Columbo: Strange Bedfellows

I've been a Columbo fan since the original series first aired. I even saw the TV movie that led to the series a few years later. Gene Barry was the murderer.

So I'm not prejudiced against the show.

This Columbo movie was mind-numbingly dull. George Wendt works best as a comedic talent. His performance here offered no appeal. His exchanges with Columbo were akin to two old men talking about lawns.

Additionally, many plot elements were just ridiculous. Columbo (and other police) collaborating with mobsters in assaults to trick a confession?

No.

PLOT: The co-owner of an equestrian center (George Wendt) murders his gambling brother and frames his mob bookie, which he also kills. Columbo finds a number of anomalies that don't fit the puzzle and so teams-up with a mob boss (Rod Steiger) to break the murderer.

COMMENTARY: Cheers' Wendt makes for a notable villain, but the biggest flaw in his scheme was to murder the mob bookie and frame him. Whilst this might get rid of his incompetent brother and pacify the police, it would certainly provoke the Mafia to come looking for him. What good is it to own a horse farm when you're dead? And why would he assume the bookie would come to his abode alone (which he curiously does)?

Some people pan the episode on the grounds that Columbo has spoken Italian in a few previous segments (e.g. "Murder Under Glass" and "Death Hits the Jackpot") and yet he claims to not know the language here, which is inconsistent. A likely explanation is that Columbo makes up a new backstory depending on the people and situation with which he's dealing. In short, his immediate mission determines his backstory. Here he obviously wanted the mafia to think he couldn't speak Italian so that they might speak Italian around him, which he would understand.

Another criticism is that it's wrong for Columbo to align himself with organized crime and engage in entrapment. Yet this is indirectly addressed in the episode, although you might have to read between the lines a bit. Columbo KNOWS who the real murderer is; and apparently so does the Don. They both want justice and the Don grants Columbo the grace to acquire it legally, which he can't do without proper evidence and a confession. So they team-up to get it one way or another. In other words, justice is Columbo's prime objective, not being 100% legally correct.

As for entrapment, Columbo is known for resorting to these kinds of (unrealistic) shenanigans to break his opponent and obtain justice, as witnessed throughout the series (e.g. "Prescription: Murder," "Butterfly and Shades of Grey" and "Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo").

The last five Columbo episodes (actually TV movies) were released over the course of nine years from 1995-2003 with "Strange Bedfellows" beginning this run. All of them are worthy installments for one reason or another.

GRADE: B

Strange Bedfellows was one of those episodes that I wasn't sure what to make of at first. After further viewings, I think there are both good and bad things and that it is neither among the best or worst of the series. That said, if I were to rank the Columbo episodes Strange Bedfellows for me would be somewhere around the bottom, not because it's terrible but because there have been better episodes and so many good, often amazing, ones.

What were the good things? Well as is the case with all the Columbos, it is filmed and directed beautifully, and has a good score. I did admire that it attempted to stick to formula after some episodes that tried to be different but failed due to bad execution, it was mostly interesting and had some good scenes, with Columbo's triple bluff being the highlight of the episode. Of the support cast, Bruce Kirby was fun and Shani Wallis was a nice find but my favourite was Rod Steiger, not his best role but he is very good here.

Peter Falk does a fine job with what he had with the iconic character of Columbo. He has a lot of charisma and has some inspired line delivery. I wasn't taken with how Columbo was written in this episode though, Falk does make an effort to make him true to how he usually is but the material works against him. Columbo does seem out of character(note I said seem before somebody objects), and is not as likable as he often is. It is not as bad as him sending himself up in Last Salute to the Commodore or being almost completely sidelined in No Time to Die, but it didn't work for me.

My main problems though were the script and three performances that didn't work for me. There have been much cleverer, more arch, funnier and more tense writing before in Columbo, here the cat-and-mouse scenes between Falk and Wendt that are often highlights of Columbo seemed bland and lacking in tension and the script seemed very pedestrian in places. George Wendt I agree is too boorish and too unsubtle in his role, but he is at least better than the dull Jeff Yagher and the irritating Karen Mayo-Chandler.

All in all, a strange episode that at the end of the day I was very mixed on. 6/10 Bethany Cox

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS is one of the more lively outings for the late-stage Columbo as it features a different kind of murder for the detective to get his (false) teeth into. While George Wendt's simplistic villain isn't one of the best the series has to offer, the sub-plot involving a disgruntled mob boss (played by the delightful Rod Steiger) more than makes up for the shortcomings elsewhere.

Wendt is a completely ruthless character, a horse breeder who bumps off his own brother in the early part of the story. A noticeably aged Columbo proceeds to investigate and gets involved with the usual minor clues involving ashes in an car ash tray and a mysterious phone call received by the victim just prior to his death.

At this point the Mafia sub-plot comes to light and things get more interesting, all leading to one of the finest and most intricate climaxes ever seen in a Columbo. The ending itself is enough to make the episode, it's that good. Watch out for RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD's Don Calfa in a minor role as a bartender, and Columbo series regular Bruno Kirby as a police sergeant.

Even though not as good as the old ones but definitely one of the best in the new series. George "Norm" Wendt makes a great murderer. Great supporting cast (Jay Acovone, Jeff "V" Yagher, Rod "Fortelli" Steiger none the less ...), suspenseful definitely underrated. The confrontation is a pure pleasure for Columbo fans reminiscent of the early seventies ones. "For us!!!" "Hey youuu? Yes! Yoooou!!!" Enjoy.