New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 275636" data-attributes="member: 23">Lady In Waiting continued Peter is played by the one and only Leslie Nielsen, back in the days when he was a solid and reliable actor bringing a certain gravitas to his numerous guest-starring roles. Nowadays - to me at least - I find myself waiting for the deadpanned punchline. But this was almost a decade before “Don’t call me Shirley”, and some seventeen years before “Nice beaver”. He’s great here. Peter is slick and confident but, with nothing to hide, he’s also disarmingly direct. This comes across especially in two memorable scenes with Lt. Columbo. One takes place in Columbo’s Peugeot as they have lunch (Columbo’s treat) in a drive-in burger place. This is the scene which memorably ends with Columbo starting to drive away with the tray still attached to his window. The other scene between them is in a bar. Both scenes see Peter cut through Columbo’s waffle and go straight to the meat. It’s Peter himself who raises the question of whether he’s after Beth’s money, and of whether he and Beth colluded to kill Bryce. He does so with a smile and while maintaining eye contact because it seems both ideas are an anathema to him. The chemistry between Nielsen and Peter Falk is great. It’s so good to see these two sparking off one another. Beth, meanwhile, turns out to be far more cold-blooded than first appeared. As if killing a sibling because they didn’t approve of her partner isn’t bad enough. Beth undergoes both an external makeover and a transformation in personality. On goes the makeup; there’s a glamorous new flipped bouffant and Beth frequents the most fashionable boutiques to take on a youthful new image. The ugly duckling has become a swan. In terms of new external trappings, Beth’s beautiful new Ferrari Daytona is perhaps the most telling. As Columbo points out, it would have needed to be ordered many weeks ahead of time, which shows a great deal of premeditation. Beth’s new personality is one of instant diva. Eleven years before Alexis Carrington Colby, Beth has her “Adam, may I have a glass of water” moment when she calls a board meeting to set out the new order under her reign, with thinly veiled threats of dismissal for insubordinate board members. Her first act is to elevate Peter to a key position within the company, right before she announces their engagement to the board… before discussing it with Peter. Peter’s reactions to Beth’s ugly new personality make an interesting watch, in large part because of their genders. Certainly at this time, the power mad dominant partner was invariably male, and so there’s an element of role reversal. Also witness to the changes is Beth and Bryce’s mother, played by familiar character actress Jessie Royce Landis in her final screen appearance. She’s great fun. Permanently accompanied by her little terrier (to me it looks like a Yorkie, but she calls it a “Silky” and a quick search tells me they are distinct breeds), there’s a funny little running gag where it runs up to Columbo, tail wagging, and starts yapping threateningly. Mrs Chadwick certainly makes a formidable first impression. She starts out by ordering Columbo to pay for her taxi and bring in her luggage (which he dutifully does, and is then most concerned about retrieving the eleven dollars). On first seeing her daughter, Mrs Chadwick walks elegantly up to her and then slaps Beth in the face for killing her son. continued...</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?