Let's watch Columbo: Murder By The Book!
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- Episode synopsis: (via IMDb) When one member of a mystery writing team wants to break from his less talented partner, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery.
Guest Stars: Jack Cassidy, Rosemary Forsyth, Martin Milner, and Barbara Colby.
This week we're watching the first episode of Season 1 of Columbo, Murder by The Book! This episode was directed by the incredible Steven Spielberg at just 24 years old. There is some mighty camera direction I adore in this episode. The angles, the long tracking shots, all of them are *chefs kiss*.
Shorter reaction video this week - I had to fight to get this video uploaded, which means I had to add some cuts throughout this reaction along with cutting some scenes I would've liked to have left in :(. In addition, I was having the biggest off day when I recorded this, so it was an experience for me all around I guess, haha.
What do you think of Murder By The Book?
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Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
5:00 - Reaction
28:21 - Thoughts/Shooting Columbo
#Columbo #PeterFalk #ReactionVideos #1970s #1970stelevision
Between Jack Cassidy, Robert Culp, and Patrick McGoohan, they all had frequent re-appearances on Columbo as different killers throughout the series. Which one of these actors did you enjoy see coming back to the show the most? I'm not sure that I can decide! 🤔
Patrick McGoohan ! He is a very unique guy.
Robert Culp is my personal favorite, but they're all so good
[LONG COMMENT HERE; MADE SURE NOT TO INCLUDE ANY SPOILERS HERE]
It's a tough choice for me; I thought Jack Cassidy and Robert Culp both had really great first episodes, then their second ones I thought were just "meh", and their last ones were good. Well, technically, Robert Culp did get a couple more appearances in Columbo stuff, he was the murderer in the Mrs. Columbo pilot episode, "Word Games", and he was in the 1990 episode, "Columbo Goes to College", but not as the killer.
As for Patrick McGoohan, what I've seen of him [I've only seen the 70's episodes as of today [Minus the last 2 from 1978, but I plan on watching those very soon]], he is certainly a... unique fellow; not really sure what to make of him. I really liked his debut episode, "At Dawn's Early Light", the one where Columbo stays at a military camp to investigate a murder there, but the other episodes [where he was involved as director], like "Identity Crisis" [which he starred and directed], and "Last Salute to the Commodore" [which he just directed], I wasn't too crazy about, ESPECIALLY "Commodore". Identity Crisis has the problem of having an overcomplicated, bloated, hard-to-follow plot [at least to me], and "Commodore" had the problem of being BORING AS HELL; hopefully I like McGoohan's stuff in the 90's series better [I've heard he did some stuff in the revival, even played the murderer a few times in it].
Robert Culp.
Culp because he was great in 2 of my top 5 columbo favs. "Double exposure" and "the most crucial game".
Columbo: "I was just in the neighborhood..." Jack Cassidy: "You're always in the neighborhood...." lmao.
When Spielberg was looking for scripts of movies to direct, he was handed the script for "Duel". Which was going to be the ABC movie of the week in 1971. When he was trying to get the job, he showed the studio the rough cut of this episode. Which hadn't even aired yet. They were so impressed, he was given the job to direct "Duel", his first movie.
One of things I love about this episode is that delicious opening shot, and how it sets up the two writers and their relationship in the first second: we see the Rolls Royce driving down the street, driven by the murderer, and we hear the clackity-clack of the typewriter as the victim writes.
So, right away we know one of these guys does all the work, and the other spends all the money. Brilliant! Spielberg just thinks in pure movie language, even when he was a young'un here.
You have many comments for under 300 views. This infers that the people who discover you are happy with your product. Be encouraged to continue. I think people in their late 30s and 40s appreciate quality classic tv with new life breathed into it. This is a good yt niche to fill.
I'm only 22 and I enjoy it
FUN FACT: While Cassidy & Culp tied each other in Columbo Murderer appearances , the title holder for most Murderer appearances on Columbo is held by Patrick McGoohan. ❤
The first clever murder _actually being_ Ken's idea but being the last good plot idea he ever had is so funny since that was the thing that clinched it for Columbo.
Please do a video on "PLAYBACK"? I love the ending when Columbo is observing the 2 tapes in front of the murderer.
Columbo: You still don't recognize it ?
