Columbo (TV Series) The Conspirators (1978) User Reviews

Charming and likable final Columbo episode in the original series

[The Welsh Raging Bull · 8/10 · 4 September 2005]

This 1978 Columbo episode has immense historical value: it was the last episode in the original series and it is certainly well worth watching.

The outstanding feature of this case is the wonderful interplay between Columbo and the murderer, Joe Devlin. Clive Revill gives a charming performance in his role as an outwardly typical Irish man - witty, fun-loving and jovial - whose transformation from a youthful terrorist in Ireland to a writer in America has not been total. In fact, there are one or two memorable moments when he mutters aggressively to himself after Columbo speaks to him (notably after they meet for the first time).

The two main characters get a massive amount of screen time together, thus ensuring that the episode bears at least one trait that made the Columbo series so successful - the development of the relationship between the detective and murderer. Their scenes together in the Irish pubs are really enjoyable and it's almost like the script-writer is giving you a "time-out" from the serious stuff in the episode....

Columbo's last words in this story as he replicates the murderer's scratching of the whiskey bottle and his dialogue are "this far..and no farther"; perhaps a thinly veiled reference to the fact that he was hanging up his mac for good....well at least until 1988!

An interesting look into a huge issue from the 1970s.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 25 September 2019]

"The Conspirators" is an episode of "Columbo" that might be confusing to modern audiences who are unaware of the historical context. In the 1970s, it was true that much of the funding for the IRA and other Irish terrorist groups came from folks in the United States. So, seeing the Irish singer/poet Joe Devlin (Clive Revill) on a tour of America to surrupticiously raise funds for weopons isn't farfetched and was a sign of the times.

During the initial portion of the show, Joe Devlin is singing and entertaining folks at parties....and talking about how peace and nonviolence are the solution to the Irish problems. Of course he's a hypocrite, as the funds he's collecting are going to be used to purchase machine guns! But Devlin is also a very paranoid guy and he convinces himself that the arms merchant (Albert Paulsen) is going to cheat him. So, he shoots the man....and eventually Columbo is on the case.

Like so many "Columbo" episodes, this one has Columbo befriending the prime suspect and inviting them to collaborate on the case. What follows is enjoyable, albeit pretty familiar. A nice time capsule onto the 1970s and well worth seeing.

Minor Flaws But Otherwise A Brave And Ambitious Finale

[stubbers · 8/10 · 22 February 2010]

This is an extraordinary Columbo episode quite unlike any other. Although not 100% successful, the ambition of this final episode from the 70s marks it out as a great ending to the series. This far, and no farther...until 1989! It's quite something to see a show as quintessentially Californian as Columbo tackle the Northern Ireland troubles. What's more, the producers, writers and actors do a pretty good job of examining some of the characters involved in terrorism, whilst simultaneously adhering to the usual Columbo formula.

Joe Devlin is a notable comic poet who regales his audiences with blarney, banter and bogus pacifism. The adoring crowds happily dig into their pockets to contribute something towards keeping the peace, unaware that their hard-earned cash is secretly being used to purchase weapons for the IRA.

All in all Devlin is a first-rate Columbo villain, although I really wish a few stupid errors had been spotted before broadcasting. Joe Devlin has a broad Southern Ireland accent as opposed to a Northern Ireland one, and no Republican would ever refer to Derry as Londonderry. Bearing in mind that the research and accuracy on this show was generally pretty good, these goofs really shouldn't have slipped through the net.

Another small gripe is that once again, like many of the late 70s episodes, the murderer never really gets annoyed by Columbo, well not to his face anyway. Plus, if Devlin is callous and violent enough to kill an arms dealer and trade in huge quantities of weaponry, would he or his gangster associates not try to bump off Columbo? Unarmed and wandering around alone, he would make a very easy target. Instead, Devlin always seems remarkably pleased to see Columbo whenever he shows up on the scene, relishing their verbal sparring and swapping limericks and wisecracks like old buddies. Although I do like to see banter between Columbo and the villains, it's always best when there is an undercurrent of antagonism between the two. Otherwise it seems a bit too cosy.

But these glitches are a minor issue, because I can't think of any other American drama show that even attempted to use the Northern Ireland issues as a backdrop for a storyline. To do so with such a controversial, divisive topic, without falling flat on its face or alienating half the population makes this Columbo worthy of great praise.

