Well, well, well...

[ian.64]

Remember that Columbo thread where I thought a big screen version of the scruffy but brilliant 'tec would be ideal, and that one of you lot suggested Mark Ruffalo would be equally so in the lead role?

Well, lookee here...

[Benjm]

Well, well, well...

I'm not a fan of Mark Ruffalo. He usually exudes slightly too much awareness and appreciation of his own rumpled charm, his Ruffalitude. In that respect he'd be a good fit for Columbo if the makers were going for a Starsky And Hutch style pastiche but not if they were trying for an edgy revamp like Miami Vice. Neither approach seems likely to yield great results on previous form.

Has anyone seen 2003's Columbo Likes The Nightlife?

Columbo gets a taste of the Los Angeles rave scene as he investigates the apparent suicide of a tabloid reporter.

I'd be interested to know how it compares with the rave episode of Inspector Morse.

[ian.64]

Well, well, well...

I try to steer clear of the later episodes of Columbo (I've got them in my box-set, but I'm rarely inclined to watch them) because (1) they're nowhere near as good as the priceless earlier ones, and (2) because they remind me too much of how Falk was in his prime as that character back then. I tried to sit through one with George Wendt as a corrupt racehorce owner, but it just didn't work. Wendt radiated the same kind of menace as a cocker spaniel would. And it just felt lame.

I would accept that Ruffalo isn't everyone's cup of tea (I find him very watchable) but he may just contain enough rumpled charm - which was the deceptive key to the appeal of Columbo - to make the whole thing work. If anyone's going to make it, that is. And I think it would work if someone nailed a mood that made the series so good. It doesn't have to be edgy and it doesn't have to be pastiche. Depends on the story - if it's well made, the tone of the movie sorts itself out.

[Benjm]

Well, well, well...

I can't see that a film would manage to capture that mood though. Those 70s/80s character led pieces like Columbo or Murder, She Wrote are quite flat visually and any remake for cinema would be likely to snazz things up at the expense of the performances.

[ian.64]

Well, well, well...

Wouldn't hurt to give some visual sheen, but the main appeal of Columbo is the hook of the character itself, a gentlemanly shambles of a man hiding a whip-smart intelligence who brings the smug - and mainly wealthy, well-to-do and well-connected - criminal down to earth. It's that particular element that a lush, sleek production would need to get a grip with. Murder She Wrote is a watchable piece of fluff, but doesn't provide that sneaky kick that Columbo provides. That and a halfway good story helps a lot.

Star Trek - just to go a different tangent - was a colourful and affectionately remembered piece of hokum, but the series of movies, culminating in JJ Abrams's expertly re-booted versions, brought it with little difficulty to the screen. Why can't another staple of vintage television have the same treatment. If handled by people who love the original enough not to fuck it up then Columbo can work.