Favorite Columbo episodes
by danbnnsn | created - 18 Sep 2017 | updated - 22 May 2018 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Ransom for a Dead Man (1971 TV Movie)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After killing her boring husband and disposing of the body, a supposedly brilliant tort attorney fakes his kidnapping and keeps the ransom money. The FBI may be fooled, but not Columbo.
Director: Richard Irving | Stars: Peter Falk, Lee Grant, John Fink, Harold Gould
Votes: 3,732
2.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Murder by the Book
(1971)
TV-PG | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When one member of a mystery writing team wants to break from his less talented partner, he becomes the victim in a real-life murder mystery.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Rosemary Forsyth, Martin Milner
Votes: 5,230
3.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
A Stitch in Crime
(1973)
Not Rated | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A surgeon has an ingenious plan for murdering his partner in a research project, but a nurse catches onto the scheme.
Director: Hy Averback | Stars: Peter Falk, Leonard Nimoy, Anne Francis, Nita Talbot
Votes: 3,298
4.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Double Shock
(1973)
Not Rated | 74 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A smarmy TV chef and his identical twin brother, a rigidly proper banker, are suspects in the electrocution of their rich uncle.
Director: Robert Butler | Stars: Peter Falk, Martin Landau, Jeanette Nolan, Tim O'Connor
Votes: 2,761
5.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Any Old Port in a Storm
(1973)
TV-PG | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A wine connisseur kills his half- brother to prevent him selling the family winery to a merchant company so he can pay off his gambling debts.
Director: Leo Penn | Stars: Peter Falk, Donald Pleasence, Joyce Jillson, Gary Conway
Votes: 3,740
6.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Double Exposure
(1973)
TV-PG | 70 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A self-styled "motivation research specialist" uses subliminal cues to commit a murder. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Director: Richard Quine | Stars: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Robert Middleton, Chuck McCann
Votes: 2,685
7.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Negative Reaction
(1974)
Unrated | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A photographer murders his wife and blames her death on a bungled kidnapping. But Lt. Columbo has an even sharper eye than the Pulitzer Prize winner.
Director: Alf Kjellin | Stars: Peter Falk, Dick Van Dyke, Don Gordon, Larry Storch
Votes: 2,941
8.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
By Dawn's Early Light
(1974)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The commandant of a military academy murders the chairman of the board, who wants to oust him. Lt. Columbo takes up residence in the barracks to expose the killer.
Director: Harvey Hart | Stars: Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, Burr DeBenning, Madeleine Sherwood
Votes: 2,879
9.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Troubled Waters
(1975)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
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.
Director: Ben Gazzara | Stars: Peter Falk, Robert Vaughn, Jane Greer, Dean Stockwell
Votes: 2,798
10.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Forgotten Lady
(1975)
TV-PG | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A faded dance star of film and stage murders her husband and makes it look like a suicide; Lt. Columbo doubts her seemingly perfect alibi.
Director: Harvey Hart | Stars: Peter Falk, Janet Leigh, Maurice Evans, Sam Jaffe
Votes: 3,058
11.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Now You See Him
(1976)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A stage illusionist kills his employer and makes it look like a contract killing; it's up to Lt. Columbo to trick the master trickster.
Director: Harvey Hart | Stars: Peter Falk, Jack Cassidy, Bob Dishy, Nehemiah Persoff
Votes: 2,907
12.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Fade in to Murder
(1976)
TV-PG | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An egotistical but successful star of a TV detective show murders his blackmailing producer and makes it look like a robbery.
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski | Stars: Peter Falk, William Shatner, Bert Remsen, Alan Manson
Votes: 2,440
13.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Try and Catch Me
(1977)
TV-PG | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A mystery writer suspects her niece's husband of murdering her, and she exacts revenge by asphyxiating him in her house safe.
Director: James Frawley | Stars: Peter Falk, Ruth Gordon, Mariette Hartley, G.D. Spradlin
Votes: 3,019
14.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
How to Dial a Murder
(1978)
TV-PG | 73 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A behavioral psychologist whose wife died under suspicious circumstances trains his dogs to kill on command using a telephone.