Harold: No
Columbo: Well then let's make it very close.
Elizabeth: Harold...that's your invitation to the art gallery.
Columbo: That's what it is you can even see your name written on it. It's your invitation. I went back and got this from the Grand Galleries.....This? Is this. This is what you presented at the art show the night of the murder. The problem is it was on the desk immediately after the shooting. How did it get to the art gallery? By your own testimony you took it there. But in order to get it off the desk you had to practically step over the body. That woman was shot before you left the house...and you shot her 😮
"This is insane..."
Ok. I just found your channel and you're watching my fav crime show ever. So many great ones to get to.
It's funny that Columbo was created by a mystery writing team (Levinson and Link once said that they wrote in the same room together and that every word was from both of them) and is about a mystery writing team where one of them does all the work (as I write this, you comment, so this is my looking up Lee Grant as her name appears on the screen moment).
So sad and ironic that the very fine and popular character actress Barbara Colby (1939-1975) was actually murdered just a few years later, gunned down for no apparent reason in a parking lot.
Particularly sad that it happened just as her career was starting to take off with landing a role on the Mary Tyler Moore spin-off Phyllis
Ken needs to tell Mrs La Sanka what the bad guy told Fletch: "I was already prepared to commit one murder, what makes you think I won't commit two?"
I love this episode, one of my favorites.
An otherwise strong episode, but perhaps Columbo's weakest arrest. There was no real smoking gun. If the guy had not confessed with the "I had you going there for a while", I am not sure if this one would have got a conviction.
thanks for watching my favourite show of all time . cool analysis
If you look carefully in the background of some other episodes you can see some Mrs. Melville books in the background
Im really enjoying your reactions. Ive been watching and enjoying Columbo since I was a kid. Even his autobiography was great.
I also wanted to point out i love your little pauses with the tune to avoid copyright issues. It reminds me of monty pythons. Lol
Btw, great laugh!
This is one of my favorite Columbo episodes, alongside:
"Death Lends a Hand",
"Dead Weight",
"Lady in Waiting",
"Short Fuse",
"Etude in Black",
"Dagger of the Mind" [I know a lot of people don't like that one because of the corny acting by the Shakespeare actors, but I actually like it for that very same reason, being in some theatre classes in College myself],
"The Most Dangerous Match", "Any Old Port in a Storm", "Candidate for Crime",
"Swan Song",
"An Exercise in Fatality", "Negative Reaction",
"By Dawn's Early Light",
"A Deadly State of Mind", "Forgotten Lady",
"A Matter of Honor",
"Now You See Him",
"The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case",
and "Make Me a Perfect Murder"
Well... that was a lot more favorites than I thought I was gonna comment. Guess that goes to show you how good this show is lol
Some of the other episodes I think are either meh [like Publish or Perish, Mind over Mayhem, Playback, Greenhouse Jungle, The Most Crucial Game, and Troubled Waters], or just flat-out terrible [like Identity Crisis, Last Salute to the Commodore, Fade in to Murder, and Old-Fashioned Murder]
Yeah, in case you couldn't tell, I think 1976 was a bad year for Columbo considering 3 of those 4 episodes all came out that year XD
Great points about the shots and staging. I'm one who focuses on the dialogue and actors. And I agree, excellent script by Steven Bochco. I think he either wrote or did the story for other Columbo episodes before going on to create and produce his own shows. Oh and if you like young Spielberg's direction here, check out the TV movie Duel. A true classic.
I'm watching you from Russia with automatic translation, and I liked it from the very first video. Continue and I hope subscribers will be added to you
Definitely in my Columbo Top 10. Really tough call on who played the best villain, Jack Cassidy or Robert Culp. Both were fantastic and each starred in 3 episodes. Even though my All-time favorite episode is 'A Friend In Deed' with Richard Kiley who IMO should have been in a second episode..
happy to see young gen watching a great old show
Murder by the Book is one of my favorite episodes of the series and one of the best of the shows run.
Actually this is an amusing reaction video. Love the use of yellow colored titles here and muzak.
Funny reaction video.
Most people your age who discover "Columbo" wind up becoming fascinated by the 70's fashions. I can't wait to see your reaction to some of the more outrageous examples. I was actually around back then, it's the decade when taste took a vacation.
