--- title: "Columbo" year: 1971 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/columbo" fi1m_score: 86 critics_reviews: 2 published: "2026-09-16T16:18:02.296225+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T16:18:35.090835+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Columbo (1971) Created by William Link, Richard Levinson · MPA TV-PG · Crime, Drama, Mystery **Fi1m score: 86** · Critics: 2 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* A murderer can plan for almost anything except a polite man who will not go away > Peter Falk makes *Columbo* worth watching even when the mystery takes its time. The patient questioning and the suspects’ misplaced superiority are consistently funny, though the familiar routine can leave an episode feeling stretched. ## Synopsis Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) investigates murders among people who mistake his unassuming manner for incompetence. The crime comes before the detective’s enquiry, so the question is how he will establish guilt when the audience already knows who is responsible. Characters across the series include Karl Lessing (Martin Sheen) and Tommy Brown (Johnny Cash). Columbo wants to establish what happened, while suspects accustomed to deference try to send him away. He keeps asking questions, returning to matters they would rather consider settled. ## Review *Columbo* is a detective programme we recommend even to people who usually have little patience for detective programmes. Creators Richard Levinson and William Link give us the crime before the investigation, then ask us to enjoy the effort of proving what we already know. That might sound like giving away the only reason to watch, but Peter Falk supplies several more. The pleasure is in watching a clever person be mistaken for a nuisance, and deciding how much of that mistake he has encouraged. As Lt. Columbo, Peter Falk lets humility become a practical advantage. His comic timing makes a question sound as though it has only just occurred to him, and the person answering can almost forget that this is an investigation. We laughed at how willingly the suspects underestimate him; their assurance makes his persistence funnier. The performance never needs to advertise intelligence, because every attempt to dismiss the detective gives us another reason to watch him. The class friction is just as important as the puzzle. These are people accustomed to being obeyed, confronted by a man they struggle to take seriously. Their usual manner of giving orders proves less effective against someone who remains courteous and keeps asking questions. Yet Peter Falk does not make the detective smug about it: the lack of self-congratulation allows us to enjoy the contest without being asked to applaud every clever move. The picture-making is sensible enough to leave room for that performance. Cinematographers Robert Seaman and Harry Wolf keep the encounters readable, while Archie J. Bacon’s production design helps establish the differences in standing that make them interesting. We can appreciate the unequal terms on which a conversation begins without needing anyone to explain them. The visual work makes the suspects’ confidence plausible, which matters once the detective starts testing it. The editing, with Buddy Small and Jay Scherberth among the credited editors, allows the comic timing to matter. A pause gives us time to anticipate the detective’s next question, which is useful when the identity of the murderer cannot provide a surprise. The music, with Billy Goldenberg among its contributors, supports the unease, but Peter Falk’s conversational rhythm is what we remember. The weakness follows from the same arrangement. Once we have recognised the culprit’s arrogance and the detective’s method, another dismissive answer can feel like a repeat rather than a development. We are also more demanding about the explanation than we would be in a mystery that could distract us with another possible suspect. A programme that lets us know so much from the start has to make the route to proof convincing, and *Columbo* does not make every stretch of that route equally absorbing. Within crime television, the appeal here is how little the central figure asks us to admire him. Peter Falk makes intelligence watchable through patience, courtesy and an unwillingness to leave a poor answer alone, and that is enough to carry the programme through its less persuasive puzzles. Give him an evening without also asking him to compete with a phone. *Fi1m score 86, published 16 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (2) - **Radio Times** (85/100, inferred): The critic celebrates the series' enduring appeal after 50 years, highlighting its class-war dynamics where the humble detective outsmarts arrogant elites. They praise its innovative 'howcatchum' structure that inverts traditional whodunnits and its influence on the crime genre. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/columbo-turns-50-why-we-still-love-peter-falks-crumpled-detective/) - **The Guardian** (80/100, inferred): The critic praises Columbo as the only TV detective without ego or charming eccentricity, highlighting the show's flipped whodunnit formula and the lead character's humble, relentless style. Falk's ad-libbed comic timing and the portrayal of the crusading underdog are singled out for making the series enduringly watchable. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/sep/10/columbo-peter-falk-la-detective-cigar-box-set-review) ## Details - **Created by:** William Link, Richard Levinson - **Creator:** William Link, Richard Levinson - **Director:** Vincent McEveety, James Frawley, Patrick McGoohan, Bernard L. Kowalski, Harvey Hart, Alan J. Levi, Leo Penn, Richard Quine, Edward M. Abroms, Boris Sagal, Sam Wanamaker, Robert Butler, Nicholas Colasanto, Ben Gazzara, Hy Averback, Alf Kjellin, Daryl Duke, Ted Post, E.W. Swackhamer, Dennis Dugan, Jeffrey Reiner, Robert Douglas, Steven Spielberg, Norman Lloyd, Walter Grauman, Jack Smight, Jeannot Szwarc, Jeremy Kagan, Jonathan Demme, Peter Falk - **Writer:** Jackson Gillis, Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson, William Link, Steven Bochco, Jeffrey Bloom, William Driskill, Robert Van Scoyk, Peter S. Feibleman, Patrick McGoohan, Stanley Ralph Ross, Evan Hunter, William Read Woodfield, John T. Dugan, Dean Hargrove, Howard Berk, Lou Shaw, Peter Allan Fields, Robert Malcolm Young, Brad Radnitz, Michael Alaimo, Jeffrey Hatcher, Booker Bradshaw, Peter Falk, Anthony Lawrence, Charles Kipps, Stephen J. Cannell, James Menzies, Patricia Ford, Gene Thompson, Pat Robison, Jonathan Latimer, Jeffrey Cava, Richard Alan Simmons, Robert Specht, Jerrold L. Ludwig, Paul Tuckahoe, Frederick King Keller, Myrna Bercovici, Michael Sloan, April Raynell, Sonia Wolf, Sy Salkowitz, Henry Garson - **Story:** Jackson Gillis, William Kelley, Barney Slater, Lester Pine, Tina Pine - **Teleplay:** Steven Bochco, Jackson Gillis, David Rayfiel - **Cinematography:** Harry Wolf, Robert Seaman - **Editor:** J. Terry Williams, Leslie Dennis Bracken, Buddy Small, Jay Scherberth, John A. Martinelli, Ronald LaVine - **Music:** Dick De Benedictis, Mike Post, Patrick Williams, Billy Goldenberg - **Production design:** Archie J. Bacon - **Producer:** Everett Chambers, Edward K. Dodds, Dean Hargrove - **Cast:** Peter Falk as Lt. Columbo; Martin Sheen as Karl Lessing; Robert Walden as Billy Fine; Tisha Sterling as Linda Johnson; Danny Goldman as Press Photographer; Gregory Sierra as Lou D'Allessandro; Robert Walker Jr. as Neil Cahill; Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-PG - **Release (the US):** 15 September 1971 - **Genres:** Crime, Drama, Mystery - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZOHmz3bfAI ## Where to watch in the US - Peacock: streaming, uhd - The Roku Channel: free, hd - Tubi: free, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: AT, BG, CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, GB, HR, HU, NL, NO, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SI, SK, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Poker Face* (2023): For another apparently unthreatening investigator whose questions become difficult to escape - *High and Low* (1963), Fi1m 90: A more severe crime story, equally alert to money and social standing — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/high-and-low.md) - *Gosford Park* (2001), Fi1m 85: For murder among people whose manners depend heavily on who is listening — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/gosford-park.md) - *Maigret Sets a Trap* (1958): Patient detection and a central performance that does not need to shout - *The Last of Sheila* (1973): A nastier puzzle for anyone who enjoys watching privileged suspects lose composure --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/columbo