Columbo

Columbo (1971)

3 mistakes in Any Old Port in a Storm - chronological order

(34 votes)

Starring: Peter Falk

Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Any Old Port in a Storm - S3-E2

Audio problem: Pay phones always dropped your coin into an internal cash box when you finished your call. In the bar, Columbo makes two calls, and after the first, we hear the coin drop as it should. When he finishes the second call, we should hear that coin fall, too, but it doesn't. (00:34:05)

Jean G

Any Old Port in a Storm - S3-E2

Character mistake: Adrian Carsini, a wine connoisseur and winery manager, pours two glasses of wine, one for himself and one for Lieutenant Columbo. Each man puts his hand around the top of his glass and begins to drink. A true wine connoisseur never touches the top of the glass. He holds the glass by the stem so the warmth of his hand does not affect the taste of the wine.

Any Old Port in a Storm - S3-E2

Plot hole: Carsini has a wine vault (with very expensive wine in it) with an integrated air conditioner. There are indeed wine vaults like that. But mostly active cooling wine vault are used by "amateur" wine lovers (who can't afford an underground cellar) but not by wine connoisseurs like Carsini. Active coolings are not very reliable. A power failure or a simple malfunction and Carsini would lose all of his expansive wines he collected for many years (like we saw in the episode). So why shouldn't a huge wine connoisseur build a cellar, surrounded by cooling soil where temperatures never rise that high? He is rich, he as a big estate, a villa, and he knows better to store the jewels of his passion adequately. Why store wines in a potential oven where high temperatures (without air conditioning) can even kill a man (his brother) in the first place? It is a far fetched and an unnecessary gambling just to have a murder-plot.

Goekhan

Columbo: Oh, I didn't come to ask any more questions. I came to arrest you.

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A Deadly State of Mind - S4-E6

Trivia: Unusually enough for a television show devoted to a homicide detective and the way he unravels the plans of cunning murderers, the fact is that Columbo has nothing to do in this episode. Doctor Collier is seriously assaulted by Carl Donner who then goes on to violently attack his wife. Use of deadly force to prevent such an attack is allowed in the United States. Collier does not commit murder; he doesn't even commit a crime. You'd think such a hightly educated man would know enough to keep his head, call the police and explain what had happened. He wouldn't even be charged.

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Suggested correction: Collier would have lost his licence to practice medicine as a result of his having a sexual relationship with a patient, and his killing the woman's husband - justified or not - would have made this much worse. For a start, the lucrative book deal he is about to sign would certainly have been cancelled. He stands to lose everything. Of course he is going to try to cover it up by any means possible, including committing another murder.

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Show generally

Question: Why was Columbo never promoted, given that across the whole show he solves all the murders in such a spectacular fashion?

Answer: In the show, he was already a Lieutenant. A promotion would put him in the next rank up, which for the L.A.P.D. would be Captain. However, some of a Captain's duties would be overseeing other officers and ensuring they're compliant with policies, regulations, and standards. It would also most likely take him out of the field. This is something Columbo has no desire for as he rarely goes to police HQ's. Nor does he show interest in compliance and standards (for example, not going to his semi-annual evaluation at the firing range). However, he could still be assigned to a higher pay grade based on expertise, which is a form of promotion that does not include rank advancement. This would be going from Lieutenant I to Lieutenant II. I don't believe in the show it's ever started what his pay grade is. Although, in s02e01 (I believe) he mentions making $11K a year. Whether or not this was a true statement on his part, if you could find pay scale information for an LAPD Lieutenant in the 70's, it could give you an idea of his pay grade.

Bishop73

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