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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 281669" data-attributes="member: 23">Old Fashioned Murder <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpics.filmaffinity.com%2Fcolumbo_old_fashioned_murder_tv-568949460-large.jpg&f=1&nofb=1" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 487px" /><img src="https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzY4ZjYzOGEtNTlhNS00NjM3LWEyNmYtZDIzYmMxMDA1NzhkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyOTIxNjc2MzA@._V1_.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 489px" />More dysfunctional family soap opera. Mercifully, this is more Lady In Waiting than Last Salute To The Commodore. Both victim and killer are returnees who’ve previously appeared in supporting roles: Tim O’Connor is back from Double Shock, while Joyce Van Patten was last seen as the pushy Sister Of Mercy in Negative Reaction. Possibly this familiarity helped.O’Connor is as reliable as ever. While I most associate him with Peyton Place, he’s a ubiquitous presence in 1970s American TV, and is reassuringly the same in everything, though he does seem to be attempting some kind of posh accent here, giving his voice ersatz Winston Churchill tones at times. Joyce Van Patten makes an engaging killer. Once again it’s kind of a character role, requiring her to be plain and barefaced with granny glasses completing Ruth Lytton’s spinster of the parish look. Like Tim O’Connor, Joyce appears to have been all over TV series of the era. For me, I think part of the familiarity is that her face and bone structure as well as her general look and presence reminds me of an array of different women, from Julia McKenzie (more Jane Marple than Hester Fields) to Angela Lansbury to Daphne Oxenford to Rosalind Knight to Geri Halliwell. She's certainly likeable and sympathetic, which made for a layered experience. I liked the murder scheme, which was well thought out: convoluted enough to interest, but while still keeping a feeling of simplicity. I must admit I was falling asleep by the last act (the fault of external factors, rather than the episode itself), but I’d say the Gotcha was one of the more subtle, based on an accumulation of evidence such as Janie’s reaction to the belt buckle, or the lights being switched off. I l especially loved the latter because of the irony of Ruth’s meticulousness tripping her up. I loved the little touch of Ruth exiting on Columbo's arm, tying in nicely with her mother's boasts/taunts throughout the episode and could feel the respect between the two of them. Bearing in mind [USER=987]@Julia's Gun[/USER]'s comments about Peter Falk’s overacting from the end of Season Five onwards, I did observe a number of moments in this where eccentricities seemed more amped up. In particular, it felt as though he was using his glass eye for quirk with some close ups of his face with just his left eye moving rapidly from side to side. Once again, the comedy seemed a little on the broad side, but while I’d have probably preferred things to be toned down a little none of them were killers for me. The running gag with Celeste Holm’s character swooning into a faint at every opportunity was amusing, but far from subtle. Then there was Columbo’s haircut at the insistence of a bossy hairdresser which made for a fun scene and a nice visual but was also a little sitcom like. I was reminded of Mr Messy getting his makeover from Messrs Neat and Tidy. Not necessarily a bad thing.Incidentally, am I right in thinking that this is the first episode with a hint of a gay character? In addition to the camp hairdresser, there was the jeweller who seemed to worry Columbo by admiring his new haircut and saying with a wink that he recognised the stylist’s trademark. So there’s a degree of visibility for gay men (possibly. It’s all very implicit). But they’re still stereotypes, threats or punchlines. Swings and roundabouts, then. </blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?