I've thought of that comment by Columbo many times since this episode first aired. After losing my parents who were well into their 80s, it resonates and provides comfort and consolation.

Indeed it truly is

I wish heard that line when I list my mother at a young age. And she died before her time.

That line has stuck in my head since I first saw this a long long time ago.

Mine too.

Also, "Do you think he wanted to call attention to his new shoes?" I chuckle every time.

Yes they are Jimmy

@@michaelcaplan7012 , I whole heartedly agree!

Some of the best tv writing of all time.

Fully agree. Pure entertainment from excellent actors.

You are so right

Quality TV shows..

I agree! I love Columbo!!

💯

So true, it should have been added! Nevertheless, a wonderful reminder on what is my favourite episode. As well as the episode with the magician, where at the end Colombo says something like, "The perfect murder? No sir, that's just an illusion."

Yes, this was my favourite episode of all. Ruth Gordon was such a charismatic performer. Abigail's nephew-in-law was so shifty that her murder of him was ethically less problematic than in any other case.

Way funnier than anything Jerry Seinfeld has written

And she tried to get out of it, playing to Columbo's kindness in the hope he might let her off. But he responded so perfectly. "I thank you for the compliment, but you're a very professional person in your work, and so am I."

@@CluckN what’s funnier, you creep?

Ruth Gordan rules! one of the best endings ever!

Ruth Gordon was one of many epic actors who appeared on Columbo. She was an Academy Award winner, had decades of stage experience beginning when she was 19 years old and appeared in many movies right up until her death in 1985 at the age of 88.

The murder she committed was justified. It was vigilante justice, except it's a crime in the law of the land. The circumstance is heartbreaking, & Columbo couldn't help but sympathize, but he couldn't help but bring her in ... It's his obligation of duty to enforce the law. Quite tragic.

So much compassion that he still busted her, though. 🙂

@@craigedwards2940 He took a sworn oath to uphold the law.

This is one of my favorites too. Ruth Gordon was a great actress, she was over 80 when she did this episode.

I have it too. My daughter got it for me for Christmas . I love it! I never get tired of watching him.❤️❤️❤️. And he still has 2 episodes on tv every Saturday night. When I get a call or text asking me what I'm doing, I tell them I got a hot date with Columbo. 😆😆

It’s definitely one of my favorites as well.

That’s one of my favorite scenes out of all the columbo episodes… this whole episode had lovely moments

Not Janet Leigh.

@@mehmetokay7073 very astute of you! yeah, her dancing partner and lifelong friend, enabled her to live out the rest of her short and demented life out of prison.

@@crazyralph6386 Diamond 💎 and Wheeler.

​@@mehmetokay7073That is right! What would be the point? She would not remember what she had done.

He did something similar in the episode where Jonny Cash plays the murderer.

The part that got me is the fact the not only are the arrow marks different sizes, they’re on opposite sides in different scenes. 5:10 Smaller arrow head and on the left. 10:02 Arrow is now on the right and the arrow head no longer has the line on the box as it did in the scene I mentioned earlier. It’s still one of the best episodes, and those little things are part of the show.

@@GhostDrummerthey stack them the wrong way at first, that flips them between the two scenes

its cut out of this recap

He also liked and had respect for the winery guy. The Italian that owned a vinyard. Had a toast with him at the end.

Absolutely

Two feet !!

an old battle axe and an old adulterer, constantly cheated on both wives.

She also was great in Rosemary’s Baby

Mine too!

Mine too

ditto

@@bobogilvie7820 And mine.

Monster of a woman.

Your brilliance is SHEER✨

Oh Ruth’s? Indeed

She was great in Harold and Maude!

Love Rosemary's Baby Love Where's Papa Love Harold & Maude

every which way but loose my bodyguard

Bro really carried his own murder investigation from beyond the grave. What a legend

Yes, this is one of those "over before it began" type cases. Sooner or later someone was going to change the bulb in the vault, found the note, and it certainly wasn't going to be the tiny, elderly, rich lady. And the whole thing would have unraveled from there.

@@kev3dThe torn piece of paper really bothered Columbo. If it had been someone else to check the light bulb they might have just wondered “what is a piece of paper doing in there” and just changed the bulb without giving it a second thought. I’ve always wondered why no one thought to change the bulb when they first started the investigation.

True, but Abby bungled the murder big time. There's no logical way that someone could accidentally close the door on themselves in the safe, let alone reset the alarm afterward. For a mystery writer, she constructed a flimsy narrative

There are many other clues in the episode. Some that Columbo mentions and ones that the viewer can see if they’re paying close attention.

@Peter Fraser the full episode makes implicit that he was not an innocent man - even in this abridged edition Gordan states his guilt and Columbo declares he did not love her niece

The best is "Columbo cries Wolf".

@@stanmarcusgtv stan.. the show points in both directions. He does tell Abigail that he does not want her money. We don't know for sure. That's what makes it great writing.

Best murderer? Rather one of the indolent ones. Killing someone by leaving him locked in a safe, you would actually expect the victim to leave multiple signs / messages that he was murdered. Either words carved with a sharp object, or made with your own blood.

i remember having watched this decades ago and was literally disturbed by it, the thought of being locked in a locker to die from suffocation was too much to handle for me as a child. Other episodes that i cant forget are one in which dogs had a kill command of rosebud ,and another that i liked the most was in which a magician was the killer.

