Last Salute to the Commodore

The Columbo formula was thrown out the window here. Unfortunately, so was the pacing. The result is one of the most boring entries of the series -- complete with a Columbo who seems to be making fun of himself half of the time. At the end, since Columbo didn't seem to care that much about catching the killer, I lost interest too.

About 20 years ago a study came out suggesting that patients about to have surgery should be warned that they would be experiencing pain afterwards. This led to better pain management than when patients were reassured that the pain wasn't going to be that bad. I don't know if those results were ever replicated, but I think the findings of this study are relevant more broadly. For instance, I have been warned by numerous reviews on imdb and elsewhere, that "Last Salute to the Commodore" is one of the worst, possibly the worst episode of Colombo ever. So I went into watching it with extremely low expectations and therefore ended up mildly enjoying it. I agree it's weird, and some of the scenes are just plain annoying, such as the one in the boat yard when Colombo starts screaming and everybody's screaming to be heard over the industrial noises in the background. That seemed gratuitously irritating, but other odd scenes were amusingly absurd. It almost seemed like Robert Vaughn's character had been written for Patrick McGoohan. Was the original plan to have McGoohan both act and direct? For instance Robert Vaughn said something like "I like my findings preliminary," and when asked "Smoke?" answered, "Erratically." That sort of quirkiness seemed out of character for a character played by Robert Vaughn.

I enjoyed having young Mac on board and getting to see Bruce Kirby's character play a bigger role than usual. This episode broke from the formula in that we didn't see the murder committed, so we got a little bit of a plot twist. I found the educational bits about sailing mildly interesting. I like that Colombo typically teaches you something about some kind of subculture or area of endeavor in each episode. I thought the absurd and goofy tone was okay for one episode and it seemed that this might have been a significant episode in some way. I wonder if there had been a plan to end the series with this one. I think I read somewhere that McGoohan had been asked to take over for Peter Falk in the season following this one and refused. If there was some dissatisfaction among the creatives involved, could the bizarreness of the episode have been a little bit of "up yours" to the powers that be? The final scene with Colombo rowing the boat into the horizon with a melancholy rendition of "This old man" playing made me think it was perhaps a last salute to Colombo... but fortunately no.

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 1976 episode ignorantly dispenses with the basic Columbo formula in it's thought, style and execution. with a distinct aura of parody smothering it's dialogue and characterisation.

Whether it was felt by the regular members of the Columbo crew that it was time to try something different, or whether things were ad-libbed around a basic storyline I don't know. Suffice to say, that after an interestingly constructed opening with an off-screen murder, the remaining part of the first half of this episode rambles desperately, with characters seemingly unable to keep a straight face, yawn-inducing discussions on boats and parts of boats, and some irritating repetition of secondary characters introducing themselves to each other etc.

It's almost like somebody decided to tighten things up in the second half, with a wonderfully inserted twist relating to the prime murder suspect and a script, which becomes increasingly rich in interesting clues, that facilitate an decent Agatha Christie-like resolution. Despite this significant improvement, the sealing clue is woefully inadequate and thus the glaring mediocrity that haunts so much of the early part of this episode returns at a very crucial time.

Slipshod in overall execution, the script could have been significantly tightened and sharpened to render a Columbo episode that, whilst deviating from the typical approach, would have proved to be a relatively entertaining story.

From a historical point of view, it seems that Peter Falk had intended, prior to the production of this episode, to make this his final outing as Columbo. If this is true, he appears to have changed his mind by the story's finale: his remarks to his colleague about "not quitting" - which in the context of the story, refer to Columbo's smoking habit - may have been a subtle reference to his desire to carry on a little longer.

Sadly, this episode does mark Falk's departure from the portrayal of some of his character's appealingly deceptive traits - the seeming absent-mindedness and dim-wittedness of the Columbo character has been replaced with an unsatisfying and pronounced arrogance. Unfortunately, this would take the gloss of the remaining episodes in the original series, some of which are very good.

Painfully uncertainly paced and padded in places, significant tolerance will need to be shown by most viewers to get them safely through to the second half. Ironically, this addition to the series could provoke more discussion than any other, in light of its very curious approach.

I thought I'd already did a review but I hadn't and no there's not much to add to what most everyone else had on here. But seriously what was Peter Falk thinking taking weird cues from his friend McGoohan? Or was he really drunk? If it wasn't for all the bizarre uncharacteristic things Columbo does in this episode this would be a great story and mystery that's why I mark it at 5 instead of 1 etc like some have. Those uncharacteristic things being letting someone else drive his car(and having the roof down), putting his arm around everyone, almost picking up a young hippy and being on the waters and boats without his usual problem with that. Also a pity that this is the episode with Dennis Duggan which is actually the highlight of it. Along with the likes of Wilfred Hyde White.

Basically because of the bad bizarre scenes in this you give up caring halfway through about anything going on.

I pray and hope this isn't the first episode someone who's never seen decides to watch. Nothing more to say except I wish they re did the whole episode again and properly.