Just one more thing: Peter Falk's best performance wasn't 'Columbo'

Peter Falk, who in the latter years before his death was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, was no doubt best known for his seminal work as Lieutenant Columbo in the 'Columbo' TV series and small screen films. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease to witness close up. It robs people of their personalities which took years to form, creating harsh distances. Falk had a way of bringing his audience in with his quirky warmth and we're lucky to have so many of his performances so readily available to revisit and remember him by.

In addition to other well-known Falk fun facts (he had a glass eye being the biggest), it could surprise some to realise that he was a two time consecutive Oscar nominee for his film work: 1961's 'Murder Inc' and 1962's 'Pocketful of Miracles'. But he was only just getting started.

Those films, and even his 'Columbo' performances pale in comparison to his extraordinary work in his friend John Cassavetes' film 'A Woman Under the Influence' in 1974. Cassavetes' own wife, the supremely talented Gena Rowlands, played the titular character and onscreen husband to Falk's blue collar worker whose wife's mental downfall rests heavily on his shoulders.

The range that Falk displayed here – the anger, the humour, the desperation, the everyman charm, the little nods and winks that people in relationships do, the sheer life – is certainly worth revisiting.

I can't recommend the film (or indeed nearly anything Cassavetes directed) enough. Another great Falk performance is showcased alongside Cassavetes (this time acting) in 'Mikey and Nicky'. This is the American independent film movement at its peak – a probing insight into fractured personalities struggling to get by.  Trailers are below; the rest is up to you.

 

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