Lupino.

Tommy Brown is a weak, shiftless country music singer, lured into the Christian crusade by his strong-willed, majestic wife Edna. Even though his talent and charisma are what make the Lost Soul Crusade such a breakout success, Edna keeps all the money to realize her dream of building the great tabernacle. Tommy can't even afford his own car! So one night he sets up an ingenious plan to kill Edna (and her sweet, pretty young assistant) and leave himself in control of the music fortune that should rightfully be his.

What makes this crime story a classic is not really the clues or the mystery, but the way each character is so richly full and rounded. Tommy Brown is not really an evil man. At the beginning he makes a very good case that Edna should share some of the money he earns with his music. He's weak, but he's not just a nobody. He really does have a special talent and he feels very strongly that the American dream should be his. Money, fame, and success are not worth killing for -- but when a man has a special talent and has to watch his money go out of his hands, to build someone else's dream, it's not fair.

Edna Brown is equally fascinating. Even though she's a very attractive older woman, it's obvious she has no use for Tommy in her bed. She's truly a woman of God, with courage and vision and an unselfish dream. Her tragedy is that she really is too strong to understand human weakness. Using blackmail and scare tactics to keep her sinful husband in line somehow doesn't make her quite so repulsive as you would expect. She really is like a majestic and queenly figure. At the same time, watch the way she treats her assistant, Mary Ann. This is a very pretty, shy young girl Tommy seduced and ruined. It would be so easy for Edna to make the young girl's life miserable, screeching at her and picking at her for giving in to her sinful desires. But if you watch closely, it becomes obvious that Edna looks after Mary Ann just like a mother. The two of them are devoted to each other. And when Tommy makes his fateful decision, you really feel for all three people -- trapped in an American tragedy of greed, guilt, and spiritual ambition gone wrong.

Even as a ten year old boy, I was hypnotized by this story. It struck me as being far above the usual television drama. And now, thirty years later, having gone to school and read books like ABSALOM, ABSALOM and An American Tragedy, my opinion of this very special COLUMBO episode is even higher. This is not only great television, it is truly a work of art!

When Academy Award nominee Joaquim Phoenix was researching Johnny Cash, he mentioned this Columbo episode in particular. Johnny Cash plays a man who is very similar in some respects to his real personality. They're both musicians and singers but that's it. Johnny's character is a recovering criminal who married Ida Lupino's character who is overly zealous about God and religion. When her character learns of her husband's straying with younger girls, he decides to off them on the plane but survives. Anyway, I love watching Johnny Cash and Peter Falk together. I love the scene where Columbo researches parachutes and goes into the sewing room where the woman thinks she is losing her mind. Anyway, I remember that scene in particular as he tries to figure out how he did it. In the end, it's just worth watching. It's for Johnny Cash fans especially. He would have been a wonderful actor as well as singer.

Johnny Cash's limited acting ability is remarkably offset by his semi-autobiographical portrayal of a gospel crusader who wishes to use half of the concert earnings to finance his lavishly reckless lifestyle, rather than plough all of the monies into building an ornate tabernacle. His blackmailing wife and one very young concert group member are killed off so that his reputation remains unblemished and his lifestyle can be maintained.

Everything you would want in a Columbo story is in evidence here: a refreshingly original, well-thought-out plot with an ingeniously conceived "murder" scenario; a very tightly structured script with each scene leading on nicely from the last; circumstantial clues which are clever and instinctively-developed; an abundance of well-crafted scenes between a typically persistent Columbo and a relatively self-assured murderer which have a progressive intensity about them; and well-timed injections of humour.

A crackerjack Columbo episode, that is all the better for making it look like the murderer has won(nb: the marvelous airport scene); and for not being sentimental when Columbo pities the murderer. Almost flawless in its conception and execution, this must be one of the top-three Columbo episodes.