Last Salute to the Commodore

I do say this with a heavy heart, because I have been a fan of Columbo for a long time. Last Salute to the Commodore had the ingredients for a good episode, starting with the fact that Patrick McGoohan who is a fine actor and capable director directed it.

Last Salute to the Commodore does have its good points. The photography, costumes and locations are striking, Columbo humming the unofficial theme song was a treat and Diane Baker while slightly overdoing it at times is at least enjoyable. And McGoohan's direction at least gives the episode some style.

However, as others have said, Last Salute to the Commodore departs from the usual formula, the audience here don't know who the murderer is until the last fifteen minutes or so and the prime suspect bites the dust. Initially I had no problem with that, though that decision kind of subtracted from the fun due to the lack of any memorable scenes and dialogue from Columbo and the culprit. That said, apart from me being okay with the change initially and the change with the prime suspect is interesting and does work, the change concerning the murderer not being revealed until the last fifteen or so minutes is a change that doesn't work. There are far too many drawn out scenes, the whole story takes far too long to get going while the final solution was both disappointing and uninteresting.

The idea of the story was good, it's just that on screen the whole plot is uninteresting and lacking any spark on the whole, and it's not just the drawn out scenes and the disappointing conclusion. The pace really spoils it, I usually don't mind slow-paced films and TV episodes but when the plot and writing are not that good I found it a chore to watch to be honest. The writing was poor mostly, it lacked the wit and sparkle a Columbo episode usually does, it lacked intelligence and some of it felt as though the actors felt uncomfortable delivering it. Mind you, it did have some moments of infectious humour, the sailing jokes were quite fun, but it wasn't enough. Also maybe I am not right, but did anyone else feel the episode was too long, an hour-and-three-quarters instead of about eighty minutes?

Baker aside, the acting is not so good. There have been a few disappointing Columbo entries(Dead Weight, Murder with Too Many Notes, one with William Shatner) but they do have some decent scenes or a good cast to elevate. Here, Peter Falk isn't bad as such, but the way Columbo is written shocked me in a bad way. Here Columbo seems to be going to caricature and the constant sending-up of himself got tired fast unfortunately. The usually good Robert Vaughn seems bored and disconnected too, while Joshua Bryant overdoes it dreadfully. Even the music was a disappointment, here it is often obtrusive and took me out of the setting.

Overall, I love Columbo but this didn't work. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This episode was weird. If you've watched any other episodes you can see that Peter Falk is clearly drunk, stoned and sleep deprived in several scenes. This episode stars Robert Vaughn and is directed by Patrick McGoohan, both British drinkers of renown. I can only assume there was a lot of fun on the set and they decided to run some scenes inebriated.

An offbeat (literally) episode from the original run, in which Falk and director Patrick McGoohan tried a different angle on the familiar formula. The result is a rather fey, whimsical Lieutenant - all smirks and knowing winks - on a case that twists alarmingly before he can nail the suspect. Guaranteed to either enchant...or send viewers screaming from the room.

I'm a big fan of Peter Falk and his Columbo series - any showing is a must-see for me even where I have already viewed them a dozen times before since they aren't who-dunnits and Falk always gives a performance worth watching. Sad to say I think this is one of the two or three very disappointing episodes. Falk plays Columbo at half-speed, his two side-kicks are one (most would say two) too many, Vaughan has nothing to do and so ends up doing nothing, but most of all the pace of the first hour of the movie is far too slow.

So what went wrong. I suspect here we have a director trying for a twist on the Columbo formula - which is OK, it made sense to throw an off-speed delivery occasionally - and also experimenting with 'improvisation' by the actors. As we all know that sometimes comes off and sometimes crashes and burns horribly. In this case sadly the latter. The little quirky scenes in Columbo movies are a delight - but here almost the whole movie is made up of such scenes and so the plot gets horribly lost.

It should come as no surprise to fans of the Columbo genre that the director was Patrick McGoohan. A brave experimental director and actor - and here in 1976 given the opportunity to try something out. Sadly it doesn't work. However, given his fine performances in 4 other Columbo movies - and his fine direction in four other than this -I'm still a fan!

I love the Columbo series, have seen at least 80 percent of the show's episodes, and hope to eventually see them all. So far, this one is by far the worst. What makes it so disappointing is that it has a wonderful supporting cast: John Dehner, Diane Baker, Robert Vaughn, Wilfrid Hyde-White, and Dennis Dugan, among others. But what a waste of talent. And what terrible pacing and staging. Patrick McGoohan is a fine actor, and his performances as the murderer in this series are outstanding. But his directing in this episode is simply awful. If you're a Columbo fan, skip this one. If you're not a Columbo fan, all the more reason to skip it as well!