Columbo (TV Series) Swan Song (1974) User Reviews

a wayward preacher meets up with Columbo

[blanche-2 · 8/10 · 16 August 2005]

This Columbo episode is a real treat, as it features a singing Johnny Cash and footage from one of his actual concerts. Cash plays a singing evangelist who, with his domineering wife, travels the country performing religious music in order to raise money for a new tabernacle. Johnny's a little upset as he never gets to see any of the money. When he makes noise about it, his wife, well played by Ida Lupino, to keep him in line, prances out an underage member of the choir whom Cash once seduced. The Cash character plots a great murder by crashing his plane with his wife and choir member in it while he parachutes out.

I thought Johnny Cash did a great job. He had such a tremendous voice and presence, and acting was very natural and relaxed. All in all, a wonderful "Columbo."

It's Johnny Cash!

[Sylviastel · 9/10 · 19 May 2006]

When Academy Award nominee Joaquim Phoenix was researching Johnny Cash, he mentioned this Columbo episode in particular. Johnny Cash plays a man who is very similar in some respects to his real personality. They're both musicians and singers but that's it. Johnny's character is a recovering criminal who married Ida Lupino's character who is overly zealous about God and religion. When her character learns of her husband's straying with younger girls, he decides to off them on the plane but survives. Anyway, I love watching Johnny Cash and Peter Falk together. I love the scene where Columbo researches parachutes and goes into the sewing room where the woman thinks she is losing her mind. Anyway, I remember that scene in particular as he tries to figure out how he did it. In the end, it's just worth watching. It's for Johnny Cash fans especially. He would have been a wonderful actor as well as singer.

Columbo vs. Johnny Cash

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 24 March 2012]

While not one of my favourite episodes, it is one of the more interesting ones for me. It is strikingly filmed, with a score that is atmospheric, clever dialogue and a compelling story that benefits from one of the most ingenious murder scenes of any Columbo episode. It has some great songs, footage of Cash's in concert and Cash himself in tremendous voice. I liked the comic scenes, the undertaker scene was priceless, and the ending was overall satisfying. Peter Falk once again embodies the character of Columbo, and I think Johnny Cash deserves credit for trying his best in a large and complex role. He may be inexperienced, but there are a number of scenes especially in the fantastic rapport between him and Columbo where he is at ease. John Randolph's small part is as juicy as the juiciest orange. The episode is a little slow moving at times with a couple of scenes that felt padded and although the murder was ingenious the scene was almost cheapened by special effects that are pretty lame even for the 70s. Overall though, it is a very good episode and an interesting one too. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Columbo In The Music World Equals Television Perfection!

[stubbers · 10/10 · 5 March 2010]

Well, maybe not "Murder With Too Many Notes", although that was good in its own way. But, hot on the heels of watching "Etude In Black" and giving it a perfect ten, I am currently rewatching "Swan Song" just to see if it too deserves ten out of ten. The verdict? Hell yeah! Maybe it's because the world of music is so full of backstabbing prima donnas that it makes such a good setting for Columbo episodes. There's something innately intriguing in the contrast between uplifting musical performances onstage, and the secretive, dark dealings that go on behind the curtain, unknown to the adoring fans in the audience.

In "Swan Song" the musical connection goes even deeper than "Etude In Black", because whereas John Cassavetes merely waved his arms about a bit and asked members of his orchestra to "play some Chopin"; in "Swan Song" we have a real musician, bringing total credibility to the role of gospel singer Tommy Brown. Obviously John Cassavetes is a far more natural actor than Johnny Cash, but because Cash is playing a singer not unlike himself, what he lacks in technical expertise he makes up for in his own real-life experiences. The first few scenes after the brilliant musical introduction made me a bit tentative about how successful Johnny Cash would be in his acting venture. He doesn't really gel with Ida Lupino, who plays his wife, the business brains behind their musical career. Their acting seems rather stilted and artificial, but to give them the benefit of the doubt, they are playing a couple with a terminally damaged relationship (though she doesn't realise it just yet), so it's only natural I suppose that their conversation will be forced.

