#COLUMBO REQUIEM FOR A FALLING STAR

[anamon-book]

偶像のレクイエム　刑事コロンボ 9 W・リンク、R・レビンソン 高澤瑛一・訳 サラブレッド・ブックス22 二見書房 design＝森下年昭

[columboscreens]

[yellingaboutmasseffect]

Yes, my client murdered those people but have you seen how good she looked in this coordinated pink top and navy pant suit lined in the same pink as her top with the sickest gold belt I have ever seen.

[livyamel]

"Your husband was just a little guy, wasn't he?" -Lt. Columbo

[fern-spotting]

Columbo S2E5: “Requiem for a Falling Star” (1973)

Boston fern spotted at 5:54!

[zipper-neck]

A bit of creative costume design: The lady is the murderer, and Columbo suspects her. Although she says "I'm fine," her internal screaming is symbolized on her shirt.

[ashleybenlove]

Edith Head.

Literally Edith Head.

Definitely see the resemblance to Edna Mode.

[1day1movie]

Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973) Richard Quine.

[kwebtv]

Philippa "Pippa" Scott (November 10, 1934 – May 22, 2025) Actress who appeared in film and television since the 1950s.

She appeared as Abigail in the 1959 episode of Maverick titled "Easy Mark" starring Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick. In the 1959–1960 CBS Television series Mr. Lucky, starring John Vivyan and Ross Martin, she had a recurring role as Maggie Shank-Rutherford.  Around this time, she also appeared on the ABC-TV Western series, The Alaskans, starring Roger Moore.

Scott guest-starred on such series as The DuPont Show with June Allyson; The Twilight Zone in "The Trouble with Templeton" starring Brian Aherne and Sydney Pollack (in which she performed a bravura 1920s dance sequence); Thriller; F Troop; Have Gun - Will Travel with Richard Boone; Redigo; The Tall Man with Clu Gulager; The Dick Van Dyke Show; The Rat Patrol; Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.; and Gunsmoke (as a woman, taken by Native Americans during a raid, who during a year of captivity falls in love with a native suitor in the S7E10 “Indian Ford” in 1961).

In 1962–1963, she appeared in the first season of NBC's The Virginian in the recurring role of Molly Wood, publisher, editor, and reporter of The Medicine Bow Banner. She made two guest appearances on Perry Mason, starring Raymond Burr. In 1963, she played defendant Gwynn Elston in "The Case of the Bigamous Spouse"; in 1966, she played defendant Ethel Andrews in "The Case of the Fanciful Frail".

In 1964, she guest-starred with Eddie Albert and Claude Rains in the episode "A Time to Be Silent" of The Reporter. She guest-starred in "The Garden House", an episode of ABC's The Fugitive, starring David Janssen. She sporadically played minor characters throughout the 1970s and '80s, including a 1971 guest spot in the episode "Didn't You Used to Be ... Wait ... Don't Tell Me" of The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

She played an actress stranded in Virginia due to money problems in a 1973 episode of The Waltons. In 1973, she played a murder victim in Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star. Her last regular TV role was as nursery-school teacher Maggie Hearn in the 15-episode 1976 NBC police drama Jigsaw John starring Jack Warden. (Wikipedia)

IMDb Listing

[bitter69uk]

I am evangelical about my love for Sam Pancake’s Monday Afternoon Movie podcast, devoted to the 1970s and 80s l'âge d'or of made-for-TV movies. In his latest installment, the effervescent Pancake interrogates barely comprehensible but undeniably diverting occult nonsense Ritual of Evil (1970). For me, it’s chiefly noteworthy for a truly wild ripsnorting guest star performance from veteran Hollywood diva Anne Baxter as washed-up alcoholic actress Jolene Wiley. Buggin’ out in ensembles of gold lamé and marabou feathers, permanently boozy or hungover, constantly availing herself of a crystal decanter of scotch and tinkling the ice cubes in her rocks glass, no one hams it up quite like Anne Baxter in full cry. Reference points here might include Grayson Hall in Dark Shadows or Baxter herself a few years later in “Requiem for a Falling Star”, the 1973 episode of Columbo she appears in. We’re first introduced to Jolene on a dark and stormy night. The power has gone out and she’s wielding a candelabra straight out of Liberace’s mansion. “I think I’m going mad,” she slurs to suave French-accented psychiatrist David Sorrell (played by suave French-accented Louis Jordan). “You wanna drink?” She starts regaling him about a party she attended earlier: “I got loaded! You know how sometimes you get loaded very quickly and other times (world-weary pause and eye roll) it takes all night?” then cackles "This is absurd! I'm too sophisticated for this, I really am!" (No matter how tipsy Jolene is, Baxter’s old-school transatlantic diction is flawless. I suspect she went to the same elocution teacher as Eleanor Parker). Her finest moment: Jolene has an embittered meltdown reclining on a fur bedspread, lamenting “I’m not so old, you know. I just wear this middle-aged body on the outside. Inside, I’m really young.” You can watch Ritual of Evil here.