This far and no farther

[stones78 · 12 February 2014]

This fine episode ended Columbo's initial run, and the best run at that, even though he came back in later years with some decent episodes, but it never matched the earlier years. This fairly original story has Columbo on the hunt for a rather flamboyant IRA terrorist named Joe Devlin, played superbly by Clive Revill, who isn't afraid to throw some whiskey down. Although Revill was only in this episode, his performance rivals Jack Cassidy, William Shatner, and Robert Culp, in terms of great guest stars who have memorable scenes with Columbo. My favorite episodes are when Columbo and the guest killer have a good rapport; regarding this segment, it's refreshing to watch the 2 men drink together in a bar, play darts, and share poems, even though Peter Falk probably overdoes it a bit considering this was to be the final episode. Look for another funny scene in a bookstore when Columbo's looking at a book on erotic art, and the way a woman watched him with suspicious eyes. The great Jeanette Nolan has a few scenes as Kate O'Connell, and also look for a familiar face in L.Q. Jones(Casino)as a slimy gun dealer. The scenery was especially a nice touch, which included a bar/pub, shipping dock and boats, and a huge mansion with an impressive ceiling. Even though I thought it was too easy and convenient the way Columbo deduces which ship would carry the guns, and how silly it was for Devlin to purposely leave a scratch mark on a whiskey bottle at the crime scene, this episode was a fine conclusion to a mostly great series that had many more ups than downs.

The Last Original Columbo TV-Movie Is As Charming And Affable As Its Star

[ShootingShark · 6/10 · 19 March 2006]

Joe Devlin is a charming Irish wit and raconteur who is secretly involved in running guns to terrorists in Belfast. When he murders an arms-dealer in a revenge killing, Columbo must both prove Devlin's guilt and prevent the weapons cache from leaving Los Angeles.

This, the last of the forty-five original Columbo TV-movies, is very enjoyable, thanks to the combined talents of Falk and Revill as rival Italian copper and Irish gangster (a neat reversal of the more familiar archetypes). The intense Revill - a New Zealander by birth - gives a real show-stopper as the red-headed, blarney-talking, whiskey-pumping, tale-spinning, banjo-playing, republican Devlin, and Falk matches him limerick for limerick. Their convivial chats on poetry, philosophy, freedom and the Irish Troubles are great fun and Columbo's dogged investigative tactics (particularly involving whiskey bottles) are as intriguing as ever. There is lots to enjoy in this little movie - an amusing episode involving a book of erotic art, Columbo cheating at pinball, a great little supporting performance by the iconic Jones as a motorhome salesman, a crooked darts match, and so on. An amusingly clever finale to the greatest detective series ever made.

Outstanding repartee between Columbo and his criminal.

[Dan-451 · 10/10 · 27 May 2000]

A gun dealer shows up dead in an L.A. hotel room, and the evidence -- including a spilled bottle of Irish whiskey -- leads Columbo to the popular poet Joe Devlin. Once a member of the Irish Republican Army but now supposedly reformed and working to raise money for victims of the conflict, Devlin in reality conspires with an influential Irish shipping family to run a cache of automatic weapons to the Emerald Isle.

This episode is outstanding for the brisk repartee between the witty Irish versifier and the admiring Italian-American Lieutenant (two sides of the same ethnic coin, so to speak). The conclusion is as fast-paced and exciting as Columbo gets, including a crosstown chase-scene (that's right, a chase-scene!), and the Irish instrumentals throughout the program are surely the best score of the entire "Columbo" series.

Columbo with a political edge

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 28 June 2016]

THE CONSPIRATORS was the final episode of the first run of Columbo, coming in at 1978 when producers clearly thought the show had run its course. It ends the series on an interesting note, featuring something a little different to the usual; this is a politically-themed story in which the usual murder and investigation take place against a backdrop of illegal arms smuggling and the IRA.

Clive Revill is an interesting choice as the guest star, playing a whimsical, likable Irishman who just so happens to be working for the IRA. The early scenes in which he arranges to purchase an arms shipment is actually the most interesting part of the episode for me - this could have made a good thriller. When Peter Falk enters the frame it becomes rather predictable, although the story is not without fun and Falk and Revill have a friendly rapport which works well. Fear not, Columbo would be back a decade later with a whole slew of new guest villains and story lines.