This is one of those Columbos where the murderer has already decided to murder his victim before the episode even starts (other Columbos involve either unplanned murders, or ones that only occur after an on screen dispute). As murders go, deliberately crashing a plane into a mountain and bailing out at the last minute in a home-made parachute is as good a way as they come! (I'm joking, before anyone gets any ideas...) The price of this stunt, a broken leg, is a small price to pay for Tommy Brown, when the alternative is to be held to ransom for the rest of his life by his domineering, unloving wife, who withholds money from Tommy and denies him the right to sleep with starstruck young groupies.

It takes a bit of time before Columbo finally catches up with Tommy Brown, and rather unusually for Columbo, he is strongly urged to go after the suspect from the beginning, by the victim's brother. It's normally Columbo's own intuition that leads him to the murderer, but this time he is initially rather hesitant and only questions Tommy at his brother-in-law's insistence.

It's at a rather tactlessly joyful party Tommy Brown is holding in the wake of his wife's death that the brown stuff first hits the fan. It was at this point, when Tommy violently loses his temper, that I started to warm to Johnny Cash's acting ability. The worse his character behaves, the better his acting becomes.

As soon as the episode settles into the traditional Columbo cat-and-mouse, Johnny Cash hits his stride and really starts to shine. The rapport between the two of them is tip-top Columbo. Johnny Cash brings to Tommy Brown real charisma, cockiness and the perfect mixture of respect, affection, condescension and irritation towards Columbo (for a non-actor, the ability to express all these emotions simultaneously really was a great achievement). Columbo continually claims he is just tying up a few loose ends to please his superiors, it's just routine etc etc.

It looks like Columbo has got Tommy Brown firmly in his sights, but just before Columbo can pounce, Tommy skips town, supposedly to do some dates hundreds of miles away. Columbo follows him to the airport, and there is a hilarious scene where Tommy spots him and yells out to him. I just love the way Tommy Brown laughs in Columbo's face. He knows Columbo knows he did it but has no proof.

In fact, the only piece of evidence to conclusively link Tommy to the murder is the parachute, stashed inside a tree on the mountainside. But Columbo has planted a seed of doubt in Tommy's mind that a massive group of people has been enlisted to comb every inch of the mountain the next morning. So Tommy flies away, then immediately flies back and drives up to the mountain that night in a desperate search for the parachute before daybreak.

Columbo has already twigged that this would happen, in fact it was his plan all along and Tommy has walked straight into it, incriminating himself whereas if he had not returned, he would probably still be free. Columbo calmly picks up the parachute and offers to drive Tommy to the police station. Being an expert in the psychology of murderers, Columbo figures Tommy is secretly glad he was caught, he is too spiritual a man to evade his punishment forever.

In conclusion, this gets ten out of ten because it's so unique and gripping. Johnny Cash was a real gamble, but he pulled it off with style. The story might not be the most believable or watertight, but there's nothing particularly jarring about any of the details. The music is sensational as well, especially if you like Johnny Cash's music (who doesn't?!).

One of my Top 5 episodes, if not Top 3.

Columbo vs Man in Black

[stones78 · 30 July 2010]

In this episode, Johnny Cash's Tommy Brown is both an arrogant and a sympathetic figure to behold, and Cash plays it almost perfectly. As is known by now, he executes an original plot to murder his wife and his one-time romantic fling, who just happened to be underage when Brown had an affair with her a few years back. Turns out his current wife, played both annoyingly and convincingly by Ida Lupino, is using this as leverage against him, as he can be sent back to prison. This is his motive to kill the 2 by plane, of which he's the pilot. Is this plot a little far-fetched? Probably. Certain loose ends have Columbo thinking this was more than just pilot error, so his scenes with Cash are both humorous and interesting, and they both have good chemistry with each other. There are many funny moments including scenes with a seamstress, an undertaker, and an older military general, but Johnny Cash shines as the murderer.