Director: James Frawley | Stars: Peter Falk, Nicol Williamson, Kim Cattrall, Joel Fabiani
Votes: 2,556
15.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Murder, Smoke and Shadows
(1989)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An egocentric wunderkind director, Alex Bradey, murders a childhood friend, Leonard Fisher, who threatens to expose his complicity in the negligent death of Leonard's sister, Jenny, years before Bradey found fame and success.
Director: James Frawley | Stars: Peter Falk, Fisher Stevens, Molly Hagan, Nan Martin
Votes: 2,281
16.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Rest in Peace, Mrs. Columbo
(1990)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A woman who blames Columbo for the loss of her husband sets out to get back at him.
Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: Peter Falk, Helen Shaver, Ian McShane, Edward Winter
Votes: 2,208
17.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Columbo Cries Wolf
(1990)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When Dian Hunter, the publisher of the men's magazine "Bachelor's World", wants to sell her stock to a media tycoon, her adulterous partner Sean Brantley objects. Soon afterwards, Miss Hunter apparently disappears on a London-bound flight.
Director: Daryl Duke | Stars: Peter Falk, Ian Buchanan, Rebecca Staab, Alan Scarfe
Votes: 2,317
18.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Columbo Goes to College
(1990)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two college students decide to murder their professor during a class that Columbo is teaching.
Director: E.W. Swackhamer | Stars: Peter Falk, Stephen Caffrey, Gary Hershberger, James Sutorius
Votes: 2,227
19.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Butterfly in Shades of Grey
(1994)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Columbo investigates a case involving argumentative radio talk show host Fielding Chase.
Director: Dennis Dugan | Stars: Peter Falk, William Shatner, Molly Hagan, Jack Laufer
Votes: 1,889
20.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Blueprint for Murder
(1972)
TV-PG | 75 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Elliot Markham, a brilliant architect and con-man, murders a Texas millionaire and hides his body in order to keep his visionary construction project financed.
Director: Peter Falk | Stars: Peter Falk, Patrick O'Neal, Janis Paige, Pamela Austin
Votes: 3,075
21.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Étude in Black
(1972)
Not Rated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A ruthless conductor murders the gifted pianist with whom he is having an affair. Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Directors: Nicholas Colasanto, John Cassavetes, Peter Falk | Stars: Peter Falk, John Cassavetes, James Olson, Blythe Danner
Votes: 3,629
22.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Candidate for Crime
(1973)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Senatorial candidate Nelson Hayward murders his domineering campaign manager, staging it to appear that Hayward himself was the intended victim of a mob hit gone wrong.
Director: Boris Sagal | Stars: Peter Falk, Jackie Cooper, Joanne Linville, Tisha Sterling
Votes: 2,762
23.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Suitable for Framing
(1971)
PG | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A wealthy art collector is murdered, and all signs point to a robbery gone wrong. But the nephew's alibi is a little too convenient, and Columbo pulls a fast one to ferret out the killer.
Director: Hy Averback | Stars: Peter Falk, Ross Martin, Don Ameche, Kim Hunter
Votes: 3,595
24.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Death Lends a Hand
(1971)
TV-PG | 76 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Columbo matches his skills against Brimmer, a former cop turned private investigator with a quick temper who tries to blackmail a client's wife. When she refuses, he accidentally kills her and it's up to Columbo to nail him.
Director: Bernard L. Kowalski | Stars: Peter Falk, Robert Culp, Pat Crowley, Ray Milland
Votes: 3,759
25.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
No Time to Die
(1992)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Columbo attends the wedding of his nephew, who is also with the LAPD. Suddenly it turns out that the bride is missing, possibly kidnapped. Columbo sets up the investigation to figure out what happened.
Director: Alan J. Levi | Stars: Peter Falk, Joanna Going, Thomas Calabro, Dan Butler
Votes: 2,117
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