Falk and Revill make this episode work

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 4 April 2012]

What a great episode, and a more than worthy finish to the original Columbo series. It is slickly filmed, with beautiful locations, and the music is both lilting and atmospheric. The writing is clever and witty, the scenes between Columbo and Devlin are plentiful and are among my favourites of the entire series(which includes the likes of the scene in Identity Crisis with Columbo and Patrick McGoohan's Nelson Brenner in Brenner's house with Madama Butterfly playing in the background), and the story is tightly plotted and completely diverting. The support cast are good, if nothing extraordinary, but it is the performances and rapport of the leads that make it work. Peter Falk is brilliant as Columbo, and Clive Revill gives a jovial and charming performance as Devlin, while there are a few moments of aggression I actually did find Devlin somewhat likable. In conclusion, a great episode that is a must watch for Falk and Revill. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Tightly plotted Columbo.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 3 September 2007]

Not a bad one, the last entry in the early series. Clive Revill is an Irish writer and covert gun supplier to the IRA. He executes a man he believes is about to cheat him. As usual, Columbo manages to unravel the murder. To be sure, there is no elaborate set-up, no electronic gadgetry or conditioned dogs or Rube Goldberg devices to mislead the Lieutenant. Revill just shoots the guy down in his hotel room and then leaves the scene.

There is just enough evidence left behind, though, to enable Columbo to piece together events and the motives behind them. The plot is, in fact, full of all kinds of holes. Columbo is, as usual, possessed of fulgurating intuition. A scribbled note ("LAP 213"), a bottle of Irish whiskey with a couple of nicks on the glass, an errant signature on a book's flyleaf. To you and me it might be nonsense, but Columbo exercises his deductive powers to fit them together. (To a logician, it might be an example of "the Texas sharpshooter fallacy.") No matter. Revill makes a good heavy. He's charming and full of baloney, making up quotes from "a drunken Irish poet" that I couldn't find anywhere on Google. There's something slightly off about Falk's Columbo, though, as there had been in a few of the preceding episodes. His comedy is more slapdash, more lowbrow, less nuanced. And the character is beginning to get hammy. His gestures are more expansive. He smiles too much. He's trying to be charming and avuncular, whereas the earlier Columbo was gruff, gauche, and seemed genuinely puzzled when a discrepancy or "loose end" turned up. Falk's interpretation was changing and he seemed to be getting lazy. It was about time to put away the raincoat. For the most part, its later exhumation from the Smithsonian or wherever it was, was a mistake. Falk, his writers and directors, were to spell everything out for us, leaving a Columbo with no interior life.

The most charming of villains

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 9 February 2014]

This Columbo film has as guest murderer Clive Revill, Irish author, poet, and raconteur who as a sideline is raising money for arm shipments to the IRA. One of the most charming villains ever to grace a Columbo story.

Working hand in glove with Irish shipping magnates mother and son Jeanette Nolan and Bernard Behrens, Revill is to deliver money for guns to Albert Paulsen. Yet he's suspicious about Paulsen with good reason. A little investigation on his own shows Revill that Paulsen is going to take the money and run. So on his own he executes him.

Which brings Peter Falk as the dogged Lt. Columbo into the picture. Normally the entrance of the police might have caused cancellation of plans. But the IRA needs those weapons and as usual the villain always has to prove himself smarter than the cops, especially the unprepossessing Columbo.

Revill's role might have been meant for Peter Falk's good friend Patrick McGoohan, but Revill certainly steps nicely into the part. This was not a planned murder as the end unto itself and the man was double crossing him so you have some sympathy for Revill. Nevertheless he committed murder and the end was more murders over in Ireland.

One of my favorite Columbo stories.

