C: Peter Falk

Columbo - S/D

He's also hysterical in "Undisputed."

I like the Cassavetes mentioned above, but he and Gena R really annoy mein A Woman Under the Influence.

-- J.D. (aubade8...), June 21st, 2005.

Did you know that Columbo was partially based on Inspector Porfiry?

Also, the original The In-Laws opposite Alan Arkin = C (the remake with Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks = D).

PS, I love Columbo.

YES, I just watched that!
The early Columbo movies (as they're two hours each) are very exciting to watch, as the character is still not as clearly defined (relatively speaking, of course, the dude never even got a first name) as he would become.

Anyway, interesting about Porfiry. I'll have to read that (it's the one major Dostoevski I've not read yet). Is Poirot (who has been mentioned specifically as an influence on Columbo) based on Porfiry as well?

Serpentine, Huk, serpentine!

I was awestruck by Fred MacMurray in that "Double Indemnity" scene and had to see the rest. "You bet I'll get out of here, baby... I'll get out of here but quick!" remains my favourite movie line of all time.

I can do a decent Falk Husbands impression: "I like baseball, I like basketball ... Badminton, that's a helluva game."

Falk is one of the cabbies at the climax of It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

He's 80!

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/004468.html

http://www.peterfalk.com/_borders/artc8A10.jpg
Geburtstag...yesterday was my Geburtstag

:(

http://www.popeater.com/television/article/peter-falk-suffering-from-alzheimers/278426

anyone seen ...All the Marbles (Aldrich's last film)? It's at BAM but I'm watching Johan pitch for the Mets on TV.

http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/218_ALL_THE_MARBLES

:( :( :(

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-falk28-2009may28,0,3158489.story

Relatives fight for control of 'Columbo' star Peter Falk
His daughter and wife battle in court for conservatorship of the 81-year-old TV actor, who has dementia.
By Victoria Kim
May 28, 2009

In a hearing Wednesday, the daughter of "Columbo" star Peter Falk described lifelong tensions between the 81-year-old actor's children and his wife of more than 30 years. Now Catherine Falk and her stepmother are locked in a court battle for control of the ailing star, who has dementia.

Catherine Falk said she filed the petition requesting that she be made conservator of her father because his wife, Shera Denise Falk, has not allowed her to visit or speak to him since his hip replacement surgery last year. Shera Falk has contended in court papers that the daughter is estranged from her father, and questioned her motive in filing for a conservatorship.

:(

ah fuck!

:-(

SHIT! At least I've still got Mickey Rooney.

Damn. Rest well, Wings of Desire is playing forever somewhere...

argh, had vain hopes this wasn't an RIP thread. Just watched Wings of Desire again the other day. god is he good in that.

peter falk is the only reason i even like wings of desire. so sad. what a kind face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-31Jev252yA

argh, had vain hopes this wasn't an RIP thread.

^^sigh. RIP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJcZFFh3fUU

RIP

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27C5hD6l1c

"..to smoke, have coffee. And if you do it together it's fantastic. Or to draw: you know, you take a pencil and you make a dark line, then you make a light line and together it's a good line. Or when your hands are cold, you rub them together, you see, that's good, that feels good! There's so many good things! But you're not here - I'm here. "

I wonder if he learned what killed him during the first five minutes.

rip, sweet dude

husbands, which i've never seen & which like anything w/peter falk i'd be psyched to see, played in town last night, and i skipped it for dinner with friends. i'll screen soon as a penance.

a true great!

Aww sad to see this guy go

just last week I was laughing at his cameo in the Great Muppet Caper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnIT1Aa2l74&feature=player_embedded

bah that edit is fucked up

kinda want to see his last movie now. bruce dern, val kilmer, AND rip torn?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1e/American_Cowslip.jpg

feel like he was such a big presence in my youth cuzza columbo, but he only made 5 movies in the 70's according to wiki. the in-laws, murder by death, and the cheap detective being premium 70's titles of course. i wouldn't have known about husbands and a woman under the influence when i was a kid. all the marbles... kind of an honorary 70's movie.

alan arkin made more than double that number in the 70's. and simon was his honorary 70's film.

fuck

he was a fave of mine

the highlight of being 10 yrs old was being off school and watching columbo

he is wonderful in 'a woman under the influence', that mix of fraught bluecollar thuggery and tenderness.....

rip

There are three or four RIP threads near the top that are for people who died a while ago, so I didn't even clue into the fact that the Falk one was breaking. I hope people have been paying tribute by posting, going away for a couple of minutes, then coming back to finish their thought. (He was really funny in a Larry Sanders one-off.)

