Columbo (TV Series)

Now You See Him (1976)

Peter Falk: Columbo

Photos 

Quotes 

• Santini : And I thought I'd performed the perfect murder!

  Lt. Columbo : Perfect murder, sir? Oh, I'm sorry. There is no such thing as a perfect murder. That's just an illusion.

• Lt. Columbo : [talking to his dog]  I'm gonna leave this coat in the car. If someone tries to lift it, you look the other way.

• Lt. Columbo : Now, when the cube is in the water tank, you're not really in that cube, right?

  Santini : Perhaps. Perhaps not.

  Lt. Columbo : It's not that I want you to give away any professional secrets.

  Santini : My dear friend, I'd rather confess to a murder than to do THAT.

• Santini : [Handing him the handcuffs back]  Your handcuffs!

  Lt. Columbo : [satisfied he is the murderer]  I knew you could do it!

• Santini : Why, Lieutenant, you've been checking up on me.

  Lt. Columbo : Well, I really don't have any choice, sir.

  Santini : Why are you so preoccupied to find out my real identity?

  Lt. Columbo : Your origin may be more humble than you make it appear.

  Santini : And what about you, Lieutenant? Beneath that ruffle exterior there ticks away the heart of an empiricist philosopher, probing for the truth at all costs.

  Lt. Columbo : I'm just doin' my job.

  Santini : You make it sound so proletarian.

• Lt. Columbo : [Sgt. Wilson taps on the window and hold up Columbo's raincoat]  I'll be a son-of-a-gun. Where did you find that? I've been looking all over for it.

  Sgt. John J. Wilson : In the lost-and-found. You left it in the cafeteria.

  Lt. Columbo : I thought somebody stole it.

  Sgt. John J. Wilson : At police headquarters?

• Lt. Columbo : Ooo, you're a remarkable man, Mr. Santini.

  Santini : How keen of you to notice it.

• Lt. Columbo : I figure he's the kind of man that could do almost anything if he put his mind to it.

  Michael Lally : You mean his hand to it.

  Lt. Columbo : Right.

• Lt. Columbo : I hope you were watching carefully. That's my best trick. Of course, I don't have your style, but I get pretty good results.

• Lt. Columbo : [applying deductive reasoning to the crime scene]  He never did what he came up here to do. He came up here to count his money, double-locked the door, put the money on his desk, but he never opened the box. Why? Was it because he got absorbed in listening to music, or did he have something more important to do?

  Sgt. John J. Wilson : I would assume it was because he had something more important to do.

  Lt. Columbo : I think he had something more important to do.

• Lt. Columbo : How does a man get shot from the front and have the body land here? The door has to be opened. The murderer opened the door. Jerome did NOT open the door. Jerome is in his office. He's ANYWHERE. He HEARS the door open. Now he comes walking forward to see what happened. The murderer sees HIM, shoots him from the front, and the body falls just where we found it. THAT I can understand.

• Magic Shop Clerk : Is that the Great Columbo?

  Lt. Columbo : Uh, no, just Lieutenant.

• Lt. Columbo : I'm trying to explain something that is not explainable.

  Harry Blandford : [chuckling]  It sounds like you're talking to Santini.

• Lt. Columbo : You know, I would have bet money that he couldn't get out of those cuffs.

  Michael Lally : Don't ever bet with Santini. He's the cream of cream.

• Santini : Lieutenant, what IS it about me that you find so irresistible?

  Lt. Columbo : Why, you know how it is, sir. I gotta check out all the leads until I get my man.

• Sgt. John J. Wilson : You know, Lieutenant, you WOULD wear reading glasses if you were typing.

  Lt. Columbo : Yes, you WOULD wear reading glasses if you were typing, but there was no paper in the typewriter.

  Sgt. John J. Wilson : Hm.

  Lt. Columbo : And there was no typewritten documents on either the desk, in the drawers, or on top. There is nothing in this room to indicate that that man was typing.

• Lt. Columbo : "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their party."

• Rogers : Handmade. Two special baffles. I figured as much when I saw the key. That's why I can't figure out how it happened.

  Lt. Columbo : How WHAT happened?

  Rogers : This lock was picked.

  Lt. Columbo : Are you sure?

  Rogers : Take a look. Now, you see those scratches? Somebody picked it open with a thin piece of steel. Impossible - but it happened.

• Lt. Columbo : Can you verify that?

  Santini : Can I verify WHAT?

  Lt. Columbo : That you were actually here?

  Santini : Well, you really ARE something.

• Police Officer : [as lieutenant columbo approaches wearing a different raincoat than he usually wears]  Oh, I'm sorry lieutenant I didn't recognize you. You look different somehow.

  Lt. Columbo : I've had a haircut.