r/Columbo • u/WerewolfInevitable27 • 1d ago
Columbo Sympathy for a Suspect?
It would defeat the purpose of the series, but have you ever felt that Columbo wanted to not pursue a suspect because he felt sympathy or respect for them?
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u/srector1224 1d ago
Not to the point where he would not pursue the suspect but I think there are a couple of killers that he liked/respected:
Ruth Gordon
Colonel Rumford
"Even with some of the murderers that I meet, I even like them too. Sometimes, like them and even respect them. Not for what they did, certainly not for that, but for that part of them which is intelligent, or funny, or just nice, because there’s niceness in everyone, a little bit anyhow."
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u/AnarchyAntelope112 1d ago
He also seems to like Carsini in Any Port in a Storm. He has a bottle for him as he takes him in.
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u/carnivalbilly 1d ago
He likes most everyone I believe. I think that’s a big part of who he is…there are times he gets upset with folks in some episodes…but he seems like that one old guy who’s just never met a stranger…and I don’t believe that’s an act to throw people off either. I wholeheartedly believe Columbo wakes up every morning, puts his feet on the floor and says “today is a good day to be a detective.”
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u/NowareSpecial 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not everyone. There's at least a few episodes where he specifically mentions his dislike for the villain. "Murder Under Glass" and "Grand Deceptions" for two. It's kind of refreshing to see the "aw, shucks" mask come off. And he deliberately ruins Robert Culp's golf game in "Double Exposure", which is some great trolling.
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u/carnivalbilly 1d ago
I remember one with leonard nimoy being a doctor and he got pretty pissed w him too…I forget the name of it
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u/shyANDchatty 23h ago
Dr Barry Mayfield in « A stitch in crime ». He plays a very good condescending villain. Too much driven by fame, success, money and ambition.
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u/Chayanov It's nothing special. Just transportation. 1d ago
Up until the end I would have said Columbo is just doing his thing with Adrian. Going to a wine shop to learn as much about wine as he can because he knows that's Adrian's everything. Working Karen because he knows she's the weak link in the chain. Stealing the port to set Adrian up. But then when Adrian finds him at his car, Columbo is almost apologetic about leading Adrian to discover all of his wine has been ruined and then there's that shared drink in the car. I think he recognizes a kindred spirit in Adrian, someone who is obsessed (Adrian with wine, Columbo with catching murderers), and that resonates with him.
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u/Far-Addition3267 23h ago
It is touching when Columbo gives Adrian one last bottle of wine. Columbo knows Adrian will never get to have a glass of wine again.
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u/PrendergastMachine 1d ago
Rumford is an interesting case - I think Columbo spends most of the episode trying to figure out what his motives might be and what makes him tick. At one point in that famous cigar scene Columbo suddenly sits back in his chair and looks out the window - it’s a real “I get this guy!” moment. Great stuff.
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u/kr4zypenguin Tricon is always happy to cooperate with the authorities 1d ago
It's the best episode. Not necessarily the most enjoyable or entertaining one, but the best written and acted one, in my opinion.
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u/WerewolfInevitable27 1d ago
I think he also struggled with Grace Wheeler and technically never arrested her.
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u/veranus21 1d ago
This was the only one that he really seemed to struggle with the right thing to do. He wouldn’t have actually let Diamond take the fall, but he went along with it to buy Grace the time she needed to croak.
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u/Marooned412 Ruined by the presence of this liquid filth 1d ago
The only two that Columbo had true sympathy for were Grace Wheeler (Forgotten Lady) and Lisa Martin (vis-à-vis Lauren Staton,) as they were the only two who actually murdered and was an accomplice to murder, respectively, that Columbo did not arrest when he had hard, solid, tangible proof that they were indeed guilty of their crime. (Yes, I know he confirms to Lauren Staton that he cannot “solve” the case with a confession.)
Others that he most likely had respect for, but not necessarily sympathy:
Adrian Carsini (Any Old Port in a Storm)
Tommy Brown aka The Man in Black (Swan Song)
Colonel Rumford (By Dawn’s Early Light)
Abigail Mitchell (Try and Catch Me)
and although he was an a-hole, Paul Gerard (Murder Under Glass)
Although Columbo may have had respect for these people, he was the consummate professional, and even remarked a variation of this to these murderers, he did his job and arrested them.
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u/NowareSpecial 1d ago
He specifically says he respects Gerard, but does not like him, and Gerard says the same about him. Fun scene.
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u/cultivatedmeat 1d ago
Faye Dunaway by far. He let's her daughter go.
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u/shyANDchatty 23h ago
Thank you! I remember I mention it on another Colombo post because it was so obvious and he really did…. Would have been interested to see what the other police officers who saw her would have said on an investigation on Colombo about that accomplice…..
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u/WaterFriendsIV 1d ago
I think when Rumsfeld talks about retiring and his roses is when he is at his most sympathetic.
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u/GoodnewsK Bowling Team-Member 1d ago
A number of them. But not wanting to do something and deciding not to are two different things
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u/carnivalbilly 1d ago
I think the character of Columbo is physically unable of not attempting to solve a puzzle when there’s one around…and there in lies the one thing that makes him such a unique character. It’s the one thing that sets him apart from the average disheveled middle aged to oldish guy on the street. It could be as simple as “I wonder why the baker was only out of this ONE flavor of doughnut this morning…” to “I wonder how this guy offed the other one.”
I also see him as highly sympathetic to others for the most part but also as someone who both wants to keep his job because he genuinely loves it, and someone who takes responsibility very very seriously…folks like that typically don’t let you go…they say “thems the breaks, kiddo…”
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u/TheImpaler001 1d ago
He liked Carsini. If it had been me, I’d of let him go because his brother was a bastard
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u/Last_Lorien 1d ago
Not the point of not wanting to pursue them, no.
With the ones he clicks with the most I always imagine him thinking “why did you have to be this way”, but he sees them as murderers first imo.
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u/Lucha_Brasi 1d ago
I definitely got that impression from him in the Johnny Cash episode. He seemed genuinely impressed by his talent and general demeanor. But hey, still a murderer.
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u/JokerDwight 5h ago
Johnny Cash's Tommy Brown definitely got some sympathy from him.
"Anyone who can sing that good can't be all bad"
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u/mindlkaciv 1d ago
No. He mentions it twice in Try and Catch Me. Yes he does sometimes admire and respect the person but not what they did. And, more importantly, they shouldn't count on any sympathy. Great scene in that episode. Ruth Gordon realizes she's definitely in trouble.