Columbo Discovers the Dark Truth of a Boy Genius | Columbo

[@robertlodge5297]

Columbo gives him one last cigar before going to jail, class act

[@jamesfeldman4234]

In the old days, they used to give out a cigarette before the execution. But Columbo prefers more sophisticated offerings when his adversary is brilliant in some special way.

[@drifter503]

The way he kinda sneaks it to him is endearing

[@Swindle1984]

Kinda like how he gave the villain one last bottle of wine before arresting him in Any Port in a Storm. Or how he shared a drink with the IRA gun dealer before taking him in. Or how he let the senile old lady who was about to die live free and die peacefully instead of arresting her for murder, or he let the daughter go when the mother and daughter teamed up to kill a man. Columbo is generous/merciful to "civilized" killers, particularly when they have sympathetic motivations/backstories. It's rare that someone is so monstrous or depraved that Columbo feels zero sympathy for them at all, much less loses his temper and shows his true contempt for them, like the doctor with dissolving sutures. Columbo plays a low-class bum bumbling around in high-class society, but when he has no more need for illusions he displays his own high-class characteristics.

[@The72Rabbit]

He should have given the guy a glass of Port like another episode 😅

[@lavellhall7650]

That reminds me of the episode with Donald pleasant in it with the wine at the end Columbo save a vintage bottle of wine for him

[@aeonise]

Always interesting seeing how Columbo treats the criminal when he thinks they've done wrong for understandable reasons. It's a nice touch of humanity.

[@РомаПетров-ж1н]

what is understandable in this case? =\

[@auntiesemite9295]

It was so convenient for the series that everyone would confess.

[@stevesheldon8616]

@@auntiesemite9295 Yes, lol, so often Columbo's suspect conveniently confess. But I still can't stop watching.

[@silvereagle2061]

When Columbo fakes an arrest, he acts much more passionate than when he arrests the real killer.

[@jayexile2487]

That boy genius is now closing in on retirement age

[@greyfoxstar]

Is this boy around 60 years old as of 2024?

[@jayexile2487]

@greyfoxstar he's currently 62 November 3rd he turns 63

[@greyfoxstar]

@@jayexile2487 He was older than Jose Ferrer at the time.

[@GlenSeymour]

Everyone else deleted.

[@marshastapleton1148]

Lee H. Montgomery. Played the son of Oliver Reed and Karen Black in the horror film "Burnt Offerings."

[@WUZLE]

Not a good idea to accuse Charlie of a crime like that. He might wish you out of existence.

[@mikebasil4832]

Robert Walker Jr. may indeed always be hauntingly remembered for Star Trek: Charlie X. Jose Ferrer, Jessica Walter and of course Robby the Robot are also among Columbo’s most noteworthy guest stars.

[@christopherecatalano]

Ha, Twilight Zone's creepiest episode?

[@WUZLE]

@@christopherecatalano I've heard it argued that Charlie X was inspired by It's a Good Life.

[@kevinfitzsimons41]

@@WUZLE He was also Billy the Kid in the Time Tunnel if memory serves?

[@WUZLE]

@@kevinfitzsimons41 I barely remember the Time Tunnel. I saw the other Irwin Allen shows but somehow I mostly missed that one.

[@Dellaluna13]

Robby the Robot in a Columbo episode, and he doesn’t get to interview the robot?

[@CrudeBuster]

it probably would solve the case immediately if asked

[@SALTYH2O]

I can't stand that whimp of a wet noodle son..love the episode tho ..

[@slayer8actual]

Robby the Robot cost MGM over $100,000 or about $1,000,000 in today's dollars, for one episode in Forbidden Planet. Since it was so expensive MGM wanted to get their money's worth out of that robot and so he appeared in over 40 movies and TV shows over the years including this Columbo episode. One thing that was different though was Robby didn't have his legs in this show. He usually has two legs that look like stacked balloons, but in this show he has the lower body that looks like a rolling pedestal. Robby the Robot has had a Hollywood career that most humans would envy. He started out in 1956 and I think his last appearance was in 2006, as of today. He was sold at auction for over $5,300,000.

[@Jamietheroadrunner]

That robot is too smart to talk to a cop without a lawyer present 🤖

[@Dellaluna13]

@@slayer8actual I can’t blame MGM for getting their money’s worth. I remember Robby cameo’d on Lost in Space. Both Robby and B-9 were designed by the same fella, Robert Kinoshita.

[@joeenglert]

One of the last appearances of poor aging Robby...even at his old age ,, he still took over every scene he was in

[@Pygar2]

Early appearance of Robby II.

