Peter Falk Movies
Best known as the rumpled television detective Columbo, character actor Peter Falk has also enjoyed a successful film career, often in association with the groundbreaking independent filmmaker John Cassavetes. Born September 16, 1927, in New York City, Falk lost an eye at the age of three, resulting in the odd, squinting gaze which later became his trademark. He initially pursued a career in public administration, serving as an efficiency expert with the Connecticut Budget Bureau, but in the early '50s, boredom with his work sparked an interest in acting. By 1955, Falk had turned professional, and an appearance in a New York production of The Iceman Cometh earned him much attention. He soon graduated to Broadway and in 1958 made his feature debut in the Nicholas Ray/Budd Schulberg drama Wind Across the Everglades.
A diminutive, stocky, and unkempt presence, Falk's early screen roles often portrayed him as a blue-collar type or as a thug; it was as the latter in 1960's Murder Inc. that he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, a major career boost. He was nominated in the same category the following year as well, this time as a sarcastic bodyguard in Frank Capra's Pocketful of Miracles. In 1962, Falk won an Emmy for his work in the television film The Price of Tomatoes, a presentation of the Dick Powell Theater series. The steady stream of accolades made him a hot property, and he next starred in the 1962 feature Pressure Point. A cameo in Stanley Kramer's 1963 smash It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World preceded Falk's appearance in the Rat Pack outing Robin and the Seven Hoods, but the film stardom many predicted for him always seemed just out of reach, despite lead roles in 1965's The Great Race and 1967's Luv.
In 1968, Falk first assumed the role of Columbo, the disheveled police lieutenant whose seemingly slow and inept investigative manner masked a steel-trap mind; debuting in the TV movie Prescription: Murder, the character was an immediate hit, and after a second telefilm, Ransom for a Dead Man, a regular Columbo series premiered as part of the revolving NBC Mystery Movie anthology in the fall of 1971, running for seven years and earning Falk a second Emmy in the process. In the meantime, he also continued his film career, most notably with Cassavetes; in 1970, Falk starred in the director's Husbands, and in 1974 they reunited for the brilliant A Woman Under the Influence. In between the two pictures, Falk also returned to Broadway, where he won a Tony award for his performance in the 1972 Neil Simon comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue. In 1976, Cassavetes joined him in front of the camera to co-star in Elaine May's Mikey and Nicky, and directed him again in 1977's Opening Night.
After Columbo ceased production in 1978, Falk starred in the Simon-penned mystery spoof The Cheap Detective, followed by the William Friedkin caper comedy The Brink's Job (1978). After 1979's The In-Laws, he starred two years later in ...All the Marbles, but was then virtually absent from the screen for the next half decade. Cassavetes' 1986 effort Big Trouble brought Falk back to the screen (albeit on a poor note; Cassavetes later practically disowned the embarrassing film) and and in 1987 he starred in Happy New Year along with the Rob Reiner cult favorite The Princess Bride. An appearance as himself in Wim Wenders' masterful Wings of Desire in 1988 preceded his 1989 resumption of the Columbo character for another regular series; the program was to remain Falk's focus well into the next decade, with only a handful of film appearances in pictures including 1990's Tune in Tomorrow and a cameo in Robert Altman's The Player. After the cancellation of Columbo, he next turned up in Wenders' Desire sequel Far Away, So Close before starring in the 1995 comedy Roommates.
