Swan Song

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.

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.

In one of his rare opportunities to show his acting talent, Johnny Cash plays a gospel artist that has to deal with his shrewish wife (Ida Lupino) and his proclivities for dalliances with somewhat younger women. When his wife threatens to expose his infidelities and continues to hold tight to the purse strings, Cash has no option but to plot murder...and a dandy one it is.

The two-hour episode allows Cash to do what he does well: sing. However, he gets to stretch his thespian legs as he matches wits with the clever detective.

In addition to a bravura performance from Cash, veteran character actor John Randolph has a brief but memorable part as a gung ho and slightly deaf military man.

This episode is, most definitely, in the Top 10 of all Columbo episodes.

While not one of my favourite episodes, it is one of the more interesting ones for me. It is strikingly filmed, with a score that is atmospheric, clever dialogue and a compelling story that benefits from one of the most ingenious murder scenes of any Columbo episode. It has some great songs, footage of Cash's in concert and Cash himself in tremendous voice. I liked the comic scenes, the undertaker scene was priceless, and the ending was overall satisfying. Peter Falk once again embodies the character of Columbo, and I think Johnny Cash deserves credit for trying his best in a large and complex role. He may be inexperienced, but there are a number of scenes especially in the fantastic rapport between him and Columbo where he is at ease. John Randolph's small part is as juicy as the juiciest orange. The episode is a little slow moving at times with a couple of scenes that felt padded and although the murder was ingenious the scene was almost cheapened by special effects that are pretty lame even for the 70s. Overall though, it is a very good episode and an interesting one too. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Johnny Cash puts on a good acting performance in this show where he is an ex-con evangelist singer who is being blackmailed for his services to build an expensive chapel. The bad person is a woman who has also railroaded him into a sham of a marriage and keeps him under her thumb by threatening to expose him and an affair he had in some hotel rooms with her underage daughter.

He sets up a plane crash where he drugs the wife & daughter, parachutes out of the plane and breaks his leg on landing. Then he puts himself near the plane for the rescuers to find while he claims it is all a horrible accident.

Columbo (Falk) proves himself to be a pretty agile investigator of the crash impressing the folks who are from the FAA in charge of investigating the crash. His dogged pursuit of the truth is much in evidence here. The entertainment in any Columbo is watching him annoy a person into confession and in this case, an evangelist confessing is good for the soul.