[@johnfinnegan8474]

One of my favourite episodes. I will always think of the son as "Charlie X" on the original "Star Trek" and "Billy The Kid" on an episode of the "Time Tunnel", and the father as Capt. Nemo in a telemovie made in the late 70's called "The Return Of Capt. Nemo", where his 19th century submarine is found and he is thawed out of cryogenic sleep a century later to help stop a 20th century sci-fi submarine. His aggressive attitude to Columbo immediately got Columbo's suspicions going.

[@jryan1024]

Everyone knows that hitting a man with a 1973 Triumph is Fatal...for the Triumph driver!!

[@bunberrier]

The frame is so flexible its part of the suspension

[@asecretone]

Danger, Lt Columbo!! Danger!!

[@r0bw00d]

Wrong robot.

[@asecretone]

@@r0bw00d oh really?? *DAMMIT*

[@r0bw00d]

@@asecretone I know. It sucks. Your comment drew from Robot, which came from the TV show _Lost in Space._ Robby the Robot is best known from the movie _Forbidden Planet._

[@rocketdave719]

@@r0bw00d fwiw, both robots were designed by the same guy.

[@tronmartin1]

Columbo had top quality actors in every episode. I never get tired of watching it.

[@MrSamuelArthurRobertAllen]

i remember this one with the staged arrest and the two smoking cigars at the end, another great one

[@niklocks5176]

Who knew Shaddam IV was so devious.

[@kirkhunter6868]

Thank you. It was killing me.

[@SammyRenard]

70s haircuts were wild lol

[@gustavgnoettgen]

Them punks felt lucky

[@johnfinnegan8474]

It took me a few minutes to understand the title here. There were two boy geniuses in the episode, the son of the murderer and the young boy who made the robot. The dark secret of the son refers to the fact he stole the scientific formula from another scientist who went back to his own country, and claimed it was his.

[@johnmanier7968]

Except the actor who played the murderer’s son was 33 years old when this episode aired. Although the son himself seems to have been several years younger than that, he was assuredly a young man and not a “boy” except in a very loose colloquial sense.

[@MalnourishedGoat]

"Where were you between 8-9 last night?" "I went to a drive-in movie with a kid!" Dude, give him literally any other alibi....

[@elduro5977]

😂

[@walternullifidian]

One of those youngsters was Robert Walker, Jr., who played Charlie X in the original Star Trek series!

[@dashcroft1892]

and Ensign Pulver prior to that.

[@caihah.1404]

@@dashcroft1892 He was Pulver? His head didn't looks so weirdly shaped in that one.

[@michaelmanning5379]

If you were a leading man or lady in the Golden Age of Hollywood, now at the end of your career, you could always count on being murdered or murdering someone on an episode of Columbo.

[@j.lietka9406]

0:44 not sure but is the "scientist" the same fellow that played Emperor Shaddam IV on Lynch's "Dune"?

[@jsphinx22]

Yep, Jose Ferrer

[@j.lietka9406]

@@jsphinx22 it was his voice! Thank you

[@coffeeaddictexpress5038]

So weird without his beard but voice is very noticeable

[@seikibrian8641]

From the evil Turkish Bey whose sexual advances were rebuffed by Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, to the confident and competent defense attorney in The Caine Mutiny, and a host of other roles, José Ferrer has been a true star of stage and screen.

[@MyLateralThawts]

He did a lot of great work, but I personally liked him best as Lt Greenwald in the Caine Mutiny.

[@Diamonddogusa]

Jose Ferrer is always a win.

[@beasaroseco5840]

2:40 Danger Mr. Columbo! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Jamie_E_Pritchard]

Close, but wrong robot, lol. This one was Robby from Forbidden Planet, not Robot from Lost in Space. Nice to see he was still getting work after the film though 😁

[@geraintjones1886]

The great Jose Ferrer.

[@clintbrew]

His son miguel was a pretty good actor too he was in robocop and ncis la until he passed away in 2017 due to cancer, also jose ferrer was george Clooney's uncle

[@ricesnot]

Weak episode saved by a fantastic final scene

[@jacobhargiss3839]

Yeah

[@silvereagle2061]

Charlie can turn any of these people into iguanas just at a roll of his eyes.

[@stevesheldon8616]

Once again, an odometer plays a crucial role.

[@Musicienne-DAB1995]

I even predicted that Columbo would check the odometer based on Étude in Black.

[@cauchym9883]

Isn't that Jessica Walter (perhaps better known from her role as Lucille Blunt in Arrested Development) at around 3:00?

[@joltjolt5060]

Columbo the series was one of the greats!

