![]() ![]() They don’t run around announcing themselves with pig squeals and a chainsaw, but instead hold down jobs and charm the people around them with cold smiles and clever manipulation. Real world sociopaths often walk among the rest of us undetected, more Jeffrey Dahmer or Ted Bundy than Ed Gein. “A Stitch In Crime” is unusual for the series in how believable, and unsettling, the killer is. Unlike a lot of Columboguests, who took the opportunity to play it big and chew up the scenery, Nimoy’s performance is quiet and calculated. Having played a half-human, half-Vulcan with hidden depths of warmth and friendship, here Nimoy brings a human completely lacking in compassion and humanity to icy life. Leonard Nimoy as Doctor Barry Mayfield in A Stitch In Crime (1973) ![]() Hopefully, that part was also inspired by Cash’s real life. He also mimes a song really badly during the episode, while surrounded by bikini-clad hippy chicks in his backyard during a beer and chilli party. Just one more thing: Cash sings a few times and plays his guitar, which is always a lovely thing to hear if you’re a fan. This isn’t like Boy George in The A-Team, essentially. Elements from Cash’s real life are used to great effect in the episode, and apart from some gurning, he acquits himself rather well as a guest star. There’s one major difference – Brown murders his wife and his girlfriend, carries on with various underage members of his gospel choir, and stitches his own parachute to get away with it all. Country star Cash, who was in the Air Force, had been busted for drugs, and wore black a lot, plays gospel star Tommy Brown, who’s been in the Air Force, brings drugs on a plane journey, and wears black a lot. Like Eminem ended up doing in 8 Mile, Cash plays a character clone of himself, very casually, and his natural performer’s charisma just about gets him through. Johnny Cash as Tommy Brown in Swan Song (1974)Įlvis Presley, Kylie Minogue, and Vanilla Ice – not every singer can act (and, looking at some on that list there, not every singer can er…sing), so settling down to watch Columboand seeing the words “Guest stars Johnny Cash” may cause you to recoil, but stick with it and you’ll be surprised.Ĭould Cash act? Well, kinda. The inverted mystery format – guest star commits murder the police detective circles the culprit the case is solved in the last five minutes – may be tired now from repeated use during the show’s long life span, but back then was ground-breaking. In its early days, Columbowas exciting programming, showcasing up-and-coming writers and young directors (episode one was directed by none other than Steven Spielberg), unusual and discordant scores, inventive camera shots and fast editing. She turned out to be right – I liked him a lot.īy then in the late ’80s, Lieutenant Columbo had been solving murder mysteries off and on for almost 20 years – he was a household name, a beloved character, and a TV mainstay. Desperately looking for something to grab my attention, and zeroing in on what ITV happened to be repeating that Sunday, her “Oh, look! Columbo! You like him, don’t you?” – “Huh?” – “He’s the one with the cigar and coat, you know him!” got me to sit down, be quiet, and puzzle over whether or not I did like him. Schlubby working class hero, Crime And Punishment’s Porfiry Petrovich for primetime, fatherly fighter of crime… I was introduced to the rumple-coated and rumple-faced one back in 1987, following an off-hand attempt from my mother to get five-year-old me to sit down and shut up for a few minutes.
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