Columbo in Clips

Aided by “a panel of 12 Columbo super-fans and experts from around the world,” The Columbophile is rolling out a countdown list of what it says are “The 100 Greatest Columbo Scenes of the 1970s.”

The opening 10 selections can be found here. They include a memorable, eye-popping moment from the Season 4 episode “An Exercise in Fatality,” in which The Rockford Files’ Gretchen Corbett greets Peter Falk’s rumpled police lieutenant at a front door, “wearing just a tiny, cherry-print bikini,” and the “dramatic and poignant” scene from Season 3’s “Swan Song” that shows Columbo catching killer Johnny Cash red-handed as he retrieves incriminating evidence from a night-enclosed mountainside.

The second set of clips (90-81) appeared earlier today. Among its offerings is a portentous scene from the Season 1 episode “Dead Weight,” in which guest villain Eddie Albert suggests to Columbo that he’s not even close to charging him for his crime. “Find a different spot, or use a different bait. Otherwise you’re not going to catch anything, Lieutenant,” scoffs Albert’s war hero, Major General Martin Hollister. You’ll also find here the scene from Season 3’s “Publish or Perish” that has Falk’s cop poring over the menu at a fancy restaurant, before finally asking for just a bowl of chili and an iced tea—“much to the disgust of the stereotypically snooty French waiter.”

Part III of this delightful series should be posted on Sunday.