The Unfolding of 'Etude in Black' | Columbo 

When Columbo says this is the last time he will bother you then you are in deep deep trouble.

Columbo saying "Suppose it was you ?" is possibly my favourite line from him.

It's always a pleasure watching a smug killer get outsmarted, even when it is fiction.

One of the only villains who actually gave the great Columbo his pearls! A GENIUS.

I love the slowness of Columbo compared to modern shows. Also, the 90 minute episodes were usually better than the 70 minute ones in my opinion.

This was a great episode. John Cassavette wife was played by Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother.

Colombo is an absolute genius. Playing stupid to catch and outsmart the killer by casually getting them to incriminate themselves and confessing to the murder they committed. He is a lot more intelligent than he lets on, he wanted the killers to think he was an incompetent goofball, letting their ego and arrogance get the best of them and trap them. The killers didnt realise he was setting them up all this time, whist they are mocking him to be stupid, based on his shabby and dishevelled appearance, until it was too late.

I love re-watching Columbo. You always notice something new that you didn't before. And better yet. It is most often about Columbo himself.

In a modern crime drama, as soon as Benedict's alibi was busted he would've gone into a murderous rage and started attacking people or take a hostage until the cops shot him.

Another great episode. It was scary the way he shook his hand once he knew the game was up.

0:44 I recall seeing this clip back in around 1975 at my uncle and aunt's house - we had no TV at home then. The excerpt of music always stayed with me, and when I saw the episode again recently I was a total flashback to being a young child. That's the Columbo effect! 👮🎵📺👍

the way Benedict turned to his wife and started whispering in her ear when he got caught. I'm speechless.

I love how the villian of this episode seals his fate the moment he steps throught the door at the house of the "apparent suicide". He really had no logical reason to be there (apart from collecting the flower he dropped). He also claims to have not known the victim very well. I don't know many people who would go to a colleague's house if that colleague has been killed, especially if they hardly knew them. It took me a while to pick that up but it made me pay more attention to each episode as there's always something the killer does to place themselves on Columbo's radar, so I'm always looking for what those small details are. And the best part is that once Columbo corners the killer, they panic and reveal themselves as opposed to keeping calm and trying to come up with an excuse. It's like watching a game of chess and realising that the game's already been decided from the first move.

John Cassavetes, what a great, entertaining actor to watch, and to enjoy.

The soundtrack, particularly the ambiance..is just phenomenal. Really evocative and just perfectly sets, captures and embodies the awkward, strange and tense emotional tones of the scene.

In real life , Johhn and Peter were Best of Friends 🌟🌟 This Episode was by far my favourite , of the Columbo Series. Brilliant Actor 's working together, on " Etude in Black " Absolutely Brilliant writing, and music score, ♥️♥️🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌴⚘💔🇬🇧

Every Hollywood star in the 70’s probably waited in line to be the villain on “Columbo.”

The Maestro was totally rattled when he saw Columbo in a seat near his wife! 🤣

Hawaii Five-0 (original) and Columbo. The two best detective shows ever. Both shows had some very famous actors playing villains, and the quality of each episode is what set them apart

This was one of my best Columbo episodes. I love how John Casavettes can play a real son-of-a-gun just like in "Rosemary's Baby!"

I had to get a lot older to appreciate just how good the actors on 1970's television could be. These people are legendary. The conductors handshake with Columbo and salute with his baton to the lover who's statement has just proven his murder is beautiful

Best tv show ever created with the best character ever brought to life...

Random fact, this actor’s name is John Cassavetes. His son Nick Cassavetes directed “The Notebook” and his wife, Gena Rowlands was also in “The Notebook” as older Alli…. Also in this Colombo episode, the actress that plays John’s wife is actress Blythe Danner, Gwyneth Paltrow’s mother, who at the time of filming this episode in 1972 was pregnant with Gwyneth.

Love love this episode. It was so good . Thanks for sharing this.

I haven't made a list but I think this my be in the Top 10 episodes for me.

Back then the tempo of a piece was determined by the maestro's craving for a smoke. Adagio did'nt get a look in.

I LOVED Blythe Danner's character. Jennifer Welles didn't care a wit about her nor her feelings if Danner's husband had left her. But here she is saying that it's not right for him to have murdered her.

This episode was pretty good but unfortunately you can predict exactly how he was going to get caught very early on (regarding the flower not being on during the concert) which takes the sails out of the ending.

I am a big columbo fan. I must have seen all the episodes multiple times, but each time I watch an episode I always see something new!