Lastly, the only moment in this episode which I didn't totally believe is the conclusion, when Brown admits that the guilt was getting to him, and that he was going to confess eventually. He was too arrogant for me to agree with this; otherwise, this is a solid episode of the legendary Columbo series.

Cash holds his own with Emmy-winner Falk

[garrard · 10/10 · 21 January 2006]

In one of his rare opportunities to show his acting talent, Johnny Cash plays a gospel artist that has to deal with his shrewish wife (Ida Lupino) and his proclivities for dalliances with somewhat younger women. When his wife threatens to expose his infidelities and continues to hold tight to the purse strings, Cash has no option but to plot murder...and a dandy one it is.

The two-hour episode allows Cash to do what he does well: sing. However, he gets to stretch his thespian legs as he matches wits with the clever detective.

In addition to a bravura performance from Cash, veteran character actor John Randolph has a brief but memorable part as a gung ho and slightly deaf military man.

This episode is, most definitely, in the Top 10 of all Columbo episodes.

A Haunting And Very American Tragedy

[Dan1863Sickles · 10/10 · 29 January 2006]

Rich, sexy, haunting and ultimately quite tragic, this classic COLUMBO episode combines a stark and surprisingly powerful performance by country superstar Johnny Cash with an even more sensational star turn by screen legend Ida Lupino.

Tommy Brown is a weak, shiftless country music singer, lured into the Christian crusade by his strong-willed, majestic wife Edna. Even though his talent and charisma are what make the Lost Soul Crusade such a breakout success, Edna keeps all the money to realize her dream of building the great tabernacle. Tommy can't even afford his own car! So one night he sets up an ingenious plan to kill Edna (and her sweet, pretty young assistant) and leave himself in control of the music fortune that should rightfully be his.

What makes this crime story a classic is not really the clues or the mystery, but the way each character is so richly full and rounded. Tommy Brown is not really an evil man. At the beginning he makes a very good case that Edna should share some of the money he earns with his music. He's weak, but he's not just a nobody. He really does have a special talent and he feels very strongly that the American dream should be his. Money, fame, and success are not worth killing for -- but when a man has a special talent and has to watch his money go out of his hands, to build someone else's dream, it's not fair.

Edna Brown is equally fascinating. Even though she's a very attractive older woman, it's obvious she has no use for Tommy in her bed. She's truly a woman of God, with courage and vision and an unselfish dream. Her tragedy is that she really is too strong to understand human weakness. Using blackmail and scare tactics to keep her sinful husband in line somehow doesn't make her quite so repulsive as you would expect. She really is like a majestic and queenly figure. At the same time, watch the way she treats her assistant, Mary Ann. This is a very pretty, shy young girl Tommy seduced and ruined. It would be so easy for Edna to make the young girl's life miserable, screeching at her and picking at her for giving in to her sinful desires. But if you watch closely, it becomes obvious that Edna looks after Mary Ann just like a mother. The two of them are devoted to each other. And when Tommy makes his fateful decision, you really feel for all three people -- trapped in an American tragedy of greed, guilt, and spiritual ambition gone wrong.

Even as a ten year old boy, I was hypnotized by this story. It struck me as being far above the usual television drama. And now, thirty years later, having gone to school and read books like ABSALOM, ABSALOM and An American Tragedy, my opinion of this very special COLUMBO episode is even higher. This is not only great television, it is truly a work of art!

The case of the jovial murderer.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 26 August 2019]

Clumsy insertion of stock footage wife blackmailing him to continue homemade parachute

Aside from a few minor complaints (the use of clumsily inserted stock footage at the beginning and the overuse of the song "I Saw the Light"), this is a very good episode of "Columbo" and features a very likable murderer!