Columbo Brings Peace To Ireland

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 12 May 2015]

Oh dear . America makes yet another fictional story on the real life events of the Irish Troubles . Don't tell me - we're going to be getting some hunky well known actor playing a feisty freedom fighter in the Provisional IRA taking on these nasty goose stepping Brits where he'll be outnumbered , out gunned but never out-fought . It fills the heart with jingoistic pride that someone who has never been to Ireland , whose parents have never been to Ireland and whose grand-parents have never been to Ireland . God bless America . The idea of a fictional on screen drama featuring the IRA as bad guys in any shape or form is as unlikely as watching a Western where the Indians are all great guys and the white characters are all diabolical sons of Satan so imagine my surprise that an episode of COLUMBO features the Irish troubles for its plot

If you've seen an episode you've seen all the episodes to an extent and it features a rigid formula . What happens is someone commits the perfect murder and they've got all the bases covered . Or so they think and if there's something they haven't planned on it's detective Columbo solving the case via superhuman powers of observation and deduction and get the opportunity to lament their flawed plan as they spend the rest of their life in prison . This one follows the formula of IRA veteran and minor celebrity poet Joe Devlin bumping off an arms dealer and transporting firearms to Ireland . What is really interesting is that Devlin paints himself as a man of peace while at the same time being involved in active terrorism which is exactly the same strategy Gerry Adams proposed to IRA / Sinn Fein members at the exact same time this was broadcast via his "Armalite in one hand and a ballot box in the other" way of thinking .This aspect is of course entirely coincidental but it is very interesting in hindsight . Also to be commended is a reference to a former IRA man who was hanged for five murders including a murder of a woman and child . It doesn't sugar coat the IRA of any era as being cheeky rascals - they're murderers and terrorists which probably wasn't a mainstream view amongst Irish Americans in the 1970s . Somethings don't work entirely successfully and Clive Revill's Irish accent seems off but I suppose that's down to his character being based in America for many years . One does wonder why Patrick McGoohan wasn't cast as Devlin and Devlin's plan is a little too easily solved , but apart from this it's an unusual , interesting and brave piece of American television featuring a fictional context to real and tragic real life events

A super episode

[sgofficial · 8/10 · 11 November 2022]

As someone who was around at the time, I understand the (accurate) historical context of the story, and it was a brave topic for Columbo to tackle especially at the height of the troubles in Ulster. I've always found this episode a little difficult, as I know fund raising in support of the republican movement was known about and reported on in England, and did lead to some ill feeling towards America who we felt wasn't trying as hard as Columbo to shut it down and went to fund acts of violence both in Ireland and in English cities. But this is a fantastic episode brilliantly written and acted. If I was nitpicking, Revell's Irish accent is a bit thin, and those of his boy Kerry and Kate O'Connell are absolutely nothing like the very distinctive Belfast accent, the city both are said to hail from; they are sort of weak impersonations of accents in the south of Ireland,

The Conspirators

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 24 March 2019]

The last Columbo story in its original run and a controversial one. It features Irish terrorism.

Joe Devlin (Clive Revill) is an Irish poet in the USA full of bonhomie and blarney. As a young man he was jailed when he was found with explosives.

Devlin and some Irish American industrialists raise money for the victims of the violence in Belfast but in fact the money raised is used to by guns for the IRA.

Devlin kills arms dealer Vincent Pauley as he finds out that Pauley plans to swindle the IRA. An execution.

Columbo though finds an Irish whiskey bottle at the scene of the crime might hold the clue to the murderer's identity. There is also the case of an arms shipment going over to Britain.

There is good rapport between New Zealand actor Clive Revill and Peter Falk. Devlin somehow keeps his cool despite all the intimidation from Columbo but he simply not as smart as Columbo despite his folksiness. The episode also takes a more critical look at the Troubles, unusual for American television.

Am I missing something.?

[rustyredjeep · 3/10 · 4 October 2018]

As a long time major fan I find it amazing Columbo could be this dumb.

1 how does the killer know where the murder was as he just happens to show up at the scene when Columbo is investigating. Why doesn't columbo ask what what he is doing there and why is he there and how did he know this is the murder scene. Case closed

2 when Columbo is investigating the murder scene he doesn't check the whiskey bottle for Devlins finger print - Case closed

3. How does finding a book on the dead body lead Columbo to the killer. So what it's a signed book ? It's like finding the bible on me and it leading the police to God

Funny ok episode but not my favorite.

Loved it!!!

[charles-zaepfel · 26 March 2004]

This is one of my favorite "old Columbo" shows. There certainly is a real chemistry between Lt. Columbo and Joe Devlin. The Irish music is superb. Clive Revill (Devlin) is very entertaining and a likeable killer - I really didn't want him to get caught!!! The "dueling limericks" were terrific - I even repeat the one about the pelican numerous times on every family visit to the beach/ocean. And, as always, Peter Falk is magnificant as the bulldog detective Columbo. If you like the Columbo shows - especially the "old" ones - this episode is a must see. As for a rating, I rarely give out a 10, but this one is among the best and rates 9.75 out of 10!!!