When a famous talent is guilty of murder and when Columbo must finally arrest that person, it's good when it's so well acted by Peter Falk and the special guest star. John Cassavette was very well cast in that regard, as were Johnny Cash, William Shatner, Anne Baxter and Janet Leigh.

Brilliant episode this with the lieutenant as always on the ball & reeling in the suspect 👏

R.I.P. John Cassavetes. A true visionary and pioneer of independent American film making. You are missed

Best TV detective ever. Just one more thing.......he is ace.

Considering those icy stares she is giving him, he is better off going to prison ASAP and basically disappearing forever.

Peter Falk played Lt. Columbo with high knowledge of the ART of acting.

Excellent episode!! I love the Lieutenants dogs name. Dog!!! 👍👍🙂

The guy acted like he was a great benefactor to humanity but all he did was wave a little stick around.

I love blunt Columbo can be XD "Are you actually trying to pin this murder on me with-with that?" "Yes!"

1:42 Not really. It's Italian (and Columbo should know it), not latin. It also means "almost a fantasy" (or "kinda a fantasy"), not "like a fantasy". The accent is quite good, anyway.

"Goodbye, Genius."

When the lady first appeared i thought it was Gwyneth Paltrow ! I didn't realise Blythe Danner was her mother, in fact this episode was made the same year Paltrow was born, Danner was probably pregnant with her in this.

1:42 columbo speaks perfectly good Italian.

1:44 “…quasi una fantasia”…is italian and colombo parla italiano

Oh well I guess it’s now Columbo ending clips for the next two weeks or so. The algorithm has spoken…..

One of my favorite episodes.

like a fantasy... like how you should live your whole life. beautiful scene

This is one of my favourites. And it's made extra special by the fact that Peter Falk & John Cassavettes were friends in real life. Both were different in their approaches to the craft, and there's a genuine synergy there (probably due to their friendship), but there's also an underlying tension, which works so well in their onscreen moments. John Cassavettes stole the show imho, especially at the end, where Colombo almost looks regretful for having to put him away, yet Cassavettes still manages to keep his veneer relatively intact. He makes it look so natural, and that's beautiful craftsmanship.

Great episode. One of my favs.

I love some of the creepy backround suspenseful music played on this show really builds up the scenes especially during the gotcha moments

"Goodbye genius." Amazing

Sorry, I can't watch this one - I'm right at this point in my latest marathon. Even if I've seen it (way too many times) before, I don't want to spoil anything. Such amazing casting to get John Cassavetes as a troubled musician, he really was a remarkable multi-talented artist. They really don't make them like that any more.

Just spent 50 UK pounds which is around 60 US dollars on ALL Columbo episodes!

Columbo was the trully maestro here by outsmarting the murderer, whose last gasp would've been on appealing the woman's false testimonial as a great finale.

Two great friends for many year's, it was great to watch them working this episode. RIP Gentlemen 🙏✌️

Never seen a conductor, conduct and have a smoke at the same time.

I wish they would have revealed the outcome of his cases like on Dragnet because he brought down most of these people in my opinion on very flimsy circumstantial evidence I’m sure a lot of high echelon attorneys over the years have been debating all of Columbos episodes I would really like to hear the real retort on Columbos cases

I wish someone would post a whole episode 🙏👍

"Push the button, Frank!"

John Cassavette AND Blythe Danner in the same episode? Talk about star-studded. They could have phoned this one in but both gave really sublime performances here. Cassavette was better known as a filmmaker, of course, but he could act with the best of them.

" Goodbye genius"..........

"All he does is sleep and drool" 😄 Nothing wrong with that!💞 0:12

I would say the flower fell out during the concert and I put it in my pocket. When I was at the murder house I found the flower in my pocket and put it on for the cameras as I am incredibly vain. I love Colombo but I'm not sure I would get a conviction on this one.

Bythe Danner's reaction to Columbo at 1:11 is the main reason I come back to this clip. 😄

A fun episode and a lot of fun but John Cassavette's 'conducting' if you no ANYTHING about it is HILARIOUS.

Mr. Benedict has an amazing case of main character syndrome. Talking to the lieutenant at the very end, he's trying to be chummy and Columbo is looking at him as if he has two heads.

thinks, this is my all-time favourite episode. Mr. Cassavetes' "conducting", however, was the only low point. It wasn't very good.

The dog could be named Sleepy, like the dwarf. 🐶

Ahhhhh a young Blythe Danner right around when she was on MASH!

One of my favorite episodes. The scene in which Cassavetes is conducting outdoors seems disjointed from the rest of the episode though. His face looks older and is suntanned, and his hair is a different color and style. It looks as if the scene was added in long after filming had wrapped up.