When the story begins, Tommy Brown (Johnny Cash) is completing yet another successful concert. However, despite his gospel music, he's a very earthy man and we soon discover this when his wife (Ida Lupino) confronts him. What had he done? Oh, not much....just statutory rape! Then, to hide this crime, he concocts a very elaborate plane crash which kills both the victim and Tommy's wife. Can Columbo figure out that there's more to the crash than meets the eye?

Johnny Cash was a good actor and through the 1960s and 70s, he did quite a bit of acting. In this case, he managed to make his evil character seem a bit nice....rather likable in fact. And, not surprisingly, Columbo seems to like him as well....though, as you must remember, murder isn't a very nice thing to do! Overall, well written, acted and a nice finale.

Oh that evil Johnny Cash!

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 9 July 2008]

This is quite a special Columbo movie, not because it's very original or is of exceptional quality but because it features famous singer Johnny Cash as the murderer.

Of course Johnny Cash also plays a musician in this movie and he more or less plays himself. This is always an handy and safe approach when you work with an actor that is not really an actor in the first place. As a matter of fact, Cash spends halve of the time singing in this movie.

Besides Johnny Cash and Peter Falk the movie, among others, also features Ida Lupino. Columbo movies often featured movie stars from the 'old days'. Ida Lupino actually also starred before in the other previous Columbo movie "Columbo: Short Fuse". Lupino is best known for the work she did in the 40's, with movies such as "High Sierra", "The Sea Wolf" and "They Drive by Night" on her resume.

The movie is directed by Nicholas Colasanto, who also directed the most excellent Columbo movie "Columbo: Étude in Black". That movie was mostly great since he left the two main leading men, Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, lots of room to improvise and do things their own way, rather than being hold down by a script or directed. But of course with a movie that stars non-professional actor Johnny Cash you can't really afford to choose this approach, even though he obviously still gave some of the other actors some room. The directing for this movie also most certainly is not bad, it's actually quite great but it can't really touch "Columbo: Étude in Black". Nicholas Colasanto himself by the way still better known to the world as an actor, who portrayed the character Coach in the hit-series "Cheers", right till his death in 1985.

Nicholas Colasanto's directing style on the other hand has as a consequence that the movie is slow moving in parts and you have the feeling at times that Colasanto's overdid it perhaps at times with his directing approach.

An all in all good Columbo movie, that is obviously especially worth watching for the fans of Johnny Cash.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Man In Black Darkens Columbos Path

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 8 February 2009]

Johnny Cash puts on a good acting performance in this show where he is an ex-con evangelist singer who is being blackmailed for his services to build an expensive chapel. The bad person is a woman who has also railroaded him into a sham of a marriage and keeps him under her thumb by threatening to expose him and an affair he had in some hotel rooms with her underage daughter.

He sets up a plane crash where he drugs the wife & daughter, parachutes out of the plane and breaks his leg on landing. Then he puts himself near the plane for the rescuers to find while he claims it is all a horrible accident.

Columbo (Falk) proves himself to be a pretty agile investigator of the crash impressing the folks who are from the FAA in charge of investigating the crash. His dogged pursuit of the truth is much in evidence here. The entertainment in any Columbo is watching him annoy a person into confession and in this case, an evangelist confessing is good for the soul.

Swan Song

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 22 April 2018]

The man in black, Johnny Cash plays Tommy Brown. A famous gospel singer adored by his female fans. His wife keeps a tight financial rein on him as she takes his earnings to build a big tabernacle for her Christian crusade. After all Tommy has been sleeping around with a pretty assistant but she was under aged at the time.

Tommy gives his wife an ultimatum, let him keep some of the money he earns, the rest can go to her church. She is having none of it and Tommy sets in motion a death defying stunt to kill her and get rid of the problems of his assistant at the same time.

Tommy a pilot who flies between gigs drugs his wife and assistant and parachutes out of the plane before it crashes. Columbo is not convinced with Tommy's escapades.