A good episode , but why she just handed him the keys and then said she found them in a place where they would clearly have been seen previously by investigators is bizarre

The way columbo carried this dog (in various episodes always gave me anxiety 😂

the line, "Stay!" dog walks off, Aside to Ruth, "He's trained." GOLD!

@Karen Stevenson, YP , S Cassi , The man (Columbo) is so darned down to Earth, that even his dog (Fido) drags his belly when they go on walks.... I'm thinking that Columbo is happily walking around with Fido right now, upstairs, in the clouds...

@@michaelmartinez1345Columbo and Fido are both sharing a bowl of Chilli

@@laurenceshtull6777 Pals Forever!!!

Yes, thank you to whomever is creating these. I wish the channel doing the L&O episodes would do the same thing.

*Rosemary's Baby*

Mariette Hartley was so pretty when young. Didn't she sponsor the Sleep # beds??

@@supernova3723 I think that was Lindsey Wagner. I remember Hartley did a slew of ads with James Garner for Polaroid back in the day.

@@lisawilliams2013 Mariette Hartley also used to advertise some sort of system to improve your vision by some kind of exercises so that you could get rid of your glasses if you happen to be nearsighted.

Umm, Julie Harris was guilty of no such thing. If Columbo hadn’t opened his big yap on purpose to continue the trap he set for dr loomis, she would’ve remained quiet. She was not gonna blackmail him precisely bc she loved him. When the trap was set and she was exposed, she only turned on Adrian bc of his reaction to her and you do know the saying “ hell hath no fury?. She was not a devious, ambitious, underhanded deviant. Adrian even said as much. 12 yrsrs( was it?) she was his dutiful secretary and she would have continued to be had it not been for the murder and columbo’s interference. She was very loyal to Adrian and he dismissed and derided her. Veronica, on the other hand, seized upon the opportunity. That makes her almost as bad as miss Mitchell. Not to mention a criminal , herself. She is now an accessory after the fact. Please don’t compare these 2 women. Julie Harris would have kept her mouth shut and kept on protecting Adrian. Columbo deceived and used her and she didn’t exercise her Miranda rights. She should have said nothing but she was probably afraid that that would incriminate Adrian bc it would have looked suspicious. The other disgusting blackmailer was the idiot in the first episode , I think titled murder by the book. That’s a disgrace!

Yes ur right, I just looked it up,I knew I saw her in commercials, I just forgot what for. It was Eddie Z Blinds!

yep. I recognized his voice right away before I saw his face.

Ah is that a community reference?!

@CHILD-Master General, that is true and it was revealed that Columbo did look into that investigation.... But Columbo did reveal that the two were not happy with each other.. Not even a picture of her, that he had ... And that set up a decent motive, for such a kind hearted woman to do such a terrible thing.... Abigail knew he did not like her... And that is why she suspected him so much....

We knew. There is a scene where he smirks. It was inappropriate. He killed his wife.

There are a lot of clues to make the viewer strongly believed that Edmund killed Phyllis. They make a big deal that Edmund only skis and plays golf yet drives a convertible Mercedes. If Phyllis divorced him he would probably lose his life of leisure. They also show his bedroom where it looks like 2 people have recently been sleeping in his bed even though Edmund is supposed to be in mourning after his wife’s death. Columbo mentioned that there’s not a single picture of Phyllis in their apartment. Columbo contradicts Abigail because she said that they had a happy marriage. Columbo strongly suspects that Abigail also knows that they had rough marriage and that’s why she thinks Edmund murdered her niece.

I think of that scene often.

She would have gotten away with it, if that scenario was real. The bestseller writer can afford a good lawyer, but probably this wouldnt be necessary, because actually the body of evidence is weak. So many ppl have or could have entered this strongroom after the "confinement" and the message the victim made would not have been acknowledged by all, as such...

Searched the comments for this one. I 100% agree.

If only she could attend the funeral with Harold.

@@amina-pr8xt I am not so sure. The missing car keys (not sure why she hid them in the first place), along with the note in the light bulb along with the other lies she told, I don't think it is a far leap to determine she killed him.

@@mark.8949 ja maybe

Yep, best part for me, how she points out if Columbo had been on her niece's case, she would not have needed to kill him.

@@gutz1981 Maybe, but she was just as arrogant as any of the other killers on Columbo. She suspected him, decided she must be right, and killed him.

This and the forgotten lady are great. And cried wolf.

The nefew intiinally mixed them up so police would find his note and not the people who killed him.

What Are You talking about ?

@@fab92n15 He means downscaled into these shortened episodes, 12 minutes. It's bogus, ofcourse.

@@fab92n15 What are YOU talking about?

The victim or the original victim?

@@handyandy6488 Male victim

Also seems to aspire to having the epic sadness of a Greek Tragedy at times... Which one is closest?

Also the coach in North Dallas Forty.

Bad people always get caught.

@@michellemckillop5712 As Columbo says in this clip, sometimes, GOOD people do bad things. I think of this particular murderer in that way (smile).

Love Ruth Gordon's intentional hammy acting, pretending grief over her nephew in law's demise, lol. She's so very funny.