Let Each Man Be Paid In Full

[sol1218 · 6/10 · 14 October 2005]

(Some Spoilers) Irish writer poet and, underground, gun-runner Joe Devlin, Clive Revill, has a big deal going in getting a load of sub-machine guns, M-11's,to the IRA in Northern Ireland. Meetings his supplier Vincent Pauly,Albert Paulsen, at his Los Angeles hotel room to Devlin plans to finalized the deal. Having a drink from his favorite bottle of Irish whiskey Devlin pulls out a gun, that ironically Pauly is selling him, and blows Pauly away dead. It turned that Pauly was going to double-cross Devlin and check out with the $150,000.00, for the illegal arms deal, to Libson that very evening and leave Devlin and his IRA cohorts out in the cold and out of their cash.

Getting on the case Let. Columbo, Peter Falk, is only interested at first in finding who killed Pauly not realizing that his death, or murder, had to do with his activities as a gun runner for the Irish nationalistic IRA. It's Columbo's interviews and conversations with the witty and charming Devlin, who was a suspect to Pauly's murder, that steered him in that direction. Even though Devlin did everything to steer Let. Columbo the other way.

Devlin being overly confident in his ability to get away with murder didn't realize that his bragging about himself and his exploits as a young man and a member of the IRA would draw attention to himself. Devil just couldn't keep quite about his gun-running operations that he was involved in. It was in those gun running exploits that Devlin used the pro-peace organization "American Friends for Northen Ireland" as a front to get cash contributions. The film has Devlin, now without the guns, trying to get in touch with a number of weapons suppliers to make the transaction himself without a middleman, like the late Vincent Pauly. At the same time there's the bulldog-like Let. Columbo chewing at Devlin's heels throughout the entire movie.

A bit more complicated then the usual Colombo movie with loads of sub-plots to it. The film could do well without with a major part of the story having something to do with Devlin getting the guns shipped out of the USA to Southampton England to be unloaded and sent to Belfast to be grabbed by the IRA. You wondered why it was so important, for the US Coast Guard and Customs Services, to keep the ship from leaving L.A Harbor since all that had to be done was alert the British authorities. They would have confiscated the arms as soon as the ship, loaded with them, docked in England.

Deviln who loved his whiskey and drank it by the bottle, not shot glass, in the movie may have had one too many, bottles. By not only leaving one of his empty Irish Whiskey bottles at the Pauly murder scene Devlin also left his mark on it. Devlin unknowing did this every time he was at a bar with let. Columbo guzzling down his favorite brew. That mark in the end not only did Davlin in but did in his front organization that was behind the buying and shipping the guns to the IRA.

Interesting conclusion to the series

[mbrachman · 8/10 · 3 July 2016]

Columbo goes international and political in this final episode of the original series. Clive Revill is superb as an Irish poet, ostensibly changed from his days as a violent Irish Republican. Aside: In the traditional parlance of the Northern Irish conflict, there were four basic groupings: Loyalists, pledging allegiance to the British crown and not shy about using violence to further their goals; Unionists, more moderate allies of Britain generally shunning violence; Nationalists, in favor of leaving the British union and uniting with the Republic of Ireland but generally shunning violence as well; and Republicans, those also wishing to break with Britain and unite with Ireland but not shy about using violence to achieve their ends. As might be expected, most Loyalists and Unionists were and are Protestants and most Nationalists and Republicans are Catholics, but there was a good deal of variation (some Protestants sympathize with the Irish nationalist cause; some, but fewer, Catholics wish to remain with the British union).

In fact the poet remains a committed IRA operative who murders an arms dealer he suspects of betraying the cause. Columbo is on the case to get to the bottom of it. The sparring between Revill and Falk is superb, as usual, but one can't help but agree with some of the critical comments on this thread. If he is dealing with ruthless IRA operatives, they could have easily disposed of the usually-unarmed Columbo if he proved to be too much of a nuisance.