Falk continued to work in both film and television for the next decade and a half, starring in various Columbo specials through 2003, appearing with Woody Allen in the made-for-TV The Sunshine Boys in 1997, and playing a bar owner caught up in mafia dealings in 1999's The Money Kings. Other projects included the Adam Sandler-produced gangster comedy Corky Romano (2001), the Dreamworks animated family film A Shark Tale (as the voice of Ira Feinberg), and the Paul Reiser-scripted, Raymond de Felitta-directed comedy-drama The Thing About My Folks (2005). In 2007, Falk starred opposite Nicolas Cage and Julianne Moore in Lee Tamahori's sci-fi thriller Next. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
Director Robert Aldrich's last film, All the Marbles stars Peter Falk as a "win-at-all-costs" type manager of a ladies tag-team wrestling combo. These girls are good and Falk wants them great. And he doesn't really care what they've got to do to get there. (This film's "R" rating is not for Raunchy, but it could be for "Revealing.") Following sort of a Rocky theme, this film finds our ladies tag team climbing its way to the top of the women's wrestling world where they face off against the world's best. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Vicki Frederick, (more)
- 2002
Writer/director Michael Meredith's ambitious first feature, Three Days of Rain, weaves together a large number of tales, loosely based on short stories by Anton Chekhov, and set in present-day Cleveland. Thunder (Michael Santoro) is a struggling tile-maker, an artisan whose leaky roof threatens to destroy his business and his life. Denis (Joey Bilow) is a mentally impaired railroad worker who finds his job in jeopardy when a co-worker, Jim (Chuck Cooper), questions his competence. Tess (Merle Kennedy) is a drug-addled young woman who performs sexual favors for a sleazy judge in order to visit the young daughter of whom she's lost custody. Waldo (Peter Falk) is an old rummy who repeatedly manipulates his caring son, Michael (Bill Stockton, who also produced the film), and then apologizes for doing so. Alex (Erick Avari of The Mummy) begins to question everything about his life after an encounter with a homeless veteran. A cab driver, John (Don Meredith), tells everyone who will listen about the recent death of his son. Through it all runs the commentary of a disc jockey (Lyle Lovett), who plays the smooth jazz that comprises the film's soundtrack. Three Days of Rain came to the attention of Wim Wenders through an editor on the project, Peter Pryzgodda, and Wenders, impressed with Meredith's work, became involved with the film. Three Days of Rain was shown in competition at the 2002 Tribeca Film Festival. The film features cameos by Blythe Danner, Jason Patric, Max Perlich, Wayne Rogers (of M*A*S*H fame), and avant-garde filmmaker George Kuchar. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Meredith, Peter Falk, (more)
- 1971
In this drama, a district attorney up for a judgeship is deemed unfit and an investigation ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1970
A Step Out of Line stars Peter Falk, Vic Morrow, and Peter Lawford, a fairly lustrous lineup for a humble TV movie. The trio of leading men portray average Joes, all Korean war buddies, plagued by a string of bad luck. With creditors hounded them at their very fireside (so to speak), Falk, Morrow and Lawford decide for the first--and last--time in their lives to resort to dishonesty. Pooling their military skills, the boys plot and plan to knock over a bank safe. A Step Out of Line moves confidently towards its anticipated climax, sped along by the expertise of its triple-threat star lineup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
A Stitch in Crime was first aired as an episode of TV's Columbo. Leonard Nimoy guest stars as a brilliant, ambitious heart surgeon. Jealous of an equally brilliant associate (Will Geer) Nimoy arranges for his rival's death on the operating table. No one could possibly suspect Nimoy of deliberately killing his patient--no one but Columbo (Peter Falk), that is. A Stitch in Crime premiered on February 11, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Robert Wise brings his distinguished name and considerable directorial skill to this remake of a 1970 Rod Serling TV drama. Set in 1969, Abel Shaddick (Peter Falk), a crotchety deli owner, has a grudge against virtually everyone in his upstate New York town of Fairview, particularly against his slacker nephew Stanley (Andrew McCarthy) who lives behind the shop. Without telling his uncle, Stanley agrees to put up a needy city kid for the summer as part of a charity program run by rich debutante Gloria (Nastassja Kinski). Abel immediately vetoes the plan, but it is too late. The kid, young Herman Washington (Aaron Meeks), is already on his way. Though initially the two intensely dislike each other, they bond over fishing and war heroes -- Abel's son died during WWII, while Herman's brother was killed in Vietnam. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Aaron Meeks, (more)
- 1974
- R
John Cassavetes' harrowing masterpiece charts the emotional meltdown of a suburban housewife and its effects on her blue-collar Italian family. Gena Rowlands stars as Mabel Longhetti, a mother of three whose husband Nick (Peter Falk) works as a construction worker; a mismatched couple like so many others in Cassavetes films, the Longhettis seem to be complete opposites: she's impetuous, extroverted, and fragile, while he's controlling, distant, and hard-bitten. Their differences underscore a series of domestic dramas, culminating in a nervous breakdown that sends Mabel to a psychiatric hospital for six months, only to return to a home environment on even thinner ice than before. The improvisational style central to Cassavetes' vision is at its most acute throughout A Woman Under the Influence. Like its title heroine, the film threatens to veer out of control at any time, its shape and scope defined not by narrative but by the emotional upheaval at its center. Embracing the full spectrum of the Longhettis' relationship, from seismic bursts of high drama to small, even trivial moments of domestic tedium, its long scenes relentlessly probe every nook and cranny of the family's life, drawing out each moment for maximum emotional impact; the film is by turns beautiful and ugly, illuminating and frustrating, and it features a performance by Rowlands as heartwrenching and unforgettable as any ever committed to celluloid. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk, (more)
