| Columbo - Mystery Movie Collection, 1989 |  | Directors: James Frawley, Leo Penn, Sam Wanamaker
Actors: Peter Falk, Anthony Andrews, Karen Austin, James Greene, Alan Fudge
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $26.98
Buy New: $16.49
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Seller: inetvideo
Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 3,810
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Published)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 3
Running Time: 466 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.7
MPN: D61033272D
UPC: 025193327222
EAN: 0025193327222
ASIN: B000MV9OMM
Theatrical Release Date: February 27, 1989
Release Date: April 24, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
After a 10-year break from the role that made him a TV superstar, Peter Falk returned as rumpled LAPD homicide detective Lt. Columbo in 1989, appearing in feature-length episodes of The ABC Mystery Movie. The first five of those TV movies are collected here as the Mystery Movie Collection 1989 comprising what is essentially the long-delayed "eighth season" (and part of the ninth) of Columbo, the popular series that made its debut on NBC in 1971. Now signed to ABC with a lucrative new contract, Falk returned to his iconic role as if he'd never left, still wearing the same worn-out overcoat, still driving the same old 1959 Peugeot rust-bucket (with his lazy Bassett Hound "Dog" in the passenger seat), still making frequent references to the never-seen "Mrs. Columbo," and still annoying nervous murder suspects with his politely cunning approach to solving homicides in Los Angeles. As created by TV mystery masters Richard Levinson and William Link, the Columbo series was nothing if not formulaic, but the fun of watching these 93-minute TV movies comes from seeing how that formula still works like a charm: The first half-hour shows how the killers commit and conceal their crimes (Columbo is a police procedural, not a whodunit), and the remaining hour shows Columbo grilling his suspects, slowly turning up the heat until the killer's goose is summarily cooked. With his trademark line "Just one more thing...," Falk fits his role like an old shoe, and the show's writers played on the character's beloved status by milking humor from Columbo's well-established mannerisms, such as leaving the room after gently probing suspects for telling clues, then returning (after a pregnant pause) to deliver "one more thing "--his crime-solving coup de grace (aptly referred to by Rockford Files creator Stephen J. Cannell as Columbo's trademark "dart to the heart.") The Mystery Movie Collection emphasizes a colorfully Southern Californian element of crime and eccentricity, from the beheading of a magician in "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" (with Anthony Andrews hamming it up as the killer) to the malicious misdeeds of "Murder, Smoke and Shadows," in which Spielbergian movie-mogul wunderkind (Fisher Stevens) stages an electrocution murder on the backlot of Universal Studios. "Sex and the Married Detective" is a lightly comedic film noir send-up, in which a sex therapy radio-host (Lindsay Crouse) invents a sexy alter ego to eliminate her cheating lover. In "Grand Deceptions," Robert Foxworth's misdeeds on a military training base aren't clever enough to fool Columbo, and in "Murder: A Self Portrait," Patrick Bachau plays a selfish lothario with three lovers (wife, ex-wife, and girlfriend) who decides that three's a crowd and his ex (Fionnula Flanagan) has got to go! Clever enough to hold anyone's attention, these murders are smartly conceived and entertainingly solved, and the performances and direction are uniformly strong. But the obvious appeal of Columbo is Columbo himself, and with Falk in the role he was born to play (even though it was originally offered to Bing Crosby!), the character remained so popular that he appeared in 19 more TV movies between 1990 and 2003. The Mystery Movie Collection includes one DVD bonus feature: a 30-minute tribute to "America's Top Sleuths," as chosen in a 2007 online survey by viewers of the newly-launched Sleuth TV network. Columbo ranks #2 (out of 10), a close runner-up to Tom Selleck's Magnum P.I. --Jeff Shannon
Product Description
Legendary actor Peter Falk returns in his 4-time Primetime Emmy® award-winning role as everyone s favorite trenchcoat-wearing Police Lieutenant in Columbo: Mystery Movie Collection 1989! Join Columbo in this three-disc set as he asks all the right questions in some of the most deceptive and deadly cases. The captivating movies feature such brilliant guest stars as Fisher Stevens (Factotum) and Lindsay Crouse (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) among others! The landmark crime series that inspired a genre is back and no murderer can hide for long with Columbo on the beat!System Requirements:Runtime: 466 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 025193327222 Manufacturer No: 61033272
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
 Columbo's 1989 return: Lacks a worthy adversary . . . January 6, 2010
trebe
After an eleven year hiatus, Columbo returned to television in 1989, with a series of two hour movies. Four were aired in the spring, and one in the fall of that year. As part of NBC's Mystery Movie, the series had originally run from 1971 through 1978, with Peter Faulk, as the iconoclastic LAPD homicide detective. Besides reprising his signature role as the disheveled detective with a brilliant mind, Faulk also serves as co-executive producer. The new exploits are very solid efforts, and make for interesting viewing, particularly for fans of Columbo, but they do not come close to matching the brilliance of the series at its peak.
One of the great things about the original series, was Columbo matching wits with a devious criminal adversary, who was deliberately trying to outsmart him. Episodes with well known, quality actors, like Robert Culp, Robert Conrad, and Jack Cassidy, come to mind, as some prime examples. This antagonistic, confrontational element, is largely missing in the 1989 mysteries. No disrespect to the fine actors featured in these movies, but these mysteries do not feature guest stars with the same kind of gravitas as in the past.