[@RainbowManification]

Those are some really fancy fleet vehicles for a scientific organization.

[@rawbacon]

Great cast in this one.

[@douglaswallace7680]

the "gotcha" Columbo clips are really great . Trying to follow the 2nd part of a 2 part episode ? I get lost .

[@CraigLong]

Danger, Danger, Will Robinson. Oh wrong robot!

[@janel.8921]

Robbie was in an episode of Lost in Space.

[@CraigLong]

@@janel.8921 I remember that.

[@batterymakermarkii2654]

09:25 my favorite scene, both share a cigar together

[@lipranditoys]

The space robot kinda makes it less believable...

[@Jai137]

Later Columbo episodes always feel a bit off

[@Robard65]

The actor who plays the car mechanic also played the boxing fanatic family father in Police Academy 2 or 3.

[@patrickjohnson5658]

At least this episode proves Columbo heard of James Bond 007. When the young boy genius referred to the robot as "double m 7", Columbo asked what was it for, some kind of spy stuff?

[@Jon6429]

Everybody obviously noticed Robbie from Forbidden Planet but take a look at 8:43 the doorway is a from another scifi classic. Can you name it?

[@gnericgnome4214]

I give up. It looks familiar, but I can't place it.

[@Jon6429]

@@gnericgnome4214 Howdy-do-dee. You got the time? My watch stopped at 11:46.

[@VincenzoPentangeli]

Jose Ferrer is a great actor.

[@AndrewMoriarty-b6k]

The boy genius was named Steven Spelberg in a nod to the boy genius who directed the first columbo episode

[@lindanoles6664]

I have just watched this episode last night on Cozi Tv.

[@MrGbscott1954]

Columbo was always class!

[@jamesdroegemueller2152]

Oh cool a another recap I really enjo- Robbie the robot!?

[@Stasiaflonase]

What I would like to know is how they got along on set? It seems like they had a good time together.

[@aranayailyaris73]

"I figured sooner or later you'd get around to asking me where I was on the night of the murder." "Why, that's very thoughtful of you. I can't imagine how I forgot to ask that question."

[@junkevil]

Charlie X strikes again!

[@balok63a40]

For a second, I was wondering whether Jose Ferrer had been in two episodes of Columbo. Then I remembered the broken pipe and the chemical formula for heroin and it all came back to me.

[@Finnador]

I'm guessing Peter Falk did this episode under protest after the prop department rolled-in the robot from 'Forbidden Planet'.

[@FreyaEinde]

I thought that was the robot from “Lost in Space”

[@Finnador]

No. they had two different shaped heads. And Robby (from 'Forbidden Planet') had separate legs while the Lost In Space moved around on a track (like a tractor).

[@zzzbbbooo]

@@Finnador "War of the Robots" - excellent LIS episode!💚

[@GlenSeymour]

3:00 My Kind of Boss!

[@nostology]

The genius's have the Chess Table wrong.

[@ronbock8291]

Hey lookee, it’s Cyrano, the Padishah Emperor.

[@milfinu]

1:52 He's putting his DNA all over the cigar, Now it conclusively places him at the scene of the crime and theirs your murderer!

[@GlenSeymour]

Back then they didn't know! That's why police are solving many cases today. That movie in the 90's with Woody Harrelson he was even an investigator and uses an envelope. "They can trace that?"

[@hands-to-work1601]

You are in the wrong decade :)

[@martinfinn1550]

@@GlenSeymour True but police are also now solving decades old cold cases before DNA, using investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG), which combines DNA analysis with genealogical research to crack previously unsolvable cases.

[@sheibanineda2488]

There is the murderer 😊

[@milfinu]

@@sheibanineda2488 It's "Theirs" is because its talking about a person

[@311superfly]

That man is lie ing. Red line. Audio. Epic

[@311superfly]

Young Luke perry. ? 6:28

[@gordonthomson7533]

Huh?

[@Rich5131]

So what was the dark truth about the boy genius? All he did was see a flim.

[@folkloreofbeing]

I'm not sure, but I interpreted it as he didn't get much chance to be a normal boy.

[@martinfinn1550]

He was referring to Neil Cahill son of Marshall Cahill the murderer. Everybody who worked at the institute including the son of the murderer was considered a genius in their own field. The young boy with the robot obviously had nothing to do with stealing another scientists work and passing it off as his own in order to get the scientist of the year award.

[@gufbrindleback]

Also guest starring Robby.

[@disturbinglypragmatic]

This one always makes me laugh when they use the term "boy genius".