Love his tic tac shoes. They don't make them like that anymore. Thank God😂

John Cassavetes était un vrai ami de Columbo !paix à leurs âmes

Young Blythe Danner looks so much like Gwyneth Paltrow that whenever I watch this episode I forget it's her mother and think for a second, "Is that Gwyneth Paltrow!?"

I have seen this one a hundred times, I just now notice that Blythe Danner's character hair changes from scene to scene. When Columbo comes to talk to them and wanted to clear something up, her hair is up. When Columbo has his gotcha moment about the flower, her hair is down in a low ponytail. It's the little things that can still surprise you.

You almost have to feel sorrier for the wife of the murderer. The homicide victim is gone-gone to wherever each individual believes the dead go. The killer’s partner has to stay on Earth and live the with the grief.

John Cassavetes played the husband in "Rosemary's Baby". He is best friends with Peter Falk. His wife Gena Rowlands won the Oscar for "A Woman Under the influence". The film was subsidized by Peter Falk for $500,000 of his personal money to help John Cassavetes finish directing the film. Gena was amazing. Peter Falk also starred in this film as Gena's husband. Love their Bond.

You wonder how convictions Columbo got with all these powerful people and their expensive defense attorneys.

Just classic ❤ My favourite We had the best golden years back then Also fugitive David Jason 1960 When we had the best stars always ❤❤

Back in 1970 on Sunday nights when the mystery movies would end we all sit in stunned silence for about 30 seconds.

Jiminy Christmas - Smoking while conducting??? Did Bernstein ever do that...? Plus, he's dragging Eine Kleine Nachtmusik's tempo horribly. And sorry, Blythe, no, it's NOT Latin for like a fantasy, it's Italian.

It is a great and terrible shame that no-one thought to make a crossover where Columbo and Vincent Hanna of "Heat" (both LAPD Homicide Lieutenants in the mid-1990s) were partnered to solve a murder.

(4;04 mark) That look when Mr. Benedict said "obviously!" says it all!! He knew he was cooked!!!

I love Columbo👍👍👍👍💯💯💯❤️❤️❤️.

Columbo still has to prove that he got the flower from the crime scene. The wife said "no he wasn't wearing the flower when he left the dressing room", but unless there is video / picture evidence, then it could be argued that the wife simply didn't remember. If you notice, he is also holding a coat. He could simply say the wife didn't see the flower because the coat was covering it. This episode would have been so much more believable if there was also a film crew at the concert hall interviewing him as he was on his way to the crime scene. He would then also be caught without the flower right after the concert, on the way to the crime scene; he wouldn't be able to say he just put it on because he was 'in shock'. Sorry Columbo, he walks.

One of the things Iove about Columbo is that unlike all the other genius detectives out there, he doesnt have a quirk. He is smart and polite. He pretends to be dumb to trick them. The only thing about him is that the actor had a glass eye that made him look cross-eyed.

This one was # 6 in my personal top 10. The cut flowers did him in. Bo knows murder.

I personally think the star here is the wife you can just see her realizing what he had done.

Lots of eye shifting throughout this scene.

Entertaining viewing the special guest stars 😊

Columbo was based on a cop named John St John a famous detective in LAPD in real life it doesn't work this way in law enforcement they don't solve cases in 48 hours and cases have priority there's times when you bury a case

these days arrests end up in a shoot out. here, the murdere just speaks his mind. maybe im classist but have we all gone down the ladder with manners in 23? 8:10

i always think about the lack of fight from the killers, the naivety when confronted. This guy is losing his life, his freedom, a beautiful woman whom he will never see again, his family, his career, his whole world is sinking, yet he accepts his fate so readily, like taking a stroll. Lawyer up, fight, deny, u have nothing to lose.

"this is videotape equipment" which, today, kind of fits in the palm of our hand.

Columbo acts as an avatar of justice, that's why the killers always get nervous around him because they know what justice should do to them.

As much as we all love this show it's quite unrealistic when it vomes to police investigations. Detectives do not badger suspects/people of intetest in their homes at their jobs, which Columbo constantly and often comically does. If you are a suspect or person of intetest, you are brought in for questioning (and if you are a person of means you will certainly have your attorney present) and are either arrested or released. That scene when Columbo is joghing on the beach with Robert Conrad....lol!

3:06 when he knew it was over

defeated by a flower!

Good television but so unreal because a suspect would not put up with all of Columbo's intrusions and questions.

I know of nobody yet who, if they are not a true musician, can play any musician faking playing an instrument.

The conducting is hilarious but hey, he must have had fun!

What a resemblance between John Cassavetes and Ayrton Senna!