Swanny Swanson in "Last Salute to the Commodore". Somehow, I seemed to overlook this when younger and first watching the series. Actor | Robert Vaughn as Charles 'Charlie' Clay in Last Salute To The Commodore (1976) . But wait! The location shooting, showcasing deep blue water and light blue skies, really shows off the majesty of LA living. Last Salute was the series first true whodunnit, which ended with a parlour room reveal aping the grandest traditions of the mystery genre. November 11, 2016 was a sad day for Columbo fans the world over, with the news that one of the show's suavest and most stylish guest stars, Robert Vaughn, had died at the age of 83. Elsewhere Bernardo Segalls jaunty score (his 9th of 10 Columbo outings) is excellent, and the cinematography cant be faulted. Of course it takes two to tango, and Falk must shoulder his share of the blame. Robert Vaughn Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family Robert Vaughn is blameless as Charles Clay but looks bemused throughout and no wonder. Mac and Kramer ought to be screaming: What the hell just happened in there? Instead we get silly smiles, and small talk about Macs new raincoat and Columbo being back on the cigars. It could have been a solid entry to the series, but under McGoohans guidance the telling of the tale is an absolute shipwreck. Login. Hitting the popular TV boards in the hip, racially . After receiving a call at home that the Commodores body has been found, Charlie shows Joanna the brooch he found at the murder scene. Peter Falk gained more and more muscle on Columbo over time. Swanny then chimes in. My favourite moment is actually the Commodore telling everyone off. I probably dozed off I must have missed something: who killed Charles, how and why? Like Vaughan, Shatner guested in Columbo a couple of times (and if you watch a few of the episodes on this . Troubled Waters! One of his earliest roles was as a high-ranking fire chief in the disaster classic The Towering Inferno (which also featured Faye Dunaway, Robert Vaughn and Don Gordon). that boat is the same color of his crappy old peuget. Vindicated at last! "Robert Vaughn, actor in 1960s television hit 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,' dies at 83", "Robert Vaughn, actor and scholar, dies after battle with leukemia", "Robert Vaughn, 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' For Swanny to inherit, Joanna Clay had to be convicted of killing her father. Haha same! Charles goes to identify the corpse and Columbo tells him that the police are now pretty certain that Otis was murdered. Actress | The smart Alec who wrote the screenplay tried to create an Agatha Christie or Hercule Poirot dramatic ending but he [presumably he] failed miserably. Instead he ended up as the murder victim in the series first ever genuine whodunnit. As Im sure you can tell, Im not much enamoured with Last Salute to the Commodore. When we witness son-in-law Robert Vaughn disposing of the commodore's body at sea, it seems obvious he is the murderer. Its terribly frustrating. This is my first time watching Columbo from start to finish, in release order, and I must admit that since around season 4 (and mostly season 5) Ive been losing a bit of interest in the show. [22], In later years, Vaughn appeared in syndicated advertisements marketed by Commercial Pro, Inc. for various personal injury and workers compensation law firms, using the catchphrase, "Tell them you mean business". After a string of guest roles on series such as Law & Order (in which he had a recurring role during season eight as Carl Anderton, a wealthy businessman who vows revenge on the NYC DA's office and longtime friend Adam Schiff for sending his grandson to juvenile correction for murdering his stepsister), Vaughn experienced a resurgence in 2004. It was in 1963 that he received his first major role in The Lieutenant (1963). He also appeared in two episodes of Columbo during the mid-1970s, "Troubled Waters" (1975) and "Last Salute to the Commodore" (1976). Last Salute fails on many levels besides this, too. Whether its any good or not is subject to fierce debate, with a high percentage of viewers loathing, rather than loving, the high-jinks on display. Rather than strangling Columbo once Swanny makes his entrance, she instead laughs like a loon. Robert Vaughan - THE COLUMBOPHILE BLOG Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 - November 11, 2016 [1]) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. You decide! Likewise the Commodores wife-to-be, Lisa King. []. "Columbo" Troubled Waters (TV Episode 1975) - IMDb Im thinking when older that you are more aware of the bad parts and The Last Salute of the Commodore was not the only garbage episode. Big love to all Columbophiles! Robert Vaughn Movies List: Best to Worst - Ranker Robert Francis Vaughn (November 22, 1932 November 11, 2016) was an American actor noted for his stage, film and television work. Robert Vaughn's age was 83 years old at the time of his death. Mark Dawidziak quoted McGoohan in his seminal book, The Columbo Phile, as follows: When we did that episode, McGoohan explained, the series had been on for a while. [1] He next appeared as gunman Lee in The Magnificent Seven (1960),[15] a role he essentially reprised 20 years later in Battle Beyond the Stars (1980), both films adapted from filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese samurai epic, Seven Samurai. I just watched this and I could not agree more. What a nights work! Princess Cruises and the offices and staff of the Sun Princess. Troubled Waters - This episode is with Robert Vaughn, just great on a cruise. Could Falk have nixed McGoohans concepts and script revisions? I might read some of your other reviews as I continue my viewing. I really enjoyed