A larger issue is the portrayal of Irish people via stereotypical behaviors, including the gift of gab (a.k.a., blarney) and the penchant for excessive drinking. And the handling of the touchy Irish Troubles issue may trouble more than a few viewers, and not just ones of Irish heritage. Would the producers and writers have portrayed American Black nationalists, Jews, or Latinos in a similar light given the sensitive political issues of the '70s or even of the present day (I'm Jewish myself and have very strong, but complicated, feelings about the Israel/Palestine issue)?

"The Conspirators" (1978)

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 29 February 2020]

PLOT: A charismatic Irish American (Clive Revill) raises funds to help The Troubles in Ireland, but is secretly a gunrunner for the IRA. After murdering an avaricious middleman Columbo is on his trail. Michael Horton plays a Sam Bottoms lookalike while L.Q. Jones is on hand as a gun dealer.

COMMENTARY: This was the 45th Columbo movie and the last of the original run. The series would return eleven years later for 24 more flicks from 1989-2003. Whether or not a viewer will appreciate this one largely depends on how s/he regards the slightly diminutive Revill since he dominates the proceedings. Regardless, Revill gives it his all and is thoroughly convincing.

I was never big on "The Conspirators" personally, but I respect its uniqueness and there are some quality bits, like the utterly disingenuous way support is drummed up (sorta like Obamacare is the "Affordable Care Act." Why Sure!).

The installment runs 1 hour, 37 minutes.

GRADE: B-/C+

Good Original Series Columbo

[aramis-112-804880 · 8/10 · 10 September 2014]

With its risky inverted mystery format (knowing "whodunit" as the curtain rises, wondering what clues the police will find to nab the killer), Columbo's Peter Falk needs a good actor to play opposite or the episode falls flat. He finds a great actor in NZ-born Clive Revill.

Revill plays a likable Irish poet, the sort with a wink and a clever saying, ostensibly in a peace movement, bur really collecting money for peace in Ireland but buying arms to ship to terrorists there.

This has some element of truth. During the post-USSR thaw, investigators in the KGB files found they did, indeed, fund peace movements in the free world. Naturally, most peaceniks did not know this, but certainly there was a coterie of hypocrites who did.

Using Irish terrorists instead makes it less political, since no one bothers about Irish problems so long as they don't spill out of Ireland.

Revill's character, Joe Devlin, shoots an arms dealer who he thinks is double-crossing him. Devlin tries to make an arms deal on his own using the dead man's sources, but keeps running against brick walls. And that, with the police, in the form of Lt. Columbo, constantly nagging him. He finally succeeds, but has to get the guns out of America without the police knowing.

The clues that lead Columbo to Devlin are quite apparent this time. But the twist of this episode is: where are the guns? Devlin is quite happy to go to jail, so long as the guns are not located.

Because of that extra twist, this extra-long episode keeps you guessing right to the end.

Columbo against the IRA.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 7/10 · 2 September 2008]

The movie is directed by Leo Penn, who was indeed the father of Sean and Chris Penn. Leo Penn directed a total of 3 Columbo movies throughout his career stretched out over a time-span of numerous years. He was perhaps not the director that provided the Columbo movies with its best pace but it always featured some great storytelling and allowed its actors to shine.

Sort of funny that a movie about an Irish murderer gets solved thanks to a whiskey bottle, which mainly also plays a central key role in the entire movie.

This movie features a rather unknown actor as the movie its murderer. Clive Revill; who is better known as a voice actor for several animated series and video games. Star Wars fans will also know him as the guy who did the voice of the Emperor in "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back". That is of course the original version that is. I actually believe that "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back" was his first job as a voice actor but just don't quote me on that. The fact that he is rather unknown as an actor doesn't of course means that he is bad though. He plays a fine role and definitely shows some acting skills. Prior to the '80's he had also already starred in a lot of movies and had done some work for television as an actor as well. He actually received a Golden Globe nomination once for his role in the 1972 movie "Avanti!", directed by Billy Wilder.

The movie features a long intro and it takes awhile for the actual murder to be committed. This also means that the Columbo movie of course shows up rather late into the story. Normally this is a sign that the movie isn't going to be that great and to some extend that is also true for this movie. Not that "Columbo: The Conspirators" is an horrible Columbo movie entry but it also isn't exactly the most original or compelling one to watch, despite still having a quite original story for a Columbo movie. It's just an average entry, which still means that it is of some high quality, since the normal Columbo movie standards are usual high. Luckily the movie still features some great trademark Columbo comedy though.

