Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 5, 2020 12:33:51 GMT -8
My brother from afar was watching The War Wagon on the over-the-air channel, Grit TV. I was otherwise engaged so couldn’t sort of co-watch with him and trade comments via text. I’ve probably seen this movie before. But it was too late to catch a significant part of it on Grit TV. So I did a Roku search to see if it was available elsewhere. It showed up on a channel I’d never heard before. Peacock is free channel from NBC (thus the peacock) that also offers a couple of subscription levels. I haven’t at all looked around to see how much stuff they had for free. I’ll take a look later. But they did have The War Wagon for free with some commercials inserted into it. I’m not far enough along to review the movie. But at least Peacock has a good print of it. What they were showing on Grit TV was of terrible quality.
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Post by timothylane on Dec 5, 2020 12:59:02 GMT -8
Sounds like it might be an interesting movie. I may have to check to see if TCM ever lists it.
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 5, 2020 14:18:35 GMT -8
I saw this when it first came out. There is one scene, involving a log, which has stayed with me for over 50 years. As a kid, I though it was really neat.
Of course, the War Wagon itself with the Gatling Gun was pretty cool as well.
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Post by timothylane on Dec 5, 2020 15:33:19 GMT -8
There was an episode of Wild, Wild West featuring a precursor of the tank called the Turtle, which was armored and equipped with a Gatling gun (and maybe also a light cannon; it's been a long time since I saw the episode).
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 6, 2020 12:20:09 GMT -8
The war-wagon in The War Wagon (1967) was right out of The Wild Wild West (1965-69). It’s a thing of seemingly futuristic Steampunk beauty. Because of all the rivets showing, the thing was made to look like it was made out of 1/2” steel or iron. Inside was a yuge metal safe. And inside that was a dozen or more sacks of gold dust. I doubt that six horses could have budged it. Or at least they certainly couldn’t have moved it far or fast. In reality, of course, it was just all painted wood. But Dr. Loveless would have felt right at home in it. The movie itself is so-so at best. There are numerous logical flaws in what is basically a heist movie. It’s understood that most heists in heist movies are implausible, requiring perfect timing and nothing going wrong (which is why so many of them obviously don’t work). This one isn’t taken down by flaws, per se. It’s just that they stand out even more in a script that is lackluster and unfocused. The script frankly isn’t big enough to handle both John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. It’s just sort of blah. Buy, yeah, when they finally *get* to the heist, things pick up a bit — especially that big swinging log. Even that circumstance sort of fizzled. There was no big “thwong!!!” when it hit nor do you get much of a reaction from those inside the war-wagon. But Jim West would have certainly approved. It’s interesting that probably the best performance in this is by Robert Walker Jr. who plays the drunken explosive expert. Yes, as Lomax (Douglas) asserts, that is kind of an occupational contradiction. Wayne and Douglas starred in only three movies together. The other two were Cast a Giant Shadow and In Harm’s Way. But I don’t think there was much, if any, interaction between Wayne and Douglas in the former. In the latter, we see what a great pair they could make. Douglas has starred in many great movies. But it’s hard to imagine a better role than his Commander Eddington. This is the Kirk Douglas I always liked (even if he was a bit of a bad boy in this one).
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Post by timothylane on Dec 6, 2020 13:42:07 GMT -8
I think the Turtle looked different. It also was powered, probably by steam (though I suspect in reality it was too small to include a steam engine). Another episode had what amounted to a mobile battering ram, which was being used to drive out local farmers. The War Wagon was probably more realistic.
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Brad Nelson
Administrator
עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 6, 2020 13:56:55 GMT -8
I took a brief tour of Peacock’s offerings. They have all (or most) of the Columbo episodes. I watched the first one with Jack Cassidy, “Murder by the Book.” He really does play an oily character very well. Of all the Columbo characters who were practically begging to get themselves caught by Columbo, this may be the gold standard.
Peacock lists 10 seasona, ending with season 10, episode 14: “Columbo Likes the Night Life.” That may be the last one. It’s confusing because IMDB has that as the 5th episode of season 13. Plus, it has “Ransom for Dead” (Lee Grant) as the first episode of season one rather than “Murder by the Book.” IMDB notes that “Ransom for a Dead Man” is supposedly “the lesser of the two Columbo pilot movies. The first was apparently “Prescription for Murder.”