Bell bottom jeans had to be on top of the list.
The house was use in one other Columbo episode, The Most Crucial Game. It was used in quite a few 70's detective shows.
Columbo is one of my favorite TV characters of all time, and this was a great reaction, enjoyed the facts at the end!
Thank you so much! Appreciate you checking out my channel!
Correction: Jack Cassidy only played the murderer in Columbo 2 more times after this: "Publish or Perish" in 1974, and "Now You See Him" in 1976
It feels like he played a million killers on the show! But he’s great, so I’m not complaining. :)
@@meltyenjoysNot gonna lie tho; the murderer in the 1978 episode, "How to Dial a Murder" hella looks like Jack Cassidy [even if he doesn't sound like him]
In case you're wondering why Jack Cassidy didn't come back to Columbo after 1976, it's because he literally couldn't; shortly after "Now You See Him" came out, Cassidy was relaxing in his home, dropped some cigar ashes on the floor, and his house got engulfed in flames and he died there. I dunno if I told you this or not, but that's why he didn't come back; he couldn't come back, he was dead. And the way he died really sucked, too. Really terrible end for a great actor like that.
@@WillCWilson Barbara Colby who played Lilly died in 1975 when she was 36. She and her boyfriend were walking to their car in a parking garage when they were both shot. The case remains unsolved.
Life imitating art?? 😔
@@bonghunezhou5051 “Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected to take place , and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and bizarre," The blue Carbuncle by Arthur Conan Doyle.
"Whimsical little incident" isn't really appropriate here but otherwise I think it applies.
The episode was written by Steven Bochco, who went on to great success co-creatng HILL STREET BLUES and LA LAW. Levinson and Link hired Bochco as head writer for the series despite the fact that he had never written a mystery.
Waiting for the next episode… patiently
Great video. Keep them coming
I don't know if it's unethical to mention another channel with similar content. 'Watch it for days' is my favorite channel. She has her own take, full of fun facts and anecdotes from each episode. Your take is a little more improvised and unscripted. Which I also love. No better nor worse. I love you both equally. I'm excited I found your channel today.
First of all... I love anyone who loves Columbo. Along with MASH and The West Wing - my favorite TV shows ever. I enjoy your perspective and immediate reactions as you watch. I also very much enjoy "Watch it for Days" as her background research on each episode is unbelievable. If I could make one suggestion... it would be easier to watch and follow if you inverted the screens so that the large one was the episode and the smaller one was of you and your reaction. Maybe you aren't allowed to do that that?
@@atlantistdc1976 Inverted screen, yes, that would be better..
Watch it for Days is good for her info dumps about episode trivia and synopses... but she is dry as a desert, and chafes under the pressure of the three comments each video asking her to put a little more effort into her presentation style, namely pronunciations or to give a little more energy when recording... or to stop relying SO MUCH on Columbophile's blog for her sense of taste.
But otherwise, WIFD is a really good channel for all the who's who and how or why of Columbo: well researched, well organized, just the presentation can be grating to some viewers/listeners (which I am sure will improve in time as she continues through her creative journey).
I respectfully disagree. I actually like and appreciate her deliberate pacing, relatively monotone delivery. She stays low and let's the rich content of her research do the talking. (Somewhat like Columbo??)@@shelbyherring92
Columbo reactions??? SWEET! I’m in
😄!
I don't think we're meant to think that only one of Levinson and Link did all the writing, of course. It would be interesting for you to react to some of the TV movies they wrote.
Jack Cassidy was singer David Cassidy's father. At the same time he was guesting on this Columbo , David was a gigantic singing heartthrob on the sitcom "The Partridge Family" [1970 thru 1974]. Shirley Jones, famous actress /singer, played his mom and was married to Jack Cassidy, thus being David's stepmom [there were 4 other kids in the sitcom about a family band]. In the early morning of December 12, 1976, Cassidy lit a cigarette and fell asleep on his Naugahyde couch. Asleep, he dropped the cigarette, igniting the couch. The flames spread throughout the apartment and building. At 6:15 a.m., the blaze was discovered by Deputy Sheriff John DiMatteo, who evacuated the building, and entered Cassidy's apartment. A body was found near the front door of the apartment among the ashes, and was identified as Cassidy's by dental records and a signet ring that he wore.
