Lieutenant Colombo: The Most Polite Policeman in America?

[Sgt. Saunders]

In watching “Columbo” over the years, I was always impressed in how unfailingly polite Lieutenant Columbo was with people while he was conducting a murder investigation. I mean, Lt. Columbo was SO polite in his dealings with other people, that he even made Mister Rogers and Ward Cleaver both seem like Alec Baldwin by comparison!

Nevertheless, maybe Lt. Columbo’s congenial ways actually helped him in his criminal investigations? No doubt, many murder suspects would become overconfident and even condescending after dealing with the amiable and somewhat bumbling Lt. Columbo. And, THAT’S exactly how the actually shrewd and highly perceptive Lt. Columbo would gain the upper hand over the arrogant murder suspects he was investigating. Clearly, there was a method to Lt. Columbo’s “madness” or naïveté.

[Alan Brady's Hair]

I never considered it before, but he bears some similarity to Vito Corleone of the original Godfather novel (Columbo is the older character). Vito also cultivated an unkempt look, pretended to be a little dimwitted, so that his adversaries would underestimate him.

[Sgt. Saunders]

Originally Posted by Alan Brady's Hair

I never considered it before, but he bears some similarity to Vito Corleone of the original Godfather novel (Columbo is the older character). Vito also cultivated an unkempt look, pretended to be a little dimwitted, so that his adversaries would underestimate him.

That’s an excellent point about how Vito Corleone used to always downplay it in his dealings with other people. In fact, in Mario Puzo’s novel there was a scene (not included in the films) where some shady repairmen came to “check out” the furnace in the Corleone basement and then proceeded to take it apart and then demand money from the aging Vito to put it back together correctly.

Vito feigned ignorance in his thick Italian accent and told them to speak with his oldest son, Sonny, to resolve this unpleasant situation.
Vito did this as a test, to see if Sonny could handle these shysters with tact and diplomacy. Instead, Sonny reacted very angrily and threatened to blow their
heads off, much to Vito’s great disappointment. Evidently, youngest son Michael was much more temperamentally-suited to take over control of the Corleone family when Vito eventually retired.