Last Salute to the Commodore story

columbo1971e5x06 · 1976-05-02

Commodore Otis Swanson is a retired naval officer who owns a shipbuilding company, and is not happy with the shady dealings of his son-in-law Charles Clay, who has turned the modest and upstanding business into a name-brand production line for status-seekers. Nor is he pleased with any of the people closest to him - his alcoholic daughter Joanna Clay, his middle-aged playboy nephew Swanny Swanson, his lawyer Jonathan Kittering, and his shipyard manager Wayne Taylor. He announces at his birthday party his intention to sell the company. That night, someone murders the Commodore. Although we don't see the murder on-screen, Clay is seen covering up the death by taking the Commodore's body out on his yacht at night and throwing it overboard. Columbo investigates with the help of a veteran sergeant and a 29-year-old rookie. The detective's conviction that Clay committed the crime proves premature and inaccurate, an unusual development for Columbo. Clay himself turns up dead and Columbo realizes that someone else is responsible for both murders. Final clue/twist: When Columbo holds what he says is Commodore Swanson's pocket watch to every suspect's ear, only Swanny disputes it, saying "'Tisn't" when he hears it ticking. The watch was broken at the time of the murder to create a false time frame, and only the murderer would have known the watch no longer works. Clay's motive for covering up the murder is because he thought the killer was his wife due to planted evidence by Swanny; he was killed when he realized who the real killer was. This episode departs from the usual Columbo format in several ways. First, the man implied to be the killer is not, and thus the episode becomes a true whodunit, with the actual murderer revealed at the end. Second, neither of the two murders is shown. Third, Columbo's personality is atypically agitated, impatient and less superficially amiable than in most other episodes. Fourth, regular clichés such as "Just one more thing" and "Something's been bothering me" are absent from this episode. Fifth, rather than working alone, Columbo works closely alongside two other police officers, who at times interrogate suspects. Finally, the episode departs from the usual style in presenting a far greater emphasis on comedy, including some minor slapstick elements, and features a less dramatic tone. Directed by: Patrick McGoohan. Story by: Jackson Gillis.