- 1961
Peter Falk guest stars as gangster Meyer Fine, a man who lives in mortal fear of sudden death. When a prominent young man commits suicide after losing heavily at Meyer's gambling house, a tough cop threatens to close Meyer down for good. To prevent this, Meyer murders the cop, only to incur the wrath of his fellow gangsters, who know they'll also suffer for the cop's death. Figuring he's a doomed man, Meyer wishes he could figure a way out of his dilemma -- a wish overheard by his loyal valet, John (Paul Hartman). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2009
- NR
An agoraphobic heroin addict seeks redemption by growing the rare and beautiful flower that will help him win the town's Garden of the Year contest in this off-beat black comedy featuring Rip Torn, Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, and Cloris Leachman. Ethan Inglebrink (Ronnie Gene Blevins) lives in a homogeneous California town where nothing ever happens. A misfit clad in a powder-blue tux, he's convinced his poker buddies and surrogate moms Roe (Diane Ladd), Sandy (Leachman), and Lou Anne (Lin Shaye) that he's a diabetic, and his needles are for insulin rather than heroin. His next-door neighbor is his landlord and former high school football coach Trevor O'Hart (Torn), who wants nothing more than to kick Ethan out on the street. Complicating matters even further is that fact that Ethan's older brother Todd (Kilmer), the local sheriff, is convinced that his brother can only be saved by an act of God, and recruits the family priest (Peter Falk) to get the job done. Meanwhile, as the Garden of the Year competition draws near, Ethan becomes convinced that he can take the 10,000-dollar top prize and pay off his delinquent rent if he can just grow the perfect American Cowslip. Little does Ethan realize that salvation may lie not in the money he could win for growing a rare flower, but with the kind companionship and understanding offered by his 17-year-old neighbor Georgia (Hanna Hall), who longs to escape her abusive father (Dern). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ronnie Gene Blevins, Rip Torn, (more)
This Dino De Laurentiis-produced re-creation of the decisive Italian military operation top-bills Robert Mitchum as a battle-weary war correspondent. Robert Ryan and Arthur Kennedy play generals, Peter Falk is the lovable Brooklynese corporal, and Earl Holliman is the country-boy sergeant. Anzio was based on the book by Wynford Vaughan Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Mitchum, Peter Falk, (more)
It took nearly two years after its completion for Big Trouble to reach the big screen. Peter Falk and Alan Arkin are respectively cast as a shady wheeler-dealer and an uptight family man. Strapped for the cash necessary to send his son to Yale, Arkin reluctantly enters into a murder scheme with Beverly D'Angelo. She is married to Falk, who, though he hasn't got long to live due to a heart ailment, may very well spend every penny D'Angelo has before he expires. Arkin is persuaded to kill Falk before this happens, then split the money with D'Angelo. To Arkin's amazement he finds himself the victim of a carefully prepared confidence scam engineered by Falk and D'Angelo. Now that he has a hold over Arkin, Falk gets the poor fellow mixed up in yet another "perfect crime". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, (more)
This decidedly different war movie follows Maj. Abraham Falconer (Burt Lancaster), a tired, one-eyed Army officer, as he leads eight men into Belgium where they hope to take a much-needed rest at a 10th century castle. The master of the house, Henri Tixier (Jean-Pierre Aumont), welcomes them with a surprising degree of enthusiasm. Tixier is married to his young niece, Therese (Astrid Heeren), and the couple would like to have a child, but since Tixier is impotent, he has been unable to father one. He encourages Falconer to see if he can have better luck with Therese. The men under Falconer's command have more than a few escapades of their own, as Sgt. Rossi (Peter Falk) seduces the wife of a local baker, an art historian among them tries to protect the treasures of the castle, and a car buff becomes fascinated by his first encounter with a Volkswagen. Amidst the surreal fun and games at the castle, the soldiers make the most of their well-deserved vacation until an invasion of German troops puts them back on the firing line. Directed by Sydney Pollack, Castle Keep was based on a novel by William Eastlake. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, (more)
A feisty octogenarian on the verge of his ninetieth birthday invites his three grown children to his upcoming birthday celebration with the explicit understanding that when the festivities end, so does his life, in a dark but light-hearted family comedy directed by Jeff Hare and starring Peter Falk. Morris (Falk) has lived a full life, but now the time has come to end his impressive run. When Morris goes to mortal extremes to reunite his three estranged children, his morbid declaration helps his offspring to realize that, even in old age, the importance of one individual should never be underestimated. David Paymer, Laura San Giacomo, and Judge Reinhold co-star in the one comedy that proves you're never too old to stir up a bit of mischief. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Laura San Giacomo, (more)
- 1990
