| 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: $16.72
as of 9/2/2010 22:11 MDT details
You Save: $10.26 (38%)
New (29) Used (16) from $12.00
Seller: inetvideo
Rating:  63 reviews
Sales Rank: 4,103
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Language: Spanish (Published)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Discs: 3
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 466 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 0.7
MPN: 025193327222
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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Product Description
Lieutenant Columbo, a wry and ruffled detective who solves L.A.'s most puzzling crimes, investigates the death of a magician, the corrupt activities o
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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
 "oh, one more thing"??? August 28, 2010
Carol Kesling
just finished watching both mystery movie dvds.1989 &1990, they are so clear i can't beleive it.if you love columbo you will not be dissapointed in these 2 dvds.also bought all the seasons available now which is 1-7. so iv'e got some veiwing to do.but these dvds are in pritine condition and you will not be dissapointed !!! enjoy.thank you amazon for making these available for those of us that love all these old series... please brig out "THE GHOST &MRS. MUIR"!!!!!
The big comeback August 9, 2010
Robert F. Spera
We knew he would be back. Columbo part 2. This set kicks it off.
A must buy if you love the series and the actor.
Gotta love Columbo July 23, 2010
Dollface
Another video filled with Columbo episodes. I love them all. This came in great condition and was delivered quickly.
 Just one more thing... March 15, 2010
Rev. E. A. Hernandez
Being a lifelong Columbo fan--I watched them when they were NEW on TV--I had to convince my wife to get this particular set for me. Also, being a long-retired cop, well, Columbo is still the best as far as I'm concerned.
As the critics here have been thorough, I just have general pointers/observations.
1. The "Columbo" tv films from the late 1980s/early 1990s really were rather awful, as this set shows. They tried to recapture what was done in the '70s...didn't work.
2. I am rather disappointed that, with so few films, that this couldn't have been a more complete collection. Is there any possible excuse, considering the release date of this set and Peter Falk's swan song as Columbo in "Columbo Likes the Night Life"? That, his final appearance as Lt. Frank B. Columbo* aired very early in 2000. This set might have included ALL of "Columbo" is what I'm getting at...picking up in ONE collection where the 1970s left off, yes?
*[Vital note to fans: if you own it, all I can say is zoom in on the Montalban episode to see that Columbo DOES HAVE A FULL NAME and a rather nice signature.]
3. I wouldn't have minded something like extras in the line of Falk/Link/Levinson biographies. A good documentary on Columbo, if nothing else. Did you know Link and Levinson wanted Bing Crosby to play this role? Did you know that Columbo's grandfather taught him that they were descendants of Christopher Columbus?--see, THAT kind of stuff makes for grade-A DVD extras.
4. I hope Peter Falk and his heirs are profiting well from this kind of thing. Poor Peter, in such bad shape and as of right now, I don't even know if he's still alive or not.
5. Doesn't this bring back memories of how bad TV was in the '80s? It did for me. Especially the acting. Even Falk seems to have dropped out of his stride, and think: he'd only wrapped up the original "Columbo" roughly a decade earlier.
You will already own this or soon will if you're a Columbo fan, a mystery buff, a '70s TV freak, etc. If not, GET IT, because truly, in spite of my grumpiness, these are some of the best of the 1980's Columbo.
Hope that helps til next time you get to endure one of my ranting reviews. Oh, just one more thing...
 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.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 63
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