Cash playing a singer does not have to stretch himself. It is left to Columbo to liven things up as in the crash site where his methodical approach impresses the air traffic investigator.

However it is a good duel between Tommy and Columbo, Tommy seems unfazed by him and Columbo really has to set a wily trap if he has any chance to send him to San Quentin prison.

An enjoyable episode with some real concert footage featuring Cash.

I Saw the Light...

[mattoid-45605 · 9/10 · 16 December 2020]

I'm watching this episode as I write this. I'm a Johnny Cash fan but have never really seen him act. Holy crap! The man had chops! He way holds his own here. Usually when there are, "Special Guest Stars" on shows like this, their abilities are generally lacking. Not the case with Cash. I'm going to now actively seek more of the films that he appeared in.

Columbo at About His Best.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 28 November 2005]

Nobody would accuse Johnny Cash of being a bravura actor but there is something endearing in his attempt to move his facial features, his manifold dimples, around in a plastic manner. Not that he needs to act much. He pretty much plays himself.

This episode is quite well written; the characters have some ambiguity for instance. Cash murders his wife and another young lady not because he is genuinely evil but because his gonads prompt him to do it. (He's interested in Tina, Janit Brown, a pretty girl with the calf-like eyes of a twelve-year-old child and a figure that's positively demonic in its appeal.) At the end, Cash informs Columbo that he would have confessed sooner or later anyway "because it was beginning to git to me," but neither the script nor Cash's performance has prepared us for any such thing.

The plot is intricate and fun. I don't know exactly how plausible it is. (Would you jump out of an airplane with a homemade parachute attached a homemade harness expecting to survive?) John Randolph, as an Air Force Colonel, has a small juicy part as a deaf, petty chief of an ROTC program. He growls when Columbo asks to use the phone. "That's only for official business. Suppose an alert came in." Right -- an important alert coming in for immediate action to a colonel marooned at a Community College.

The episode is missing two of the usual components of a Columbo story. There is very little vicious repartee between Columbo and the murderer. And there aren't many jokes in it at Columbo's expense. He does, though, disembark from a light plane considerably shaken.

A mature Columbo. One of the best.

Far fetched

[kateeyh-54791 · 4/10 · 24 August 2021]

There is no way that a person flying in a Cessna 172 could open up a door of the aircraft while flying in midair. The force of the air pressure against the airplane while flying would make it impossible.

A guitar, a thermos flask and a home-made parachute....

[The Welsh Raging Bull · 15 September 2004]

Johnny Cash's limited acting ability is remarkably offset by his semi-autobiographical portrayal of a gospel crusader who wishes to use half of the concert earnings to finance his lavishly reckless lifestyle, rather than plough all of the monies into building an ornate tabernacle. His blackmailing wife and one very young concert group member are killed off so that his reputation remains unblemished and his lifestyle can be maintained.

Everything you would want in a Columbo story is in evidence here: a refreshingly original, well-thought-out plot with an ingeniously conceived "murder" scenario; a very tightly structured script with each scene leading on nicely from the last; circumstantial clues which are clever and instinctively-developed; an abundance of well-crafted scenes between a typically persistent Columbo and a relatively self-assured murderer which have a progressive intensity about them; and well-timed injections of humour.

A crackerjack Columbo episode, that is all the better for making it look like the murderer has won(nb: the marvelous airport scene); and for not being sentimental when Columbo pities the murderer. Almost flawless in its conception and execution, this must be one of the top-three Columbo episodes.

"You're a sanctimonious hypocrite of a Bible-spouting blackmailer..."

[Somesweetkid · 10/10 · 8 November 2022]

Impressively directed by pre-"Cheers" "Coach" Nicholas Colasanto, good old gospel-singer Johnny only gets better after the initial Mann Act scene. You also witness a rare good-guy performance by the pig-squealing "Deliverance" mountain man Bill McKinney as Ida's ("Edna's") brother "Luke." It's quite sadly nostalgic that all of the main characters in this episode are long gone. John Dehner as usual added another fine character actor performance as the aeronautics post-crash investigator, who collaborated with Columbo and stated what a talented person the detective would be as a member of his investigation team. This episode also included some wonderful songs by the "Man in Black."Rest in peace, all, and God bless.

