With his trademark cigar, crumpled raincoat and faux-casual catchphrase of “Just one more thing”, Columbo is a timeless classic.
Thank goodness Bing Crosby turned down the role. It’s impossible to imagine anyone but Peter Falk as eccentric genius Lt Frank Columbo. With his trademark cigar, crumpled raincoat and faux-casual catchphrase of “Just one more thing”, Columbo is a timeless classic. These inverted mysteries were termed a “howcatchem” rather than a whodunit. Murderers underestimated the seemingly bumbling detective and walked right into his traps. It came with top-tier credentials – inspired by Dostoevsky and GK Chesterton, with episodes written by Steven Bochco, and directed by Steven Spielberg and Jonathan Demme – but wore them lightly, and simply entertained.