your review, you put into words everything that bothered me about the episode, and did it in such a way that made me chuckle a few times, so thank you for that! A further beef with Last Salute is the reminiscent nature of several key aspects. Last Salute is just something else. His hard-hearted car salesman killer also shared many of Cassidys archetypal Columbo baddie characteristics: charm allied with a distinct coolness; an over-helpfulness towards the Lieutenant; a love of money that hed kill to keep his grubby mitts on. I laughed a lot, at any rate. Last Salute to the Commodore is sufficiently infamous to have secured a place in the UK Guardian newspapers When good TV goes bad series back in 2017. Because when the watch was held to his ear only Swanny denied it was the Commodores watch, and only the murderer could have known that the watch had been broken. Christmas stocking fillers for the Columbo fan in your life! So the I thought you were quitting question put to Columbo by Kramer, and the Lieutenants response of not yet not yet had a delicious double meaning, leaving the door ajar for a sixth season. But not awful as suggested. Columbo: Trivia - JetPunk Robert Vaughn, such a fine actor, one of the best Columbo villains (no higher praise than that) & an utterly charming man, has died. As a result of Last Salute supposedly being the last Columbo, the decision was made to mix up the formula doubtless in order to ensure a memorable send-off for everyones favourite shabby sleuth. Im sure Falk and McGoohan were enjoying a few drinks while filming and who could blame them?! Still, before I embark with Ahab-esque zeal on my quest to ensure unsuspecting viewers know exactly what this episode holds in store for them, its highly pertinent to explore the background to Last Salute, which goes some way to explaining why it turned out the way it did. Robert Vaughn was born on November 22, 1932, in New York City,[3] to Gerald Walter Vaughn, a radio actor, and his wife, Marcella Frances (Gaudel), a stage actress. As David Koenig revealed in Shooting Columbo, Elaine May was another. This revelation (while baffling both to Mac and the viewer) gives the Lieutenant the impetus he needs to set up a parlour room reveal at the Commodores house, with key players Joanna, Swanny, Kittering, Wayne and Lisa all on the guest list. Completely understand your point..and for me vino is a must with my Columbo episodes. [43][44], For other people named Robert Vaughn, see, Detailed in the interviews included in the, RObert Vaughn (1972). Cupping his hands around an unseen item, the detective holds it up to the ears of each suspect and says: The Commodores watch. Swanny says Tisnt. Wayne and Kittering dont give a damn. Surely this makes Lisa a key suspect as a money-grabbing young seductress? As a result, it plummets to the foot of the current standings where it will doubtless remain for many moons until some of the worst pap from the 80s/90s challenge its stranglehold on the wooden spoon. The shouting-over-the-background-noise scene? She thinks she went to see the Commodore at his house, but cant be sure. He gets there in good time, proving that Charlie could have made it back unnoticed to the scene of the crime. Many are largely irrelevant, including some of the supposed key suspects. I often crow about longer Columbo episodes being filled with padding, and the subsequent damage caused to the story, but this is on a whole different stratosphere. The only way to get back to the house without being seen by the guards would have been to boat or swim back but hed have almost certainly been spotted in the busy channel. Dr. Mark Collier in "A Deadly State of Mind". Previous series have yielded the odd flop. He dons scuba gear and returns to the Commodores house from his own yacht underwater, natch, to avoid being seen. The murder weapon? Senator in the film Bullitt starring Steve McQueen;[15] he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role. The claim was that during the war they had used patents belonging to Germany. @Genefangirl. He still had love for the good Lieutenant, though, and in this fascinating article in the Ontario Daily Report from July 1976 Falk discusses how he wanted to make one really good episode of Columbo each year amidst his burgeoning movie schedule. I have to ask: who was this for? You would think an actor would evolve into a better actor. So later that night, the scuba guy assists the detective by taking an underwater trek from Charlies yacht to the Commodores home. With Peter Falk, Robert Vaughn, Jane Greer, Dean Stockwell. So Patrick McGoohan was brought in to direct after impressing Falk with his approach behind the camera in Identity Crisis. Joanna could certainly have murdered her father. The. Thank you, Columbophile, for making me feel less crazy. This meeting opens with a little trick. Im thinking that during the last years of filming, that there must have been staff/actor cocktail parties imbibing maybe even more than Alcohol. Ive said before maybe this Falk Disaster was a satire on stupidity detective stories. If (horror of horrors) this episode ticks the boxes for you, PLEASE explain why because, try as I might, it gets worse for me with every viewing. If 70s style has a name it must be Robert Vaughn. Another Columbo's great scene! How Harrison Ford stood for it Ill never know. By ANDREA DRESDALE and LESLEY MESSER. Lipstick aside, it looks like Charles is his man. Instead, for his second appearance in Last Salute to the Commodore, the producers used Vaughn in an epic bait-and-switch manoeuvre. Thank you for the stellar Images of Robert Vaughn except for him very being so unhappy. Pity, and I read that it gets worse as the newer seasons arrive. [33] Vaughn campaigned for John F. Kennedy in the