A Matter of Honor

Quite a good Columbo mystery, and a fine performance by Ricardo Montalban to enjoy. The only drawback was that the mores of the main characters seemed a little anachronistic; protecting one's family honour as a motive for murder seems like a story out of the Zorro era, not 1970s Mexico. The only other implausibility was that a vacationing Lt. Columbo would be recognized and invited to take part in a murder investigation in another country. The film stopped short of patronizing the Mexican police authorities, and Pedro Armanderoz, Jr. played Det. Sanchez as a very competent and able counterpart to Columbo, but the set-up was a little unlikely.

Ricardo Montalban plays a proud matador in Mexico who, after an accident involving a bull, feels compelled to murder one of the witnesses, cleverly using a bull as the weapon, despite him being an old friend, because he cannot take the chance that his honor/reputation will be threatened. Enter Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) who is visiting Mexico at the time, and after an auto accident, finds himself stranded and forced to investigate the death at the request of the police, which he does conclude to be murder, despite being way out of his jurisdiction to make an actual arrest... Montalban in particular is quite good, elevating this otherwise routine entry.

Yes we've owned all 69 Columbia episodes forever.

As such, we've seen them all too many times. And yes, we'll do it again😊 'A Matter of Honor' was not one of my favs after first viewing so any years ago. But I came to appreciate Montalban's role more with time. Of course Falk's role as Columbo is only the best ever put on tv; thanks in large part to great writing.

The unveiling of the facts follows the usual course. And the TJ Chief of Police, (Pedro Armendáriz Jr.), who practically kidnaps Columbo to solicit his help; is a super likable guy. And because the suspect is such a prominent & influential member of the community, he REALLY needs Columbo, both for investigative & scapegoat reasons. One of the great things about this episode, IS the police chief's reckoning with himself as to "what kind of man/cop; he himself really is. ?

I might have rated it a star too high; but remember; whatever the worst Columbo episode is, it is nonetheless better than (pretty much), all other tv.

Bob R.

The episode begins with Columbo in Mexico. He's in trouble because a group of folks staged an accident and Columbo barely speaks Spanish. Fortunately a local policeman intervenes...unfortunately, he has to stay in the country for a few more days AND this policeman asks him to help on a case. It seems that on the estate of a great retired bullfighter, Don Montoya (Ricardo Montalban), there have been a couple accidents. First, a young bullfighter in training was severely injured. Second, shortly after that the injured man's father is torn to pieces by the same bull. Soon, Columbo is convinced that the death was NOT an accident...the bull was 'helped'. But why??

This is a sub-par episode because by the end Columbo found a good reason for the murder but in no way did he prove that the murderer killed anyone....no evidence at all. Yet, inexplicably, the man surrendered to police and the credits began to roll! Overall, quite weak...and a disappointment.

By the way, this as well as episodes of "Mannix", "Quincy", "Murder She Wrote", "Cannon" and "Columbo" have convinced me that crimefighters should NEVER go on vacation....bodies are sure to begin piling up wherever they go!

Luis Montoya (Ricardo Montalban) is an ex-bullfighter, renowned throughout Mexico for his courage in the ring. His trusted bookkeeper, Hector Rangel (Robert Carricart), has a son (A Martinez) who is also a bullfighter. The son was recently gored in the ring and sent to the hospital. Montoya and the elder Rangel were both at this bullfight, and something happens that neither can ever forget. When days later, Rangel ends up dead in the bullring, it looks as if he tried to revenge his son on the bull by fighting it alone. Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) of the Los Angeles police department, on vacation with his wife in Tijuana, is persuaded to investigate the case by Commandante Sanchez (Pedro Armendáriz). Our rumpled, redoubtable detective notices things that lead him to suspect murder—with a bull as the murder weapon.

Columbo's official trip to London ("Dagger of the Mind"), his vacation on a cruise ship to Acapulco ("Troubled Waters") and now his trip to Tijuana, all have lead him into investigating tricky crimes. No matter where he goes, rich and famous people are trying to pull off the perfect murder.

This is the first time that any direct reference is made to another episode. Commandante Sanchez is familiar with the case in "Troubled Waters," which is why he asks Columbo to join him on this one. Acknowledging earlier episodes is a mistake. It requires a great suspension of disbelief to accept that a single L.A. police lieutenant would ever encounter more than one of these high profile cases in a lifetime; or that any one of them wouldn't earn him fame and an instant promotion. The best way to pull this off is to pretend that each case is unique and that none of the others really happened. To me, every "Columbo" exists in its own alternate universe.

Having Columbo investigate a murder in a Mexican bullring is one of several novelties the series tried around this time. It's odd that the more this show departs from its strict formula, the more it seems like a conventional TV show. There's nothing particularly wrong with this episode; it just feels like a hundred other TV time-passers. Also, by this point in the series, the show had begun to look and sound more conventional anyway. Gone are the weird visual flourishes, like the murder cover-up that is presented to us in Robert Culp's eyeglasses (" Death Lends a Hand."); and gone is the psychedelic music from Billy Goldenberg.

Still, the scenes where Peter Falk plays cat-and-mouse with the guest villain-of-the-month are invariably entertaining, even in the weakest episodes. And it's nice to see Ricardo Montalban in something more watchable than "Fantasy Island."