Columbo: Season 5

1975 · 6 episodes · ★ 7.0

What Season 5 of Columbo

Season 5 of Columbo follows a fixed formula: viewers know from the start who committed the crime and how. Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department, wears a rumpled beige raincoat, smokes cigars, and acts absent-minded. His questions seem innocent, but his goal is to gather evidence. Facing him are self-assured suspects, often well-off and powerful people, who try to throw him off the trail. The episodes include a veteran actress who wants to return to show business, a foreign dignitary caught up in a political scandal, and a spy hiding his identity. Peter Falk once again plays the lead.

6episodes

Sep 14, 1975premiered

May 2, 1976latest episode

8.7 hrtotal runtime

Season 5 Episodes

5x01 Forgotten Lady
Sep 14, 1975 · 98 min · ★ 7.6
A fading actress kills her husband when he refuses to back her comeback show.
Directed by Harvey Hart · Written by William Driskill · Starring Janet Leigh, Sam Jaffe, John Payne, Maurice Evans
5x02 A Case of Immunity
Oct 12, 1975 · 75 min · ★ 6.9
An ambassador from Suari and his code clerk kill the chief of security in an attempt to make it look like the chief was a traitor, who blew up the legation safe and stole £600.000 on behalf of a dissident group. But Columbo gets suspicious. He just has one problem crushing the ambassador's alibi and then, when the code clerk turns up dead, the ambassador has an alibi again. But even if Colombo could rock the two alibis, there is always the immunity problem.
Directed by Ted Post · Written by Lou Shaw, James Menzies · Starring Sal Mineo, Barry Robins, Héctor Elizondo, Brioni Farrell
5x03 Identity Crisis
Nov 2, 1975 · 95 min · ★ 7.2
A spy is killed on a lonely beach by his contact, but the killer has been photographed beforehand walking with the victim.
Directed by Patrick McGoohan · Written by William Driskill · Starring Paul Gleason, Patrick McGoohan, Val Avery, Carmen Argenziano
5x04 A Matter of Honor
Feb 1, 1976 · 75 min · ★ 6.6
The owner of a bull ranch in Mexico gives his workers the day off, and then talks his number one man into fighting the bull who nearly killed his son. But instead he shoots him with a tranquilizer gun, and lets the bull kill him. Colombo, who is on vacation in Mexico, gets dragged into this case by an admiring colleague, but he has trouble convincing the Mexicans that the accident is really homicide. And how do you prove that the bull is a murder weapon?
Directed by Ted Post · Written by Brad Radnitz · Starring Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Ricardo Montalban, A Martinez, Jorge Rivero
5x05 Now You See Him
Feb 29, 1976 · 90 min · ★ 7.4
Master magician the great Santini is amazing audiences at the Cabaret of Magic. What they don’t know is that Santini hopes to pull of the grandest illusion of his career - making club owner Jesse T. Jerome disappear. The crude Jerome is the only person who knows that Santini was a Nazi death camp guard named Stefan Mueller, He has been blackmailing the magician since learning his dark secret.
Directed by Harvey Hart · Written by Michael Sloan · Starring Cynthia Sikes, Robert Loggia, Bob Dishy, Nehemiah Persoff
5x06 Last Salute to the Commodore Season Finale
May 2, 1976 · 91 min · ★ 6.2
The family and friends of brilliant naval architect Commodore Otis Swanson have gathered for the company’s annual party. The commodore, however, has become increasingly discontented with the way his son-in-law, Charles Clay, has developed the shipbuilding firm into a vast, impersonal corporation. He is tired of being surrounded by freeloaders like his alcoholic daughter, Joanna, his irresponsible nephew, Swanny, and of course, Charles. The only man he respects is Wayne Taylor, the head of the boatyard. In fact, the Commodore intends to sell the company. That night, Charles is wiping clean the belaying pin used to bash the Commodore’s skull.
Directed by Patrick McGoohan · Written by Jackson Gillis · Starring Dennis Dugan, Diane Baker, Bruce Kirby, Robert Vaughn