IMDb > "Columbo" Troubled Waters (1975)
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"Columbo" Troubled Waters (1975)


Overview

User Rating:
7.3/10   502 votes
Director:
Ben Gazzara
Writers:
William Driskill (teleplay)
Jackson Gillis (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Troubled Waters on IMDbPro.
TV Series:
"Columbo" (1971)
Original Air Date:
9 February 1975 (Season 4, Episode 4)
Genre:
Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller more
Plot:
Lt. Columbo takes a trip to Acapulco, but finds himself on a new case when a used car dealer commits murder on the cruise ship. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
Columbo Has an Invisible Wife ?! more (15 total)

Cast

  (Episode Complete credited cast)

Peter Falk ... Columbo

Robert Vaughn ... Hayden Danziger
Jane Greer ... Sylvia Danziger
Dean Stockwell ... Lloyd Harrington
Bernard Fox ... Purser Watkins
Robert Douglas ... Doctor Frank Pierce
Patrick Macnee ... Captain Gibbon
Poupée Bocar ... Rosanna Wells

Susan Damante ... Melissa
Peter Maloney ... Artie Podell

Curtis Credel ... The Magician
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
93 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono
Certification:
Finland:K-18 (2006) (DVD) (self applied)
Company:
Universal TV more

Fun Stuff

Goofs:
Continuity: When Columbo is talking to the doctor, he asks if there was any bruises on Miss Wells' body, he says, "No bruises". But Danziger (Robert Vaughn) punched her in the face in her cabin just a few hours earlier, knocking her down. It's unlikely this would have left no bruise. more
Quotes:
Lt. Columbo: [Lt. Columbo is preparing to test fire a bullet for a ballistics check] Would you mind?
Hayden Danziger: Mind what?
Lt. Columbo: Mind firing the gun into the mattress. I hate guns. Besides, I'm a bad shot, I'm liable to miss.
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Soundtrack:
The Girl From Ipanema more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
2 out of 4 people found the following comment useful.
Columbo Has an Invisible Wife ?!, 4 October 2007
Author: ahmed elshikh (ahmed_abd_elreheem@yahoo.com) from Egypt

This is so nice Columbo episode for sure. Although the surrender of the murderer was easy at the end as usual (like we'll never watch one car chase at the end of any Columbo's episodes !), but solving the mystery was fun, the scenery from that ship was fabulous, (Peter Falk) is genius as ever, (Robert Vaughn) as the killer was at his ordinary level as icy cold actor however with little progress because of the "Falk" presence, and also (Susan Damante-Shaw) as nurse (Melissa) was extremely sexy.

Then we come to the matter of the mysterious Mrs. Columbo. Well, that's a puzzle in itself ?!! Why this lady is that invisible ?! At the first episodes whenever Columbo talks and talks about her along with his endless talking about his relatives, cousins and God knows who else, I thought that they're all lies as tricks to distract the killer or to make the wicked conversion longer. So all of those characters is nothing but his own useful fictions. Especially when he didn't ever wear a ring on his hand !

I thought that they intended to make it his own fantasy. Like in season 1 of "Scrubs" when they wanted to make The Janitor as a complete figment of JD's imagination (But they didn't), and as the last scene of earlier episode (Columbo: Dead Weight - 1971) where he was lightening a sad women by a story about his niece (Marilyn) and when the women doubts the truth of that story she asks him (Do you really have a niece ?) so he tells her seriously (of course and her name is Nancy) !!!, so in (Troubled Waters) on the cruise which Columbo & wife were having together, we finally had the opportunity to see that alleged wife after 7 years of Columbo's first emergence and 7 years of talking about her since (Prescription: Murder - 1968), but we've seen nothing at all !

I believe they made it like that as a nice suspense which turned out to be just a gimmick at the end, especially when she didn't have even one appearance in any of Columbo's works ! Such as other gimmicks of the same time : Charlie in " Charlie's Angels", Robin Masters in "Magnum.P.I", although in those two cases we've heard the voice but in this mystery lady's situation we didn't even hear a thing !

And I hated when they made a show named (Mrs. Columbo) Ohh!, I don't believe for a second that the wife of him is a detective too ! The man can't live it this way even if he loves the investigation work that much, I think always that he goes home to rest not to continue the work with the wife ! That will be a nightmare already. Moreover I felt that the whole thing was cheap profiteering from the success of Columbo's personality, episodes and name ! which simply confirmed, as an early proof, that Columbo was the best and the most popular among all the era's TV detectives (McMillan & Wife , McCloud , Quincy M.E. and so on).

P.S : when (Columbo) was going to meet (Hayden Danziger) during some festival on the ship, wearing a nice colored shirt (rare time to see him without the familiar eternal outfit), the people on the ship (whom seemed like real ones not extras at all) just stopped to shake hands with him as (Peter Falk) ! Because nobody knows (Columbo) on the ship that much !, so as the camera rolling you'll observe quickly his factual modest smile.. I think that's real piece of trivia for you.

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