Luckiest muderer in the world

[LukeCoolHand · 10/10 · 6 August 2022]

This is one of my favorite episodes of Columbo but it does have it's flaws. When Johnny Cash jumps from the airplane and lets the plane crash , wasn't he the luckiest man alive when it crashed close to him so he didn't have to walk very far on that broken leg ? Before that he walks only a few feet and finds the perfect tree trunk with the insides rotted away so he could hide his parachute in it ?? Probably other flaws later but I didn't see any as bad as these two. Love the show but it's not perfect by any means.

Johnny Cash

[bkeaton-37828 · 10/10 · 21 May 2017]

My favorite episode of all time...Johnny Cash is terrific,as the murderer.all the songs,are great,and Johnny's acting,is incredible...have this on tape and watching it right now....the part where Columbo brings on the boy scouts to investigate,the woods,is pretty clever....5 Stars...watching it right now...Johnny Cash is an amazing performer,whether it's singing or acting,he is first class.

Absolutely brilliant

[lbowdls · 10/10 · 20 July 2021]

I don't have many words to describe this, but I had to say something because of some of the unbelievable reviews and low scores. This episode like 80% of Columbo's is absolute perfection. Watching Johnny Cash and Peter Falk doing their amazing work with a fantastic story is pure joy that everyone should experience! As simple as that!

interesting, especially for Johnny Cash fans ...

[yortsnave · 7/10 · 19 November 2000]

I found this movie quite interesting, mainly for two reasons: 1) I am a Johnny Cash fan, and 2) I am a licensed private pilot. I thought Johnny did a decent job playing an ex-convict who turned his life around and became a famous folk/country/gospel singer. (Naturally, he *should* be good at this role--this is his life-story!) And, I enjoy just about any TV drama where flying and small airplanes are central plot elements. On the down side, I was disappointed that most of the "Christians" in the movie were depicted as money-grabbing hypocrites.

Reliable episode, Cash is quite impressive as a borderline psychotic

[Cristi_Ciopron · 8/10 · 27 December 2008]

This, my dears, has to be one of the best Columbos—as it's so deftly performed; Johnny was an interesting actor, very creepily looking—and also, that jaw—he almost looks like Mimi Rogers. For those who didn't see this episode, Cash plays a country singer, one much admired, it's said, by Columbo's wife. Well, like all of us, this country singer happens to like girls, and his wife uses this to keep for her purposes all the poor man's revenues. So, not only does he have an old and ugly wife, not only is he forced to conjugal fidelity, he's constrained to poverty as well, as his wife uses all the funds for raising a temple.

The sketch with the undertaker tempting the good Columbo to acquire himself a convenient funeral is very funny.

The episode is well written, suspenseful and exciting. Detective—wise, it's very good, and certainly cleverly crafted. Let's admit, Johnny was quite creepy, fit for such roles of bad guy, and his role exploits this side. The performance is almost too good and deep for a TV episode. Cash invests a true insanity in an otherwise _cartoonish setting; this almost spoils the whole. He's simply too intense and uncanny.

In parenthesis, I add that I'm a huge fan of the '90s episodes of the COLUMBO.

"Praise the Lord, I Saw the Light"

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 October 2012]

In this episode Peter Falk has to be pushed into an investigation. But Bill McKinney's accusations plus the fact that allegedly grieving husband Johnny Cash is having a big old party on the day of his wife's funeral would fuel anyone's investigative ardor, let alone LAPD's ace homicide sleuth Columbo.

