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.

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.

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!

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 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