[nelson-riddle-me-this]

Made some individual episode COLUMBO playlists...

______________________________________ "I know. You never expected to meet a legend."

______________________________________ "I'm afraid I don't know very much about motor-cars, Lieutenant. My life begins, and ends, with wine."

______________________________________ "We're going on a tropical cruise. Who packs gloves?"

______________________________________ "From my experience, ma'am, I've discovered that people don't usually forget to do that which they usually do."

______________________________________ "By now, Lieutenant, you should know that no one in our business is ever who he says he is."

______________________________________ "Perfect murder, sir? Oh, I'm sorry. There is no such thing as a perfect murder. That's just an illusion."

______________________________________ "The mizzenmast is aft of the steering station… on a yawl."

______________________________________ "Here I've been talking with the most intelligent people in the world, and I never even noticed."

______________________________________ "Is there murder in our civilized hearts? Obviously, there is in mine, and I'm well-paid."

______________________________________ "I don't think people kill people for just a job."

______________________________________

[columboscreens]

[pupkinpumpkin]

Finally got back to watching Columbo after a detour into The Good Place, Galavant, and the Dragon Age hype and I'm in the middle of watching Season 2 Episode 5 Requiem for a Falling Star and JESUS CHRIST

I know we all kinda know that Columbo is already aware of who did it, how, and why the second he comes on screen so he just needs to prove it, but I think this is the closest the show has ever gotten to straight up confirming that

The main antagonist Nora accidentally killed her secretary and is genuinely heartbroken about it but is trying to get Columbo to do her dirty work for her. He's said multiple times how much he and his wife admire her and her work as an actress. People talk about how much of a good person she is and how much she cared about her secretary

Right when he's about to leave, he doesn't go "oh one more thing" or "oh wait I just thought of something", he just looks her straight in the eyes, and says "Are you sure you want to do this?"

She answers "Yeah, I'm sure"

He gently squeezes her arm, looks away, says nothing, and leaves

THATS SO FUCKING GOOD

HE'S NOT MESSING WITH HER, HE'S NOT TRYING TO TRICK HER, HE'S BASICALLY LETTING HER KNOW THAT HE KNOWS AND IS GIVING HER AN OUT, A WAY TO JUST ADMIT TO THE CRIME AND TAKE HER IN QUIETLY AND PEACEFULLY INSTEAD OF OUTTING HER IN FRONT OF EVERYONE LIKE HE DOES WITH ALL OF THE OTHER ANTAGONISTS IN THE SHOW

ITS SO FUCKING GOOD

Edit: Ok look, I know they're talking about the documents that she stole some money, but LET ME HAVE THIS GODDAMMIT

[kadunud]

Columbo S02E05 "Requiem for a Falling Star"

[magicalflowerlight]

Columbo: Requiem For a Falling Star

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Requiem for a Falling Star

This one was... interesting? I don't know if I liked it that much. I think instead of the conventional mystery detective story aspect it leans a lot more into Columbo's personality and his ability to get a good read on people. Because the clues are very minimal and frankly not very well integrated into the overarching plot, and instead Columbo kinda does a lot of reading between the lines to work out a motive for our murderer Nora to have killed her own secretary, Jean. And I think that's a solid approach in theory, since the start of the show we've dealt a lot in Columbo noticing little personality details in people and extrapolating things around that. But I think in this specific case it ended up being kind of at odds with the episode's goals. Because see, every episode so far has started on the murder obviously, this being no exception - Nora seemingly sets out to murder one Jerry Parks for some personal reasons, we see her accidentally murder Jean instead, and on learning that's how it played out she faints. This is what we're working with until pretty near the end of the episode where we learn she was actually trying to kill Jean to begin with. Which like, I think in hiding that information and not letting me get a read on the character whatsoever they kinda just haven't given me much reason to care. It's an ending twist to have a twist. Nora even attempts to run down Jerry anyway, fails, and then is concerned for his wellbeing later. I just didn't quite get it. And again the conventional mystery aspect isn't really there this episode at all, so just as a viewer you've not got much to latch onto. This is the most I've felt like an observer in a Columbo episode. It was still entertaining here and there and Nora's actress was lovely to watch, but yeah idk one of the weaker ones for me up to this point.