Not that wife Ida Lupino is any prize. She reminds me a lot of a combination of Joyce Meyer and Aimee Semple McPherson. Cash in fact is a regular cash cow for Lupino and her ministry in addition to being her husband. He's a gospel singer and featured attraction at her ministry crusades. But he's got an itch to get out on his own, but Lupino has Cash bound real tight to her with a business as well as a marriage contract.

So as he sees it, Cash has to kill her and being an amateur pilot he works out a pretty good plan to have her killed in a small light airplane crash where he escapes with minor injuries. He might have got away with it, but for Columbo spotting him partying. Peter Falk pursues Cash with his usual doggedness and obtains a good result all around.

Because this is murder by plane crash Columbo of necessity has to work with John Dehner of the Civil Aeronautics Agency. There's no real clash here, Dehner gives him a lot of latitude and has reason to be grateful he did.

"Swan Song" (1974)

[Wuchakk · 8/10 · 8 April 2019]

PLOT: A Country & Western star with a dubious past (Johnny Cash) isn't getting the perks he feels he deserves and so pulls a D.B. Cooper while flying over the mountains north of Los Angeles with his domineering wife & her understudy stuck on the plane (Ida Lupino & Bonnie Van Dyke). Bill McKinney is on hand as the suspicious brother of the former.

COMMENTARY: This has always been one of my favorite Columbo flicks. Cash makes for a charismatic and likable opponent. The music is more Gospel than Country & Western, which makes the wannabe groupies chasing down the star unrealistic. Don't get me wrong, sexual shenanigans go on behind the scenes even in the world of Christian music, no doubt, but it's more understated than depicted.

One of the highlights is the two cuties on the female front: Bonnie Van Dyke as Maryann and Janit Baldwin as Tina. The former is limited to a one-word line while Janit doesn't have much more.

Columbo once again shows his knack for taking bold risks in the denouement, as observed earlier in "Lady in Waiting" (1971) and later in "Columbo Goes to the Guillotine" (1989). Yet the rumpled sleuth reveals his reasoning; and the close is genuinely moving.

GRADE: A/A-

One of the most memorable guest stars

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 14 August 2015]

SWAN SONG is a notable episode of Columbo thanks to the star presence of singer Johnny Cash, playing basically a fictionalised version of himself. The Cash character begins the film by bumping off his annoying nagging wife (Ida Lupino) in an ingenious plot involving a light plane, sleeping pills, and a parachute, and soon Columbo has to investigate one of his more unusual cases.

The story is different to a lot of the other Columbos I've watched; a lot of it takes place in the great outdoors, and Columbo is a crash scene investigator at one point. There's plenty of drama here and not much of the comedy we've come to expect, but the whole thing hinges on a delightful performance by a game Cash and he makes it what it is: not one of the best, but getting there...

The Columbo With Johnny Cash As The Killer Country Singer

[ShootingShark · 11 October 2008]

Tommy Brown is a country singer with a chequered past, whose puritanical wife Edna is using his profits to fund the building of a tabernacle. Tommy wants the money for himself, so she has to meet her beloved maker early, and Columbo has a case to solve.

This is a great Columbo episode for the usual two reasons - Falk's incredible panache in the role and a great story - but also for an unusual one. Cash makes a terrific Columbo villain, a literal Man In Black, but is the only guest star to ever resemble the character he plays. Cash was not an actor; he made a few TV movies and some guest spots, but he is sensational here and the obvious similarities with his own life (country star, demons in his past, tempestuous marriage, religious conversion) enhance it tremendously. It's really just him and Falk, a two-man show, and they riff off each other with great style; Falk's final line to him is maybe the most heartfelt comment Columbo pays any of his victims. The story is great; Burns stages an air crash in which he himself was seemingly present, but is undone by a thermos flask and an empty pilot's case. There's also an early example of a hilarious nothing-to-do-with-the-plot scene, with series regular Scotti as a cheerful undertaker who gives Columbo the hard-sell on a policy for peace of mind in the afterlife. Cult stars Lupino and McKinney are also excellent in this first-rate TV thriller.