Unlike most people I know, I had never seen WINGS OF DESIRE till last month. Then I watched it 3 times. I am glad that I did this in time to understand the poignancy of Falk's passing.

Aw, RIP.

You are absolutely right sir, but suppose this was the killers other umbrella. Oh, I forgot to tell you, sir. Last night when I was at your house, I took the wrong umbrella. Excuse me, sir. Just one moment. I took yours. It was an honest mistake, sir, and we’re not allowed to get evidence that way. But as long as I had it, the lab found burns from the squibbs. And lots of soot, sir.

knew him as Columbo as a child, obv, but Mikey & Nicky and The In-Laws are two of my fave '70s films. He's also hilariously filthy in Undisputed. Still have never seen Murder Inc.

SERPENTINE!!!

weird that he was 'only' 83. dude was born grizzled.

RIP

None of his other roles seem to have made any impact on the belgian news sites, they ALL have "Columbo" in their headlines.

He was just Columbo to me, aside from the Princess Bride, but what a role. #1 screen detective. RIP.

Yeah, much as I love Wings of Desire, etc, Columbo was, and still is, a great way to spend a some time. He was just perfect in it. I miss those kind of detectives, is there anything comparable now? RIP.

Monk?

I don't watch that show myself, but I know some do.

Not dissimilar, yeah, but much more lightweight and played for laffs.

Yeah, Monk is the only one I could think of. I like it and Tony Shalhoub is very watchable but it's no Columbo.

Just rent Mikey and Nicky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE3eiZ_kbVE

Falk is brilliant, how sad.

There's little in life more pleasant than a sunday afternoon reading the papers, with one eye on an early Columbo repeat and drinking many cups of tea. I always really liked Falk's cameo in Made as well, his withering contempt for Vince Vaughn's character is A+. Truly, RIP.

There a Columbo on ITV3 right now, British people. It's only just started, so if you switch on then you'll miss the boring non-Falk setup bit.

Thought he was dead already. RIP Peter.

There's little in life more pleasant than a sunday afternoon reading the papers, with one eye on an early Columbo repeat and drinking many cups of tea.

^ this

I preferred his stuff you had to watch with both eyes.

(no offense intended, one-eyed Peter)

This is kind of a sad anecdote, from Wells, of all people:

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/06/falk.php

and he played Shelley Levene on the stage in LA!?

That earlier Columbo on ITV3 was one iffy 90s ones, innit? But all of those from 71-76 or so are all mostly awesome, can watch over again and again with several cups of tea. They should've repeated the one w/Donald Pleasance, probably my all time favourite.

Monk sorta riffs on it -- but you never believe Columbo ever has a fear of heights or the like. Its all acted, for us as well as the soon to be caught killer.

And obviously it isn't even that much of a cop show. Even before the 'you know who the killer is from the start' thing, you also see him working w/out a partner, the LA setting is hardly ever made use of, no conflicts over his methods, no home life (Ms. Columbo is a good ol' joke on that)...guy doesn't even eat (ok, he takes a bite out of a bowl of chilli a couple of times)!

Which leaves us with all that acting. More than enough.

the 89-2002 ones are just all terrible iirc. seem to remember billy connolly being in one.

my favourite is the final episode of the first run, "the conspirators". the murderer in this one is a brendan behan inspired irish poet involved in running guns to the provos with money that he raises at charity nights claiming to be in aid of the victims of the troubles. its one downside, from my point of view, is that the murder isn't complicated. he just shoots a guy who tries to double-cross him, although columbo does also foil the smuggling of a shipment of arms. in general tho i love the "perfect crimes" hatched by geniuses that bumbling old blue-collar columbo manages to untangle, much to the smug cunts' astonishment.

^^^ The one with the chairman of the high IQ society is pretty good, particularly the ending ("The bye Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case"). Also the one with the rival chessmasters ("The Most Dangerous Match") - I saw that on holiday once where it was pouring with rain the whole time and there was nothing to do in the evenings.

Haha yeah when he untangled the crime at that mensa like place. 'Are you sure you don't have a high IQ?' 'Oh no!' xp! also the one with the lawyer lady 'Ah you were v lucky...no, you are very smart'

the mensa place the one with the record player?

Yeah.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnWScg95paA

The 'oh fuck' look of realisation on the other guy's face is priceless.

There's an excellent 45-minute radio interview from 1976 on the Mikey & Nicky Criterion set, which I probably heard then because it was on a NYC show called "Movie Talk" which I listened to habitually. He reminisces about all the classical roles he played off-Broadway in the '50s. Also delves into the psychology of "middle-class gangsters" like M&N.