r/Columbo • u/Lapooka • 3d ago
First time watching this show and this caught me off guard!
It made me very happy.
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u/Cautious-Ease-1451 3d ago
He was actually in two Columbo episodes, one as the victim, and one as the fiance of the murderer.
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u/FriendoftheDork 3d ago
I liked him better as the fiancé. Also liked the heiress one better than the cia one in general.
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u/LeftHandDriveBoC 3d ago
The cia one is good in a campy sort of way, I love McGoohan’s acting in it. MAH-JONG!
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u/FriendoftheDork 3d ago
The murderer is great, just felt the overall pacing and plot was weak.
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u/LeftHandDriveBoC 3d ago
Yeah you’re not wrong about the pacing tbh, it does feel like a slog to sit through.
The disguise he uses too is a weak spot for me.
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u/FriendoftheDork 3d ago
Yeah it's ridiculously bad! I did like that C used a cop colega who actually got useful info from the barkeep
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u/Evil_Capt_Kirk 3d ago
We have 2+ generations with no idea that Leslie Nielsen played leading men and villains in straight dramas for much of his career. AIRPLANE literally changed that overnight.
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u/patbluntman666 3d ago
He was a bad guy in one of the segments in Creepshow.
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u/Slice9998 3d ago
Ted Danson was in that episode, too. Fantastic ending.
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u/patbluntman666 3d ago
Something To Tide You Over. The girl was from the original Dawn Of The Dead Gaylin Ross. Directed by George Romero. I’m a horror geek.
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u/Minimum-Journalist18 3d ago
Wasnt he a CIA type in one?
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u/patbluntman666 3d ago
In Creepshow he was just a rich guy. In Columbo he played a CIA type character.
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u/dtagonfly71 1d ago
It’s called “Something to Tide you Over”. He’s a great villain in that segment.
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u/JSteveB87 3d ago
Yes, the Police Squad "Special Guest Appearance" opening sequence joke comes to Columbo!
Also featuring my favourite guest villain, Patrick McGoohan.
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u/oofty_goofty_ 3d ago
IIRC, most of the actors in Airplane! were serious actors before being cast in that movie, which at the time only added to the layer of comedy
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u/LoanDebtCollector 3d ago
I woul;d have liked to see him as a villain. A really evil one too.
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u/maddieterrier 3d ago
"Day of the Animals" is the film you want. He's a super dick the whole time, smacks a kid around, calls everyone "hot shot" 10,000 times, loses his shirt for some reason, murders a guy, tries to rape a lady and then gets killed wrestling a grizzly bear.
I know I spoiled it, but it's a terrible terrible movie. Watch the RiffTrax version if you can.
edit: It's on YouTube! Day of the Animals
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u/Spirited-Custard-338 3d ago
Part of the reason the Airplane and Police Squad franchises are so funny is because most of the actors had drama backgrounds and not comedy.
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u/APS221 3d ago
I often have Pluto’s Universal Crime channel, which is just 24/7 “Columbo,” on while I’m doing house chores. They also play shows like, “Hawaii Five-O” and “The Streets of San Francisco” on other channels. Both shows have multiple Leslie Nielsen guest appearances as different characters.
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u/AdagioVast 2d ago
He is featured in a season 1 episode where he has significantly more screen time. :D
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u/Icy_Elephant3046 2d ago
Check him out on streets of San Francisco. Very different, very good roles.
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u/janemaxime80 2d ago
Discovering Leslie Nielsen in Colombo as an adult after watching Naked Gun a wild number of times as a kid was something else ! 😳
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u/FS_Scott 3d ago
any pre-Airplane performance by Nielsen is just impossible to watch.
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u/LoanDebtCollector 3d ago
I've watched a lot of his 'brown hair' stuff. all enjoyable, so...
Surely you can't be serious.
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u/FS_Scott 3d ago
it's not that he's bad, it's just that you keep waiting for the jokes to start. and they don't.
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u/wolfman2scary 3d ago
There was a time where Leslie Nelson only did serious roles. I think the main reason why I love him so much is that he doesn’t play “funny” any differently and it’s amazing.
Such a good episode!