[@conncooney5997]

Emperor Shaddam IV, the Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe and head of House Corrino

[@gnericgnome4214]

This is why the first and only thing you say to cops is, "I would like a lawyer"

[@swk38]

do they have drive ins any more?

[@SciTrekMan]

There’s one left in Massachusetts

[@AquarianNomadic]

Sunset drive in San luis Obispo

[@Richard-xo2gm]

Here in Southern California very few still in operation. Got the South Bay in San Diego, the SkyView in Barstow and the Rubidoux and Van Buren Drive-ins in Riverside. I miss them an awful lot. I remember 40 years ago it seemed like there was a drive-in standing on every other corner out here. Sweet nostalgia...

[@swk38]

@@Richard-xo2gm here is an idea, "drive in theater/ EV recharging station"

[@buudorobuudronovich1507]

@9:23 anyone else double take at the floor?

[@kurtkensson2059]

It's a shame Robby ended up being so typecast.

[@JamesEDonaldson]

That kid grew up fast.

[@jryan1024]

Charlie X plagiarizes some science.

[@faszikilawang8445]

Charles Xavier?

[@jryan1024]

@@faszikilawang8445 Charlie X from Star Trek TOS

[@311superfly]

Death by sunbeam? Cmon .

[@jamesgarrett6848]

Danger Danger...Will Rogers!

[@seikibrian8641]

Huh?

[@jamesgarrett6848]

@@seikibrian8641 that is the robot from the television show Lost in space...guess you are not old enough to remember it....that was the robots famous line...I think i have the name right..Will Rogers...but that is definitely the robot from the show

[@seikibrian8641]

@jamesgarrett6848 "Not old enough"? That's very funny, sonny boy. And you have all your facts wrong. The boy in 'Lost In Space' was "Will Robinson," and the robot shown here is not "The Robinson Robot," AKA "B-9," it's "Robby the Robot" from 'Forbidden Planet." (Although it did appear in one episode of 'Lost In Space' where it battles the Robinson's robot.

[@seikibrian8641]

@jamesgarrett6848 Lastly, not that my age changes the facts, but in case you're interested: Ike was President when I started school; I got an autograph of Dana Andrews when I met him at a restaurant at the Seattle World's Fair; and my brother, sisters, and I were sent home from school when JFK was assassinated.

[@РомаПетров-ж1н]

A robot from Fallout! Hoowee... X)

[@arosha1]

The boy genius Steve Spelburg

[@IsiahTomas]

That this haircut wouldn't get a date, even with a lifetime subscription?

[@gnericgnome4214]

They cut off Robbie's hands and legs... :(

[@seanrollins2383]

Was the kid actually an adult?

[@GizmoBeach]

I rather liked this episode. It's certainly far from the "weak" episode so many painted it as before I watched.

[@10INTM]

Careful now, he might sic his Sardukar on you.

[@teresaferrer4748]

Uncle Joe!❤❤❤❤

[@XtreamBrands]

Holy cow robert walker jr is a clone of his father!

[@jleonas]

The guy imported tobacco from England?

[@GlenSeymour]

That '74 Laguna S-3 is cool! My brother had one in the same colour! Just like Watch it for Days.

[@grokeffer6226]

👍👍👍

[@xerxranstien8556]

This was one of my least favorite episodes. Not even sure why, just not the mark for me

[@Nootathotep]

shaddam corinno

[@rumplestilskin5776]

Ned is dead!

[@FM-xx8ws]

Really Robbie the robot they are getting their money's worth Bit of a rip off

[@rayhume1971]

Horrible tittle.

[@scottpilgrim99]

Yeah, I really don't like this episode.

[@311superfly]

Have you been smoking marijuana son?

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Sub standard plot . Very careless.

[@rosario508]

7:23- worst acting ever

[@alancrisp1582]

Says the worst actor yourself perhaps ! ⚠..

[@N7TWL]

Since Lee Montgomery's character has nothing to do with the "Dark Truth," it makes me wonder why you decided to use it as a promo for your presentation. The answer keeps coming up click-bait. Since that is dishonest, at least as far as representing your topic, I am thinking that I cannot trust anything you have to present.

[@patrickjohnson5658]

As I understood it the title referred to Robert Walker Jr's character who played the son of the killer. The young man who played Charlie X in Star Trek. I agree it is a bit of a stretch calling him a boy.

[@jamesfeldman4234]

Columbo was just mean to Dr. Cayhill. Columbo knew Dr. Cayhill gave Murph money to take "Boy Genius" Steve to the drive-in movies and for some food. And yet, Columbo ignored Dr. Cahill's generosity and keen interest in seeing that Steve got a well-earned break from overusing his brain.