A clip about the pleasures of being alive, from "Wings of Desire," one of my favorite movies. Here Falk's addressing Bruno Ganz's character, an angel.
Funny, I never knew Falk as Columbo: I was too young to see it when it went out and I've actually never seen a single episode. I knew him from the honesty of his work in Cassavetes' pictures--those unflinching, withering examinations of American manhood in the 60s and 70s--and from "Wings," in which he plays himself.
In "Wings" he's in West Germany to shoot a picture; his Americanness in the context of this very European film always amused me. They must have had "Columbo" over there because Germans seem to know him and regard him fondly. He probably represented a certain idea of America to them, as well. That's the kind of representation abroad we can, and should, be proud of.