Johnny Cash on Colombo

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 13 Dec 2010 8:18 pm

A number of months ago I canceled my cable and now watch most of my TV from netflix streaming from my Ipad to my TV.

The great thing is I've been catching up on classic shows that I haven't seen in decades. Tonight I watched a Colombo staring Johnny Cash as the bad guy. He was surprisingly a very effective, likable actor. In fact, one of the more believable portrayals from TV shows of that period.

Interesting how they set it up so he was "guilty" but understandably so: they set it up so everyone wanted the person he killed dead and at the end there is a moment of remorse and redemption. Pure Cash. What a natural actor he was. wish he had done more.

Tommy Shown · Post by **Tommy Shown** » 13 Dec 2010 11:50 pm

i remember that particular episode, Ida Ludpino was his wife. Columbo always had a way of getting his crook.
It was a great episode.
Tommy Shown

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 14 Dec 2010 9:06 am

Was Peter Falk the actor that played Columbo here?
Does anybody know about his connection to a movie director whose name I can't remember, his wife's surname was Gina. I've seen a movie by him and it was very good.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 14 Dec 2010 9:28 am

I saw him in a really good cheesy (I like cheesy) early 60's black and white movie where he played a two bit crook making plans at a bowling alley for a robbery. The good looking dame and everything. He played the slick haired crook. The plot and acting was real B grade. Cash did turn into a decent actor.

Mitch Drumm · Post by **Mitch Drumm** » 14 Dec 2010 10:41 am

Joachim:

You are probably thinking of John Cassavetes, who was married to Gena Rowlands--a fine actress.

John, Peter Falk, and Ben Gazzara were all close friends and did a lot of projects together.

Falk is in poor health and was the subject of a conservatorship proceeding not long ago.

Steve Pacholl · Post by **Steve Pacholl** » 14 Dec 2010 11:28 am

The B film Cash stared in was Five Minutes to Live or Door to Door Maniac. Ronny Howard played the little kid. Merle Travis has a bit part in it as well and does some of he music. I think Vic Tayback was also in it. Obviously a low budget film, but fun to watch. Cash's physical appearance also shows hints of his chemical abuse.

As far as the Columbo episode with Cash, I read somewhere that it was one of the more popular episodes on the re-run circuit.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 14 Dec 2010 12:07 pm

Thank you Mitch, these are the names that I couldn't remember.

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 14 Dec 2010 3:24 pm

Steve, thanks for that. That film is actually excellent 60's B genre. Cash was a good fit.

Alvin Blaine · Post by **Alvin Blaine** » 14 Dec 2010 9:48 pm

You can even watch it on YouTube

Marc Friedland · Post by **Marc Friedland** » 16 Dec 2010 7:49 pm

Ahhhh – just one more thing…

If Johnny didn’t buy Colombo’s bluff about the boy scouts scouring the area looking for the man-made parachute, he would have gotten away with it.

And

Of course Colombo knew he’d be returning when he noticed while Johnny was going through airport check-in he hadn’t turned in his rental car keys.

You can’t fool the Lieutenant!!!

This old man, he played one,
He played knick-knack on my thumb.
With a knick-knack, paddy whack,
Give a dog a bone,
This old man came rolling home.
(The true Colombo fans will probably know the significance of this.)

-- Marc

www.PedalSteelGuitarMusic.com

Morgan Scoggins · Post by **Morgan Scoggins** » 20 Dec 2010 3:04 pm

Back in about 1985 Johnny Cash played the title role in a movie made here in Georgia, "Sheriff of Coweta County". It was a true story of a wealthy landowner in nearby Meriwether County who made the mistake of chasing one of his sharecroppers, who had stolen a cow from him, into Coweta county and ,in front of witnesses, killed him.
Johnny did a great job of playing the relentless sheriff who brought the man to justice. His wife, June Carter, also played the role of a local fortune teller who helped him solve the case.