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Columbo Season 3 Episode 2

Any Old Port in a Storm

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8.7

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Episode Summary

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AIRED: 10/7/73

Winemaker Adrian Carsini decides to kill his younger brother before he can sell the family winery. Columbo will have to use Adrian's excellent wine knowledge against him to bring the killer to justice.

FAN RECAP

Fan Episode Reviews (5)

This episode is IMO the worst this far.Hated the ending.

1.0

By Chipsaren, May 15, 2011

I liked Pleasence in this.I would have liked this episode more if it wasn't for the ending. Columbo gave the murderer some wine at the end. I thought it was really tasteless of Columbo to do that! Columbo obviously admired the murdering wineguy. I can't see a reason for him to do that. Maybe because he was a highstatus person or because they were both italians. It wouldn't surprise me if Columbo after the ending "fixed it" so the wineguy could get away with his crime. I lost some respect for Columbo after that. Admire a murderer. That's why I gave it only a "1".moreless
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An excellent episode.

9.0

By d_parker, May 15, 2011

I liked this episode but what struck me as odd was the fact that the killer was possibly one of the most vile killers Columbo has faced, yet Colombo appeared to have no hatred for him and even gave him a present, some wine, at the end of the episode. Think about it, the killer left his brother for dead and he cooked in the heat of the wine cellar when the air conditioning broke down and had to starve to death at the same time. Maybe you could think that the killer thought his brother was already dead and didn't know that he'd suffer but still, the brother died a nasty death. Or maybe Columbo didn't think much of the killer's playboy brother and thought he got what he deserved?moreless
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9.1

By LAntichristo, May 15, 2011

Pleasence and Falk form a great chemistry the way they start to trifle around about making wine. At this point the viewer is treated to some of Columbo's best idiosyncratic traits that has made his character so famous. I was hoping that Pleasence and Falk would team up again for a second Columbo but my hopes came to an end when Mr.Pleasence passed away in 1995.

The story is set around a priggish and arrogant wine-maker and his attempts to cover up his brother's murder.

Peter Falk is brilliant as usual - his character is at his most annoying in this episode.

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Slow. Rickety.

4.0

By ahope1, May 15, 2011

A very slow-moving episode -- it's nearly an hour before Columbo and the murderer actually meet! Peter Falk is always a delight to watch, of course, but even he can't make up for a story that's spread incredibly thin. As for Pleasance, he telephones in his performance, which is a disorienting mix of phlegmatic, ruthless killer and borderline neurotic, switching abruptly from one to the other as and when the half-hearted script demands. All in all, an indifferent episode. But it needn't have been this way -- the whole Columbo-as-oenophile idea could surely have, er, borne fruit, for instance, but it seems that the writers just couldn't squeeze enough juice out of it. Shame.moreless
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Dr. Evil.

9.0

By jcoliver3, May 15, 2011

How can you not love an episode with Donald Pleasence as the villian? Also, the guy who played Nazorine the Baker from The Godfather is back again. The interplay between Columbo and Pleasence is classic. Another great ending with Columbo showing respect for his enemy with a little salute sequence. Toasts him with some wine. Classic scene when Pleasence goes beserk in resturant over some bad wine. Also flips out and brains a guy in his office while trembling and spittle flying everywhere. Guy gives off a crazy insane vibe. Great actor. Columbo shows off his genius in this one. Thank you very much.moreless
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Cast & Crew: STARS

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Peter Falk

Lieutenant Columbo (no first name)

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Cast & Crew: RECURRING AND GUESTS

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Donald Pleasence	Adrian Carsino	Guest Star
Dana Elcar	Falcon	Guest Star
Julie Harris	Karen Fielding	Guest Star
Vito Scotti	Maitre'd	Recurring Role

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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TRIVIA (1)
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- At the beginning of the episode, Adrian has an open bottle of wine on his desk, allowing it to "breathe." After the little matter of slugging his brother, he fetches the bottle in and has his friend decant it. Later, with Columbo present, he states that he needs to open a bottle of wine so that it can breathe, but he immediately decants it and puts the stopple in, which would keep it from breathing.
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QUOTES (8)
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- Adrian Carsini: Titian would have gone mad trying to mix so beautiful a red. And he would have failed dismally in the attempt.
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- (At the wine auction)
  Karen Fielding: Do you really need it, Mr. Carsini?
  Adrian Carsini: Nobody really needs a $5000 bottle of wine, Karen. I just don't want anybody else to have it.
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- Columbo: You two didn't have a fight or anything, did you?
  Joan Stacey: No, but...
  Columbo: Maybe he got cold feet. That's been known to happen. Was he married before?
  Joan: Three times.
  Columbo: Three times? I guess his feet are warm enough by now.
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- Carsini: That's ironic.
  Columbo: Sir?
  Carsini: Well, I--I'm probably one of the few men in the world that could have told you that wine was spoiled and--and told you it was because it was overheated.
  Columbo: Yes, sir. It required a very delicate talent.
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- Karen Fielding: You're trying to turn me back into an employee.
  Adrian Carsini: You were never anything but an employee.
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- Columbo: I want you to teach me everything you know.
  Wine Expert: It took me forty years to acquire my expertise.
  Columbo: Well, what can you do in an hour and a half?
  Wine Expert: Oh, just the very basics.
  Columbo: Let's start with this-- How can you tell a good wine from an average wine?
  Wine Expert: By the price.
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- Columbo: Do I get a confession, sir?
  Carsini: Oh yes. I'll confess. There's no remorse attached to it. It's a great weight off my mind as a matter of fact.
  Columbo: Why's that, sir?
  Carsini: Well you see, Karen had guessed the truth. She was turning the thumbscrews on me. She's, uh, quite a little iron maiden, that lady. I guess freedom is purely relative.
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- Carsini: You've learned very well, Lieutenant.
  Columbo: Thank you, sir. That's the nicest thing anybody's ever said to me.
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NOTES (2)
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- 91 minutes long.
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- Actor Vito Scotti appears _six_ times in Columbo series: ep. 19 "Any Old Port in a Storm" (Maitre d'), ep. 20 "Candidate for Crime" (Mr. Chadwick, a taylor), ep. 24 "Swan Song" (Mr. Grindell); ep. 27 "Negative Reaction" (Thomas Dolan, a drunk), ep. 34 "Identity Crisis" (Salvatore Defonte), and ep. 50 "Murder, a Self Portrait" (Vito).
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ALLUSIONS (1)
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- Miss Fielding mentions that she is planning to watch an Alan Ladd movie, This Gun For Hire. Released in 1942, this film "introduces" Alan Ladd (although in truth, he had made a number of films previously).
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