[It’s criminal how little I’ve written in this space about one of my favorite characters and cultural works. Well that changes this week, as I’ll be AmericanStudying a handful of the most contextually compelling—ie, not necessarily the most memorable, but the most connected to historical and cultural contexts—of Columbo’s murderers!]
[NB. Some inevitable SPOILERS in each of these posts!]
On one less and one more successful attempt to bring ethnic diversity to Columbo.
Like most Columbo superfans, I don’t have a lot about this wonderful show that I’d change. Certainly I wish we could have gotten a more overtly culminating finale episode—2003’s Columbo Likes the Nightlife isn’t terrible (and does feature a very young Matthew Rhys as the main murderer!), but it’s nowhere near the sendoff that this iconic character and show deserved. That’s a what-if/alternate history kind of change, though; when it comes to the episodes that did air, there’s really just one critique that I and many fans have, which is that almost all of the murderers/guest stars were white. Think for a moment about a 70s-era Columbo murderer played by Sidney Poitier, for example, and tell me that that wouldn’t have been about the best thing ever; or, for the late 80s/90s episodes once he had become justifiably famous, James Earl Jones. Supposedly the producers wanted Sammy Davis Jr. and it just never came together, which is its own kind of frustrating what-if to be sure. But whoever it might have been, at least one Black murderer would have expanded the Columbo universe in ways that remind us that diversity and representation are significant cultural goals.
By my count, there were really just two Columbo murderers who were played by non-white actors, and strikingly enough they were featured in the same season and just two episodes apart: Hector Elizondo as Hassan Salah in S5 E2 A Case of Immunity; and Ricardo Montalban as Luis Montoya in S5 E4 A Matter of Honor. If the idea of Puerto Rican actor Elizondo playing an Arab American character—Salah works for the embassy of the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Suaria—doesn’t quite gel for you, you’re not alone (and neither is he—the Italian American actor Sal Mineo also plays a Suarian!), and I’d argue that this problematic casting reflects an episode that portrays its ethnic main characters and community in likewise troubling ways. The most striking example is that Salah believes that his country should remain very traditional and conservative (that’s a main motive for the two murders he commits), always dresses in traditional Suarian garb (which resembles traditional Muslim fashion overall), and is overtly and negatively contrasted with the progressive young King of Suaria who constantly wears a military uniform and whom Columbo befriends to help solve the case (during the climax the King even says “my friend Lieutenant Columbo”). It’s not a bad episode by any means, but when it comes to representation, it falls well short.
That becomes even more apparent when we compare Immunity to the phenomenal Season 5 episode A Matter of Honor. It’s not just that Ricardo Montalban was a Mexican-born actor playing a Mexican character, the retired but still legendary bullfighter Luis Montoya, although that definitely helps. And it’s not just that the episode takes place in Mexico (Columbo and his wife are on vacation there and he gets pulled into investigating a murder), although that allows for the inclusion of one of the show’s best supporting characters ever and another excellent example of representation, the local police chief Commandante Sanchez (played by the wonderful Pedro Armendáriz Jr.). Instead, this is an episode where not only are Montoya’s Mexican culture and identity represented thoughtfully, but where they also become key elements of the mystery—Montoya is constantly accusing Columbo of not understanding the world of bullfighting (and through it the broader Mexican culture that to him it embodies); but in reality it is the Lieutenant’s gradual (and very telling of the character) ability to learn and understand a great deal that allows him to figure out the murder and eventually catch Montoya. That wouldn’t have been required for the show to have a Mexican American guest star/murderer, but I find it quite successful and a great example of what additional representation might have allowed.
Last VillainStudying tomorrow,
Ben
PS. What do you think? Columbo takeaways you’d share?
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