A guide to El ngel Exterminador for the perplexed. Post has a flawless bit of comedy with the Peugeot inflicting whiplash south of the border and confiscated for want of local insurance.
He develops a rapid technique based on a fluid tension of the close-up and the medium shot. When the murderer is confronted, more or less openly, Post amplifies the situation with a zoom, more or less directly.
There is peculiar interest in the modus operandi. A famous matador, now retired to the breeding of bulls, reveals himself immobilized in fear when faced with one by happenstance. He kills a witness by first drugging him just enough to render him inchoate but not motionless, so as to incite a bull helplessly. Yet the motive is withheld entirely from view, except for exchanged glances and a dubious air, until Lt. Columbo deduces it at length.
Sublimity is in the characterization of Lt. Columbo as nearly inarticulate off his own bat, but a regular Holmes on the scent. It's a question of gathered evidence contradicting a first-person account and customary practice in the bullringabout which the Lieutenant knows "not very much"and also a weather report.
"Even the bulls know me," says Emilio Fernandez, gesturing toward them in the abstract. Even the local police know Lt. Columbo, because of his single-handed success with the cruise ship murder en route to Mexico in "Troubled Waters". He briefly recounts the escapade, beginning with "my wife won the tickets," and trailing off from there standing next to his Peugeot on a tow hook, until he's pressed into service on a hacienda murder "to expedite matters," with Mrs. Columbo all the time "back at the hotel," waiting for him.moreless
Episode Summary
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The owner of a bull ranch in Mexico gives his workers the day off, and then talks his number one man into fighting the bull who nearly killed his son. But instead he shoots him with a tranquilizer gun, and lets the bull kill him. Colombo, who is on vacation in Mexico, gets dragged into this case by an admiring colleague, but he has trouble convincing the Mexicans that the accident is really homicide. And how do you prove that the bull is a murder weapon?moreless
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GUEST STAR
Enrique LuceroJaime Delgado
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GUEST STAR
Evita Munoz ChachitaChambermaid
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GUEST STAR
Robert CarricartHector Rangel
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Peter Falk
Lieutenant Columbo (no first name)
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions
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TRIVIA (2)
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The bull that kills Hector is named Marinero, which means "Sailor" in Spanish.
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The film clips Montoya watches of himself as a young man in the bull ring are taken from a film Ricardo Montalban made in Mexico in 1944 called La Hora de la Verdad (The Hour of Truth).
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QUOTES (3)
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Comandante Sanchez: I see you're a thorough man, Lieutenant, but the bull did kill Rangel. Columbo: Yes, I can see that but it's important to be thorough, especially when a man dies alone.
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Sanchez: I hope you understand, Luis, that the Lieutenant is here as my guest. He has no official status. Luis Montoya: So inquisitive. I find him amusing.
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Columbo: That shows you I don't know much about bullfighting. Ranch Foreman: Is that all, señor? Columbo: You know, I think my wife was right. There's something wrong with me. I'm supposed to be on vacation and right away I'm thinking like a cop. That's called, uh, occupational hazard. Foreman: Occupational hazard, what is that? Columbo: That's, uh, when wherever you go you take your work with you. Foreman: Oh, I see. We call that loco.
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NOTES (3)
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70 minutes long.
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One of the few times the show refers back to a previous episode. The Police Chief says he read in the newspaper about Columbo's solving of a murder on a cruise ship "last year". This show aired just about one year after "Troubled Waters"
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90 minutes long.
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ALLUSIONS (0)
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Best murderer
01/20/1022
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Which Episode Is This I Wonder...?
12/09/092
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How's about a seaon by season episode guide?
09/16/092
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Favorite episode
08/02/0919
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Early episode featured L A Lakers at practice, which eps?
07/22/092
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How to Dial a Murder
S 7 : Ep 4
Aired 4/15/78 (1:12:26)
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Make Me a Perfect Murder
S 7 : Ep 3
Aired 2/28/78 (1:37:42)
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Murder under Glass
S 7 : Ep 2
Aired 1/30/78 (1:13:24)
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Try and Catch Me
S 7 : Ep 1
Aired 11/21/77 (1:12:37)
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