This is one of the many made for TV movies revolving around the popular disheveled character created by Peter Falk - Lieutenant Columbo, of Homicide. In this one, the lack of a corpse doesn't hinder our trench-coat wearing detective as he tries to pin the murder on the supposed corpse's business partner, the owner of a men's magazine. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- 1990
Where Columbo (Peter Falk) goes, can murder be far behind? In Columbo Goes to College, the rumpled TV sleuth shows up on campus as a guest lecturer on criminology. His visit coincides with the machinations of two rich and arrogant frat boys (Justin Rowe and Cooper Redman) who utilize "remote control" to kill the professor who's threatened to expel them. In the tradition of Compulsion, the snide young killers flaunt their intellectual superiority before the seemingly ingenuous Columbo. No wonder these boys were on the verge of flunking out--they'd never bothered to check up on Columbo's previous track record for convictions. Outside of the novel setting, Columbo Goes to College is a by-rote rehash of an old formula; even Peter Falk seems bored. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1991
In this murder mystery, the rumpled detective battles wits with a brilliant defense attorney who kills his mistress. Trouble ensues when he attempts to frame her lover for the murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Dabney Coleman, (more)
- 1992
Peter Falk returns as dishevelled Lieutenant Columbo in this 2-hour TV special. This time, Columbo investigates the murder of football-team owner Steve Forrest. The prime suspect is Forrest's nephew Greg Evigan, meaning of course that he "done it." Naturally, Evigan has an airtight alibi, but when has that ever stopped Columbo? Tyne Daly co-stars. Columbo: A Bird in the Hand originally aired November 22, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
A Matter of Honor motivates the murder in this 2-hour Columbo episode. Ricardo Montalban guest stars as a famous retired bullfighter. Feeling as though he's been betrayed and humiliated, Montalban kills his best friend in a manner that makes the killing seem accidental. The modus operandi: Montalban drugs his victim and plunks him in the bull ring with a particularly ferocious toro. Vacationing in Mexico, Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) sniffs around until he's able to corner Montalban in the episode's "moment of truth." A Matter of Honor first aired February 1, 1976. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
This 2-hour TV movie was originally presented as an installment of The ABC Saturday Mystery Movie in February of 1990. Patrick McGoohan (who also directed) plays a vice presidential candidate whose best friend murders a blackmailing racketeer. With "damage control" foremost in his mind, McGoohan arrange to make the murder look like a suicide. At this point, Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) enters, and it's "cat and mouse" for the remaining 90 minutes. The 1990 Columbo episodes alternated on the Saturday Mystery Movie with three other series: Cristine Cromwell, B.L. Stryker and Kojak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, (more)
- 1973
Any Old Port in a Storm is another two-hour TV cat and mouse session with Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk). Donald Pleasance portrays a winemaker whose covetous brother plans to sell the family vineyard. Pleasance puts the kibosh on this transaction by killing his sibling. He tries to make it look like an accident, but Columbo endeavors to prove otherwise--all the while exhibiting a hitherto unrevealed expertise in the field of fine wines. Julie Harris costars in this 1973 episode of the Columbo TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1998
In this feature-length episode of the enduring and endearing television detective drama, the world's most rumpled police investigator, Lt. Columbo investigates the mysterious disappearance of a controversial Hollywood gossip columnist. Columbo's prime suspect is a secretive mortician who specializes in celebrity funerals. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, Patrick McGoohan, (more)
- 1971
Peter Falk stars as Lieutenant Columbo--and makes his directorial debut--in the 90-minute TV mystery Blueprint for Murder. This time around, the audience doesn't see the murderer commit the crime before Columbo enters the scene. Instead, we are asked to piece together the clues along with the shambling lieutenant as he tries to pin the killing of a tycoon on architect Patrick O'Neal. Janis Paige, Pamela Austin and Forrest Tucker guest star. Blueprint for Murder premiered as the February 9, 1972 episode of the Columbo series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1994
Peter Falk returns as America's favorite rumpled detective. In this episode, the cigar-toting Lt. Columbo investigates a radio-talk-show host suspected of killing a member of his own staff in order to prevent his daughter, who also works at the station, from moving to New York to become a writer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, William Shatner, (more)
- 1974
In this suspense movie, Lt. Colombo thwarts the evil scheme of a military academy commandant who is planning on murdering the school board chairman to further his career. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
Peter Falk is Lieutenant Columbo, and the murderer is known to the audience from the get-go. This much we know before ever tuning in to Columbo: Caution--Murder Can Be Hazardous to Your Health. The special guest killer this time is George Hamilton, host of an America's Most Wanted-style TV show. Threatened with public revelation that he once starred in a porno film, Hamilton rubs out the blackmailer and cleverly covers his tracks. It must needs be that Hamilton's little murder will be re-enacted on his own TV show, and that Lt. Columbo will show up, rumpled raincoat and all, to ask that "one last question" at every turn. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Falk, George Hamilton, (more)