Of course the movie also features Peter Falk again in his most iconic role out of his career. It was actually the last time he would play the role, till 1989 again.

Basically another fine watchable Columbo movie.

7/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Cold blooded psycho

[danielmartinx · 9/10 · 8 February 2022]

One of the things I like about this episode is how the poet is a loud, braggadocio, narcissistic, hateful psychopath. But the actor does a good job of showing how the cold and manipulative psychopath can exude charm even when their eyes are coldly scanning the crowd to see how they're being reacted to. This actor is so good.

A disappointing end to the series!

[Sylviastel · 6/10 · 23 May 2006]

I am kind of surprised that this episode would be the last one for a brilliant series like Columbo. The Conspirators is about Irishmen, I.R.A., boats, wine, and books. Jeannette Nolan better remembered as the housekeeper in another episode also appears. Clive Revill is memorable as the prime suspect but it's Columbo who I remember the most. The Conspirators has a great script, memorable and forgettable casting, and an ending to remember. I always know it by heart after seeing it many times and I still enjoy the episodes. Columbo's run was never too long maybe just too short in the 1970s. It returned with a vengeance in the 1990s and there is sometimes another Columbo episode in the works on a yearly basis. I like Columbo because he's no dummy and he doesn't treat the prime suspects like criminals. He rather engages them and understand them. He never shows malice towards them. He always takes a delight in learning something new. I love Columbo and always will.

One persons 'Terrorist' is another's 'Bard'

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 27 August 2023]

I must have seen most of the Columbo television, episodes several times over and this one is no exception, and I am just re-watching it on a damp Sunday, teatime on TV Channel 5 USA.

This episode is of particular interest to me, from my own views and opinions of the world, though I prefer to keep politics from my telly reviewing, with this episodes subject matter it's unavoidable.

The principle protagonist is supposedly an Irish republican, so as such he would never ever use the word Londonderry, even in a casual discussion in an LA pub, and with an Italian American old bill, no whatever the situation, he would prefer to say Derry.

I may appear to be overly pedantic in expressing this point, and yet another is the use of the term Northern Ireland, because Irish republicans always prefer, to be far more specific. So instead they use the term Six Counties, because this refers to the exact portion of Northern Ireland, that was Partitioned to remain as part of the United Kingdom.

It is still however somewhat peculiar for such, particular concerns to be featured in prime time, on what has to be one of the most, popular television programmes.

America has for long been considered as a principal, source of funds for those persons considered as 'Irish Terrorists', at least for political pundits, this side of the 'Pond'. But the popular myth is that these 'Terrorists' are all Irish republicans, whereas in reality these are not the only people, who traverse the Atlantic for such merchandise from the Emerald Isle. Though the other parties don't even consider themselves as Irish at all, and their specific political allegiances are not to Ireland. But to its ancient political oppressor England, for these 'Terrorists' consider themselves as Loyalists to the British crown.

These particular pedantries aside I still do thoroughly, enjoy this episode of one of my all time favourite telly shows, Columbo remains for me and has, been for my partner Nonie, for many a year past a particular treat, to share on many repeated viewings.

Ourselves Alone

[AaronCapenBanner · 7/10 · 27 February 2016]

Clive Revill stars as a charming Irish rogue named Joe Devlin who officially is a popular writer and poet, but is also an arms buyer for the IRA, backed by both knowing(and unknowing) donors with the O'Connell business conglomerate. Devlin feels that a furtive arms dealer named Vincent Pauley is going to double cross him, so he instead kills him, leaving behind an Irish whiskey bottle as a calling card that proves to be the key piece of evidence that Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) will use to solve the complex crime. Revill is superb, and unusual nature of criminal activity works well, leading to a fitting end that was intended as the series finale, until it was brought back over a decade later.

Oirish!

[tonybolger-1 · 2/10 · 18 November 2017]

This must be nominated for a prize. The biggest collection of dreadful Irish accents in TV history! As if there were no actual Irish actors! Even skipping all the clichés, it must be pointed out that no Irishman of Devlin's persuasion would ever refer to Derry as Londonderry! Peter Falk is, as always, extremely entertaining as Columbo. That excellent actor, Clive Revill, would have been impressive were it not for that accent.