In some of the original episodes, the decisive proof or evidence, that Columbo used to make his case, was sometimes rather tenuous, or not particularly rock solid. In these new cases, the leads that Columbo follows may be obscure, but the proof is typically more definitive, with less wiggle room. We expect Columbo to be an irritating pest, and he is, but he seldom appears to be fool. Most of the audience is aware that the Lieutenant is a genius, so the writers don't try too hard to make us believe he's a moron. The movies are longer, and more time is devoted to the lead in and commission of the crime, and it takes a while before Columbo makes his appearance. The Lieutenant appears not to have learned much about forensics in the intervening years, still disturbing the crime scene. Basics like taking photos, is not yet part of his standard protocol. In keeping up with the times, there is a little more spice, as sex is a major component in Sex and the Married Detective. It is a nice change of pace to see the Lieutenant demure, when broaching the subject with a sex therapist he suspects of murder.
What does remain a part of Columbo's modus operandi is a flair for the dramatic (no matter how unlikely), and a tendency to grandstand. In one episode a psychic test is recreated, at great time and expense, to help trap a killer. In another episode Columbo gathers the players in a deception, and sets the stage, complete with spotlight, just so they can parade in front of the killer. These kind of stunts may endear him to fans, as they make Columbo look like a genius, and feed the Lieutenant's huge ego. Like most television, Columbo does not reflect reality, it is entertainment that romanticizes the pursuit of crime. The plots are typically way out there, like using an electrified metal fence to kill, and a murdered woman's dreams as clues. As entertainment, there can be a fine line between brilliance, and the ridiculous. Opinions will vary, but the writing here probably falls about equally on both sides of that line. For any other program, the writing might be very good, but for Columbo it seems to fall short of the mark.
Columbo's best cases were arguably those where he was up against a self-confident deliberate murdered, who usually looked down on him as an inferior, incompetent, irritating buffoon. Columbo's return is a welcome one, but none of the 1989 movies has that kind of edginess. The mysteries, while quite creative, lack some of the emotional fire present in the past. Fans may not want to pass it up, but this set is probably not representative of Columbo's best casework.
 The Great Detective! November 8, 2009
Arta Marta Kski (Los Angeles, CA)
Will there ever be another Columbo? I don't think so. This mystery movie collection is done as well as any other of the Columbo episodes and seasons. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to add this classic collection to their DVD collection. I never get tired of watching the episodes over on a regular basis.
item arrived in fine shape October 16, 2009
M. Bernasek (Lincoln, Nebraska United States)
it took about two weeks to arrive but I chose the cheapest form of shipping
 Columbo: the Parodies--Plus One August 5, 2009
Carolyn Paetow (Proctorville, OH United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The original Columbo series was about a brilliant detective with amazing powers of intuition and deductive reasoning. He exaggerated his unpolished demeanor in order to bamboozle arrogant suspects and place rattled witnesses at ease. His sloppy attire and beaten-up old auto put overconfident murderers off guard. More than one character thought he was undercover. And, in a way, he was.
In these 1989 episodes (excepting Grand Deception with Robert Foxworth) he comes off as more of a buffoon than a savvy pretender. In the 70's series, he methodically went about his work, needling and wheedling, at times employing rhetorical roughness, occasionally losing his finely tuned temper. In most of the programs in this set, however, it's as though the writers have taken his fake veneer and presented it as the real Columbo. He pointlessly plays the tuba and marches with a group of children. He runs slapstickishly through an office building, overturning trash cans, yelling at a cleaning lady who obviously understands no English and bellows back at him in Russian. He stages theatrical stunts to deliver the coup de grace to arrestees. Much of these antics were probably plot devices to beat in time for these movie-length special episodes, but their inclusion cheapens the Columbo character and causes pathetic digressions in the storyline. In fact, watching Columbo act like a clown for no good reason can be downright disconcerting!
The original series had star-quality actors and snappy pacing. After the initiation of the crime, the emphasis was on Columbo. In this set, he's often like a bumbling old hobo who stumbles into the action and almost accidentally solves the murders. Some of the villains make such stupid blunders that the original Columbo could have nailed them halfway through the programs--which he of course would have had the episodes been made to fill a one-hour time slot. Like television in general, these late 80's shows exhibit the profound decline in quality that has resulted in the cultural wasteland of the present day.
Thank you very much! July 25, 2009
Marty Gillis (Los Angeles, CA USA)
After reading a few reviews complaining of poor video quality I was happy to see the quality of this set is as good as any of the original seasons shown on NBC were. Not only that but I am getting stereo sound that translates very well into surround using my Pro Logic 2 decoder mode.
These programs not only bring back our favorite police Lt. but the producers (Peter Falk among them) also brought back many of the mainstays from the original 7 seasons in the categories of music, direction and production staff. All these things work well together to bring back some of the 'feel' of the original series. We even get Leo Penn directing the first movie in this series, and he was of course responsible for what is arguably the most favored Columbo of all time "Any Old Port in a Storm" and another great episode, "The Conspirators" ... ( "This far, and no farther")
The main difference that I can see is the casts may not be as 'star studded' but they still feature fine actors and Peter Falk is as great as ever, driving that same car, wearing that same awful suit and smoking those cheap cigars. Columbo is famous for saying "Just One More Thing" but in reality the phrase he uses more than ANY other during the entire run of Columbo is "Thank You Very Much" .. Columbo is a VERY polite man and I'll be darned if he didn't say "Thank You Very Much" within the first 2 minutes of his first appearance in this set. Do yourself a favor and add this set to your Columbo collection. And to the great Peter Falk, Thank YOU very much!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
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