Columbo - The Complete Fifth Season
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Peter FalkBrand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 534 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-06-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
Movie Reviews of Columbo - The Complete Fifth Season
Movie Review: Columbo Improves with Age
Summary: 5 Stars
Watching 'Columbo' at its inception when I was a pre-teenager impressed me. Since acquiring the seasons on DVD, I appreciate them even more. They have stood up to the test of time. As an adult, I can't help but notice that as the episodes go by, the quality of the show rises incrementally over time. So far this is the best season.
Season five again has fine guest murderers. What really improves is the writing. There are more details and aspects for every case, so we can really scratch our heads along with Columbo and enjoy the cases' resolutions with greater appreciation. The earlier seasons were more linear, and the results often seemed pulled out of a hat. The coincidences are more reasonable as time advances; petty complaints of contrivances fade away; and the viewer can be more enthralled by the adventure as well as the likable, feigned, bumbling of a smart detective who knows how to throw the key suspects off guard.
The performances are particularly strong for television. Of course, accolades for Peter Falk almost seem gratuitous, but the guests really shine also. Janet Leigh ('Psycho') shows a suspect's natural nervousness like few are able. Ricardo Montalban is supremely arrogant as an aging bullfighter, and Robert Vaughn is quietly arrogant in a way that only he perfected. Jack Cassidy is slick in a sleight-of-hand performance as the murdering magician in "Now You See Him". (No performance seems over the top, either.) The variety again is admirable. We get murders at an Arab Embassy, across the border in Mexico, at a magician's nightclub, and an advertising agency. The suspects sometimes have secrets or secret identities that work well into some adventures.
Season five is also distinctive for diverging from the formula. "A Case of Immunity" and "Last Salute to Commodore" work in this vein. The latter particularly has admirable twists and turns that are found in no other episode. Patrick McGoohan (who stars in "Identity Crisis" and was perhaps the best guest actor last season as the murderer who was director of a military academy) directed this season finale. Combined with the editing, it is slick and accomplished. However, the departures aren't all worthwhile. Sometimes the episode gets a little too cute for its own good. New and classic elements make season five particularly excellent.
There are only six episodes this time around. (Seven if you count 'Mrs. Columbo'. Many customers complain that this series, which also has one episode last season, is 'Columbo' in name only. This is a bit unfair. The only strong connection last season would be with the Basset hound both series shared. While 'Columbo' is far better, the character in 'Mrs. Columbo' is warm and likable. This episode shows her having some of the detective traits her husband has--even though last season's collection didn't show much similarlity. The music sometimes makes this adventure suspenseful in a way that 'Columbo' seldom is. Last season's 'Mrs. Columbo' put together a case like 'Magic' in a creepy way that the movie with Anthony Hopkins failed to do. This time "Caviar with Everything" is worth a try.)
Summary of Columbo - The Complete Fifth Season
Peter Falk dons his famous trenchcoat again as he returns in his 4-time Emmy award-winning role as everyone?s favorite Police Lieutenant in Columbo: The Complete Fifth Season! Join Columbo in this three-disc set as he asks all the right questions in some of the most deceptive and deadly cases. The Fascinating Fifth season also features such brilliant guest stars as Janet Leigh, Sal Mineo, Robert Vaughn, Ricardo Montalban, Hector Elizondo, Robert Loggia, Patrick McGoohan, and more. The landmark crime series returns, and no murderer can hide for long with Columbo on the beat!Peter Falk took home back-to-back Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the indefatigable Lt. Columbo during the show?s fifth season in 1975-76, and the series itself earned two Emmy nominations, which should give an indication of the quality of the episodes contained in this double-disc set. Although the fifth season only featured six episodes, the quality of writing and acting talent is impressive, to say the least: Janet Leigh, John Payne, Sam Jaffe, and Maurice Evans star in the season opener, "Forgotten Lady," about a faded movie queen who may have murdered her elderly husband to finance a comeback; Patrick McGoohan, who won an Emmy for his performance in the fourth-season episode "By Dawn?s Early Light," returns to direct "Identity Crisis", which pits Columbo against a deceptive secret agent (McGoohan, who makes slyly overt references to his Prisoner character throughout the episode), and "Last Salute to the Commodore," with John Dehner and Robert Vaughn as relatives whose disagreement over the fate of a shipping line turns deadly; and then-newcomers Steven Bocho and Steven Spielberg write and direct, respectively, "Murder by the Book," with Jack Cassidy returning for his fourth Columbo turn as a devious PR agent. As far as TV mysteries go, few have been as clever, well acted, and intricately plotted as Columbo, and home detectives should find plenty of sleuthing material to enjoy here. Unfortunately, as with all previous Columbo boxes, the supplemental material is limited; the "Caviar with Everything" episode of the Mrs. Columbo series with Kate Mulgrew is this set?s sole extra. --Paul Gaita
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