Spielberg directed this episode. Has several traits characteristic of his work.
Didn't know they made coffee pots with straws😊
This was always my favorite Columbo Episode. I really enjoyed watching this. :) You should check out Spielbergs derectorial debut, and watch the Pilot for Rod Sterling's Night Gallery. It's the second segment called "Eyes". Its amazing and Murder by the book really reminded me of it. I really hope you do an episode for the whole 3 segments of the Night Gallery pilot. It's so good and would suit your channel nicely. :)
Trivia, Marcia Wallace is in the credits for this episode though she wasn't actually in this episode. She was in Lady in Waiting but was uncredited in that episode
Completely agree with your view on the character (from your caption). It's my favourite thing about him too.
Before it was a stage play PRESCRIPTION:"MURDER was a live television play starring Bert Freed as Columbo.
The witness/victim was played by Barbara Colby. To this day, her murder remains unsolved.
I really hope you keep doing these videos! Maybe I'm looking too far into it, but you released three in quick succession and then left it a little bit. Hope I'm looking too far into it and these are still coming. I really enjoy your insight!
Martin Millner, (the victim in this episode) played as Officer Pete Malloy on Adam 12 for 8 years from 1967-75.
These are wonderful. If youcan, you have to watch the pilot. Its before the first one, and he's not really in character yet, but its quite good. Eta- you did watch it 😊
The best part of the episode is when Miss La Sanka got whacked. The screen went blank and horror is implied in the mind of the viewer.
He's super empathic with people, so when the murderer comes around it's immediately obvious to Colombo this is the guy that did it. There's no true empathy from the murderer to the victim. Colombo zeros in on that and says all right how is this guy guilty?
Columbo might end up suspecting me because I'm weird like that too. I mean, I'd probably check my mail after calling the cops when finding a dead body on my front lawn or would drive back home, since I was within the same state and wouldn't wanna leave my car behind. But maybe that's just me. It's like how my dad asks me when I came back from a high school party why I was brushing my teeth and I said I always did before going to sleep at night, which I do. He probably thought I was trying to mask some kind of odor, but I don't drink, so I don't know why he would've been suspicious lol.
Kind of like when I get pulled over and I just naturally get nervous around police. They must read it on my face because they usually tell me to be calm.
Jack Cassidy is great at playing narcissist jerks: he's smarmy, witty, catty, and has just enough charm to be believable.
BTW: Kinda- Robert Culp and Patrick McGoohan appeared on Columbo four times as an antagonist... Although Culp's fourth appearance was more of an secondary antagonist as the father of the killer, but still. Cassidy only had three appearances before his untimely death. Oh, and Shatner appeared twice as the killer. But I loved each of them were brilliant and hammy in their open way: Culp often was the intellectual type, McGoohan was always the adversarial banterer (except for his first appearance), Cassidy was the hot head trying to play it cool, and Shatner was just a ham and cheese sandwich.
George Hamilton too appeared twice as culprit - spanning both "classic"/NBC and revival/ABC eras.
i'm watching murder by the book on tv now, i only just found out that barbra colby who played lily that owned the little store was murdered 4 years after this episode. damn, that's made me sad.
They should have had put Columbo on the case, her murder remains unsolved.
Yes; Jack Cassidy is the sleaziest killer in the Columbo series. Just dripping with slime. There are some other really gross guys, but it is like Cassidy doesn't even have to work at it.
Speaking of Patrick McGoohan, I suggest you give "The Prisoner" a try. It's a unique tv show.
Unfortunately, the actress who played Mrs. DeSanka was murdered in real life.
Spielberg was the director
❤
A lot of Columbo characters were likeable. But the this guy is despicable!
How do you think you're going to have a romance with someone you're blackmailing?
i haven't seen much of this show but i have reasearched it this is more of a subjective complaint but for me im not a big fan of cat and mouse game at least not all the time i watch crime shows for the mystery aspect and this show doesn't do that and also i wonder if the extra time is too much i think 42 minutes sounds more right if your going to do the game of cat and mouse with the culprit and columbo not like an hour and 20 minutes or so i've never been a huge fan of the show for that reason but i might be bias acting up its just my opinion
I've watched all the Columbo's and to each his own, but I've never found Jack Cassidy to be a very good or even interesting villain.