Columbo (TV Series)

Murder Under Glass (1978)

Peter Falk: Columbo

Photos 

Quotes 

• Paul Gerard : You're a very able man, Lieutenant. I respect that, but I really don't care for you very much.

  Lt. Columbo : You know, sir, I was thinking the same thing about you. I respect your talent, but I don't like anything else about you.

• Paul Gerard : When did you first suspect me?

  Lt. Columbo : Well, as it happens, sir... about two minutes after I met you.

  Paul Gerard : That can't be possible.

  Lt. Columbo : Oh, you made it perfectly clear, sir, the very first night when you decided to come to the restaurant directly after you were informed that Vittorio was poisoned.

  Paul Gerard : I was instructed to come here by the police.

  Lt. Columbo : And you came, sir.

  Paul Gerard : Yes.

  Lt. Columbo : After eating dinner with a man that had been poisoned. You didn't go to a doctor. You came because the police instructed you. You didn't go to a hospital. You didn't even ask to have your stomach pumped. Mr. Gerard, that's the damnedest example of good citizenship I've ever seen.

• Lt. Columbo : Good evening, ma'am. My name is Lt. Columbo, Homicide. I'd like to speak to Paul Gerard. Is he home?

  Eve Plummer : I'm not sure.

  Lt. Columbo : Is it a big place or is he just out to the police?

• Lt. Columbo : [Watching Paul Gerard eat the dish he prepared]  What do you think?

  Paul Gerard : Lieutenant, I wish you had been a chef.

  Lt. Columbo : I understand, sir.

• Paul Gerard : What makes you think Vittorio was in some sort of trouble?

  Lt. Columbo : Mainly because he was murdered, sir. The two, trouble and murder, they seem to go together. At least that's been my experience, sir.

• Kenji Ozu : Do you have a hot suspect?

  Lt. Columbo : Well, I've got my eyes on one.

  [Turns to look at Paul Gerard] 

• Lt. Columbo : Sorry, Mr. Gerard, but I can't let you get away with it.

  Paul Gerard : What?

  Lt. Columbo : Your recipe. You didn't think I'd remember, did you? It's onion sauce.

• Lt. Columbo : I expected to see you at Mr. Rossi's funeral. I guess you couldn't make it.

  Paul Gerard : I never go to funerals. I prefer to remember my friends as I saw them last.

  Lt. Columbo : I believe Mr. Rossi was yelling at you when you saw him last. Isn't that right, sir?

  Paul Gerard : You mustn't take me literally, Lieutenant.

• Lt. Columbo : The boy said something about an argument and a lot of shouting. What was that about, sir?

  Paul Gerard : It was a trivial matter.

  Lt. Columbo : Yes, sir. Most arguments seem to start that way.

• Paul Gerard : I'm beginning to regard you as an old acquaintance, Lieutenant.

  Lt. Columbo : Well, thank you very much, sir. I'm beginning to know you pretty well, too.

• Lt. Columbo : Oh. One more thing. Gee, I almost forgot what I came here to ask ya.

  Paul Gerard : Fortunately, you remembered.

• Miss Choy : Lieutenant, you forgot your fortune cookie.

  Lt. Columbo : To tell you the truth, ma'am, I could use some good news.

  [reads fortune] 

  Lt. Columbo : "Cheer up. There is more than one fish in the sea." That's the kind I always get. Once, I would like it to say I'm gonna be rich and go away on a long trip. Just once.

• Lt. Columbo : That dim sum reminds me of the kind I used to have at home.

  Miss Choy : At home, Lieutenant?

  Lt. Columbo : Right around the corner from Chinatown was an Italian neighborhood. When I was a kid, I bet I had more eggrolls than I had cannelloni.

• Lt. Columbo : Oh, I do a little cooking, sir. Nothing fancy. Mrs. Columbo, she's a remarkable woman. She has lots of interests... but cooking isn't one of them. She gives me plenty of encouragement.

• Lt. Columbo : Well, this is quite a coincidence. I had no idea you were here.

  Paul Gerard : Would you care to join me?

  Lt. Columbo : Well, I'm really not hungry, sir. I just polished off three mushrooms stuffed with crab meat, but I'll join you anyway. If you're anything like me, you're not too crazy about eating alone.

• Paul Gerard : Have you eaten?

  Lt. Columbo : Ah, yes, sir. It seems I've been eating quite a bit lately. It's terrific.

• Kenji Ozu : Are you a lieutenant with the American Army?

  Lt. Columbo : Ah, no sir. Los Angeles Police.

  Eve Plummer : Homicide, right, Lieutenant?

  Lt. Columbo : That's right, ma'am.

  Kenji Ozu : Ah, there was a murder movie on the plane. Brilliant.

• Lt. Columbo : As I understand it, sir, you had a meeting with him yesterday, and I was wondering...

  [Columbo stops himself, looking at a dish on the counter, under glass] 

  Lt. Columbo : Is that what I think it is? Is that galantine of duck?

  Max Duval : Yeah - this is MY galantine

  Lt. Columbo : You know I have read about these in cook-books but I have never actually seen one. And those pie-buttons are they real truffles?

  Max Duval : Why of course! And the green mousse's are pistachios.

  Lt. Columbo : And there is another kind of green meat there, inside?

  Max Duval : Hm-mmh, ham!

  Lt. Columbo : It's a beautiful art...

• Lt. Columbo : Oh, Mrs. De Milo?

  Eve Plummer : Yes, Lieuten...

• Lt. Columbo : You switched the openers again, but I switched the glasses. That's the poisoned glass, sir, the glass I was supposed to drink.