Anyway, in “Murder by the Book,” we see the deft handling of this character. Assuming this is the first episode that many people saw, they might just assume that Columbo is indeed a bumbling detective as does Ken Frankin (Jack Cassidy). So it’s interesting how they let it leak out in small ways here and there that he may be not so daft. And at one point about 4/5 of the way in, we’re suddenly left in no doubt when Columbo tells the wife of the deceased that he’s 100% sure that Jack Cassidy killed his partner, Martin Milner.
Barbara Colby has a cringingly low-middle-class performance as Lilly La Sanka who runs the grocery store near Ken Franklin’s backwoods cabin. Over-acted? Probably. But it’s still a juicy nugget, especially when she confronts Ken Franklin about something she has seen. (Bad idea.)
Not the best Columbo episode, but certainly in the middle somewhere.
They also have all twelve seasons of Murder, She Wrote. I have, from time to time, watched an episode of this (maybe three or four in total over the years). But given how steeped in garbage most of pop culture is these days, an anachronism such as Murder, She Wrote is looking better and better. I watched the first episode and it was fine (a two-parter). These are supposed to be a bit tongue-in-cheek, as if they are intentionally recreating elements of a daytime soap opera. So if you’re in on the gag, you have a better chance of understanding this show for what it is. I may try a couple more episodes.
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Post by timothylane on Dec 6, 2020 15:27:03 GMT -8
I didn't start watching Columbo until later, though at some point I saw a rerun of the first pilot, with Gene Barry as the villain. Jack Cassidy ranked with Bob Culp and Patrick McGoohan as the show's favorite villains. (The MAD satire featured a villain named Dr. Robert Culpable.) I especially remember the episode in which he played a magician who turned out to be a German war criminal. (When he's finally caught and says he thought he'd committed the perfect crime, Columbo replies, "The perfect crime? That doesn't exist. It's only an illusion.")
I watched Murder, She Wrote for a long time. I wonder what the FBI thought about the murder statistics in the small town of Cabot Cove, Maine -- especially since their rates for other crimes didn't seem commensurate. No doubt that's why many featured her on visits elsewhere (writers often do such trips for publicity, after all).
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 6, 2020 15:42:53 GMT -8
LOL. No kidding.
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Post by kungfuzu on Dec 6, 2020 15:43:45 GMT -8
I have also wondered something similar as regards Causton in "Midsomer Murders."
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 7, 2020 8:58:52 GMT -8
Robert Culp ranks with Jack Cassidy as the most frequent villains. He stars in the second episode. And I take back that Jack Cassidy was the most careless in terms of helping Columbo. In this second one with Robert Culp, Culp, a private investigator, kills the wife (accidentally) of one of his rich clients. Columbo has reached a dead end in terms of finding the killer. What does Culp do? He volunteers his services to his client to help find the killer. Bad idea.
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Post by timothylane on Dec 7, 2020 10:02:32 GMT -8
In the original run of Columbo, Cassidy and Culp were villains 3 times each. and McGoohan and William Shatner twice each. McGoohan also appeared in the later run. They, and George Hamilton (once in the original run, once in the later run) were the only actors used as villains more than once according to wikipedia.
Some villains were portrayed sympathetically. There was an actress sinking into dementia whose agent confessed at the end. When Columbo noted that they'd break his false confession, he said it would take time, by which time she would be dead or too demented to be tried. Columbo smilingly agreed. There was also Ruth Gordon as a mystery writer who murdered her son-in-law in revenge for his previous murder of his wife (her daughter). When Columbo caught her, she wished he'd investigated the previous murder. Donald Pleasance and Johnny Cash also played sympathetic murderers.
On the other hand, the two psychiatrist murderers (Barry and Hamilton) were very unsympathetic. Make of that what you will.
Incidentally, Columbo's famous catch phrase ("Oh, one more thing") came about by accident. In the first pilot, the writers had completed a scene when they thought of something else he should have asked. Rather than re-write the scene, they just added to it.
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Brad Nelson
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עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶת־ הַתְּשׁוּעָ֥ה הַגְּדֹלָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את
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Post by Brad Nelson on Dec 7, 2020 12:29:49 GMT -8
That "one more thing" so fits his personality and stealth detective style, it's amazing it started as an accident.
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