Presidential election of 1960 for U.S. Thanks for the laugh, tho! Ill settle for a #12 on your list. I may be still a fan for early episodes but now I have to watch again but the later years something funny happened on the way to the Farm. Vaughn appeared as Stan Gray in the episode "The Twisted Road" of the western syndicated series Frontier Doctor. Smelt worse than a lorry load of rotten fish. I just rewatched Commodore yesterday, it was so bad if left me bewildered and almost furious. One of the worst scenes for me is when hes sitting on the dock, and Mac tells the Ensign that he needs to explain the lay of the land to Columbo using his foot and a piling for reference. For many years, it was believed Vaughn was the biological father of English film director and producer Matthew Vaughn, born when the actor was in a relationship with early 1970s socialite Kathy Ceaton. It's not about my wife, is it? Which guest stars appeared most often in Columbo? - Express The review of this episode is not savage enough. Just watched the episode, and though I fell asleep for part of it, what I did see was hateful. Watching it is an absolute chore. As they say in some circles, Chacon son got!. It was just directed and acted in such a silly manner. He also appeared in the British soap opera Coronation Street as Milton Fanshaw from January until February 2012.[2]. He shouts all the time and creepily invades peoples personal space. Dexter Paris and Norman Paris in "Double Shock". At this stage I ought to reiterate that its not the premise itself that hampers Last Salute. Lt. Columbo takes a trip to Acapulco, but finds himself on a new case when a used car dealer commits murder on the cruise ship.Lt. Swanny drops Columbo and co off at Charles giant yacht, where the Lieutenant intrudes on young naval architect Lisa Kings transcendental meditation session before hearing from the Coast Guard the supposed particulars of the Commodores demise. It was just another few minutes wasted on pintless chitchat, adding insult to injury after eduring this episode. They appeared together in a 1973 episode of The Protectors, called "It Could Be Practically Anywhere on the Island". The camera lingers on this non-action for what seems like eons. Hilarious. Could be. Kay Freestone in "Make Me a Perfect Murder". I did not realize when first watching Columbo that in the later years the degree of over-acting and touchy touchy. And theres also a hark back to Requiem for a Falling Star (another Gillis story), which referenced Nora Chandler disguising herself as her husband and heading out to sea to fool witnesses. Vaughn got married in 1974 to Linda Staab, and together they appeared in an episode of 'The Protectors' in 1973. He spots a boat going by the name of MOLLY J. Enduring it is agony. [4] His parents divorced, and Vaughn lived with his grandparents in Minneapolis while his mother traveled and performed. Only Victims: A Study of Hollywood Blacklisting. [11], Vaughn made his television debut on the November 21, 1955, "Black Friday" episode of the American television series Medic, the first of more than two hundred episodic roles through mid-2000. Celebrating the Best Columbo Guest Stars | Den of Geek star, dies at 83", "Sinatra Supports Slate Competing with Kennedy's", The Interviews: An Oral History of Television, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_Vaughn&oldid=1151531006, DeLuxe Color romantic comedy film directed by, Science fiction film directed by Kenneth Hartford &, Science fictionadventure film directed by, Science fiction film directed, produced, and written by Ed Hunt, This page was last edited on 24 April 2023, at 16:45. But how can Columbo smoke out the guilty party? I shall expunge this from my memory by watching Negative Reaction with Dick Van Dyle. The Commodore is murdered and just as we think Columbo has the killer (Robert Vaughan) cornered, he's murdered too. A veteran of more than 150 movies, notably Superman 3 and The Magnificent 7, and scores of TV shows including his iconic turn in The Man from UNCLE, and global hits Hustle, The A-Team and Coronation Street, Vaughn was as prolific as he was popular. An autopsy has shown too much (or too little) water in his lungs, so he must have been killed before being dumped in the drink. Basking in their success, the three police musketeers head outside to the Commodores back lawn. Lisa explains that she only agreed to marry old Otis if he promised not to leave her any money in his will. A psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant. Presumably, Swanny killed Charles, too, with a similar blow to the head like the one he used to kill the Commodore. It seems like the Commodore was clonked on the noggin by the mizzen boom and pitched into the sea.. The shame is that the premise was good, and it had potential to be a much better episode. After 36 outings in the crumpled mac he was doubtless glad of the chance to mix things up and push Columbo in new directions, but I daresay his friendship with McGoohan clouded his judgment and took his good eye off the ball, because allowing the Lieutenant to evolve into the infuriating weirdo he is in Last Salute is a betrayal of the Columbo we know and love. Its so absurd, Falk cant even help himself laughing out loud at the end. He has now established potential weapon and opportunity. Lt. Columbo: The Captain? He played a different role, Judge Oren Travis, on the 19982000 syndicated television series The Magnificent Seven.[1]. With livelihoods and inheritances at stake, everyone in the room except Lisa has a motive for homicide. And for all the laughs. How many episodes were made? Minutes at a time are wasted with people saying nothing, or repeating the words of others, or talking about frigging boats, or even lying down on the job.