“Movies Are Murder” Fall CMBA Blogathon–Clue (1985)

“Communism was just a red herring.”

Tim Curry as “Wadsworth” in Clue (1985)

A movie based on a board game should not be good. I can only think of one other movie based on a board game, Battleship (2012), and since I haven’t heard about that film since it came out ten years ago, I doubt that it will stand the test of time. I don’t even think it lasted until 2013. However, a film based on a board game that has stood the test of time is Clue, made 37 years ago in 1985. While the black comedy murder mystery failed to impress contemporary audiences upon its release, it has since developed a massive cult following. The film’s incredibly quotable dialogue has seamlessly integrated itself into everyday lexicon–or maybe just mine.

The 1992 version of Clue. This is the one that I had!

Clue, the board game, asks players to solve the murder of Mr. Boddy, the owner of the mansion in which the action of the game takes place. The answer to the murder lies inside an envelope placed in the center of the board. Players can assume the role of one of the mansion’s guests: Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Mrs. White, and Professor Plum. A die is rolled and a player moves throughout the mansion, moving in and out of the mansion’s many rooms (Lounge, Dining Room, Kitchen, Ballroom, Study, Library, Billiard Room, Conservatory, and Hall). Players can also utilize the secret passageways that are present in each of the corner rooms. The secret passageway allows the player to move diagonally, from one corner to another. Upon entering a room, a player is allowed to make a suggestion. The player must make a suggestion and name a guest as the murderer and identify the murder weapon (lead pipe, knife, wrench, revolver, rope, and candlestick). The location of the murder is related to the room where the player resides. If the player states, “I think it was Miss Scarlet in the Conservatory with the lead pipe,” the person to the player’s left then has an opportunity to disprove the player’s suggestion by secretly displaying one of the matching cards in their hand. The player can then discreetly eliminate the room, guest, or weapon that was displayed by marking it on their clue sheet. If the player to the left cannot disprove, it is up to the next player to disprove the suggestion. If they cannot disprove the suggestion, it’s up to the next player, and so on. If nobody can disprove the suggestion, the player can then make an accusation. If none of the players can disprove the accusation, the player can reveal the contents of the envelope. If they are correct, they win the game.

The Clue movie takes the basic premise of the board game and gives it a slightly different spin. The film is set during the mid-1950s in Washington DC during the Red Scare. It is a dark, stormy night as six guests try to make their way to a mansion in the middle of nowhere. The cars of each guest match the color of their character’s pawn in the board game. Upon the guests’ arrival, they are given pseudonyms by Wadsworth, the Butler, and Yvette, the Maid. Wadsworth and Yvette are the only original characters added to the cast of main characters. The six guests’ pseudonyms align with the names of the guests from the board game. Right off the bat, one of the reasons that Clue is so awesome is that it has an All-Star cast:

Actor	Role	Known For (as of 1985):
Tim Curry	Wadsworth	Rocky Horror Picture Show, Annie, Legend
Colleen Camp	Yvette	Smile, Apocalypse Now, Valley Girl
Eileen Brennan	Mrs. Peacock	The Last Picture Show, The Sting, Murder by Death, Private Benjamin
Madeline Kahn	Mrs. White	What’s Up Doc?, Paper Moon, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein
Christopher Lloyd	Professor Plum	One Flew Over a Cuckoo’s Nest, Taxi (TV), Back to the Future
Michael McKean	Mr. Green	Laverne and Shirley (TV), This is Spinal Tap
Martin Mull	Colonel Mustard	Mr. Mom, Mary Hartman Mary Hartman (TV), Fernwood 2 Night (TV)
Lesley Ann Warren	Miss. Scarlet	The Happiest Millionaire, Victor/Victoria, Songwriter, Mission Impossible (TV)

After the guests all arrive, a seventh guest, Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving) shows up. Wadsworth reveals that it was Mr. Boddy who was responsible for sending the invitations that led to the guests’ arrival at the mansion. It turns out that Mr. Boddy has obtained some incriminating information on each guest and plans to blackmail them. Each guest is accused of the following scandal:

Miss Scarlet	Is a Madam, runs an underground brothel in DC.
Miss Peacock	Has been taking bribes on behalf of her husband, a Senator.
Mrs. White	Murdered her husband, a nuclear physicist.
Professor Plum	Lost his medical license due to having an affair with a patient.
Colonel Mustard	Suspected of being one of Miss Scarlet’s clients and is also a war profiteer who sold plane parts on the black market, which led to many deaths.
Mr. Green	Is gay. This isn’t a title he’s ashamed of, but would lose his job at the State Department if it were discovered.

After this news is revealed, Wadsworth informs the guests that the police have been notified and will arrive in 45 minutes. Mr. Boddy gives each of the guests a weapon (one of the six weapons from the board game). He teases them with the weapons, saying that one of them should murder Wadsworth, who has a key to the front door, allowing for their escape and subsequent freedom. The light is then turned out, a moan and gunshot are heard. The light comes back on and Mr. Boddy is found supposedly dead. The guests then begin wandering around the mansion, trying to investigate the death of Mr. Boddy. We see the guests move from room to room, just like in the board game. The rooms in the film even resemble the board game. Somebody played a lot of Clue while designing these sets.

The whole time I watch this movie I am always fascinated with how Miss Scarlet’s dress stays up.

As the film wears on, more bodies turn up and is becomes obvious that one of the eight people in the house is the murderer. It is worth noting that when the policeman shows up to respond to Wadsworth’s call, it is exactly 45 minutes from when Wadsworth made the call. As the film wears on, other people such as a stranded motorist and a singing telegram girl show up and are soon added to the body count. There is a hilarious scene where the guests try to alleviate the policeman’s suspicion by pretending to be making out with the dead victims. As The Chords’ “Sh-Boom” plays, Miss Scarlet and Professor Plum pretend to make out next to the booze soaked, drunk, passed out (dead) motorist. Mrs Peacock pretends to be the arms of the (dead) cook caressing Colonel Mustard and Mrs. White makes out with (dead) Mr. Boddy on the couch. The policeman is satisfied, saying “these are just folks having a good time!” By the end of the film, there are six victims. Speaking of the end of the film, there is a hysterical sequence in which Wadsworth breathlessly takes the guests (and the audience) through all the events of the film as he works to reveal the culprit behind all the murders.

Upon the film’s original release, the filmmakers created three possible endings, hoping that the audience will see the film multiple times to see all the endings. This plan did not work, as audiences did not feel the need to see in the film multiple times. In my opinion, the only way to see Clue is with the “All three endings” option enabled on the DVD. For the record, the third solution with Mrs. White’s amazing “Flames on the side of my face” speech is the best ending of the three.

Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White is absolutely hysterical in this film. One of the funniest parts of the film (aside from “flames on the side of my face”) is when she talks about her husband and how she’s not a black widow:

COLONEL MUSTARD: How many husbands have you had?
MRS. WHITE: Mine or other women’s?”
COLONEL MUSTARD: Yours
MRS. WHITE: Five
COLONEL MUSTARD: Five?!
MRS. WHITE: Yes, just the five. Husbands should be like Kleenex: soft, strong and disposable.
COLONEL MUSTARD: You lure men to their deaths like a spider with flies.
MRS. WHITE: Flies are where men are most vulnerable.

Martin Mull as “Colonel Mustard” and Madeline Kahn as “Mrs. White” in Clue (1985)

MRS. WHITE (explaining why she’s paying the blackmailer): I don’t want a scandal, do I? We had a very humiliating public confrontation. He was deranged. He was a lunatic. He didn’t actually seem to like me much; he had threatened to kill me in public.
MISS SCARLET: Why would he want to kill you in public?
WADSWORTH: I think she meant he threatened, in public, to kill her.
MISS SCARLET: Oh. Was that his final word on the matter?
MRS. WHITE: Being killed is pretty final, wouldn’t you say?

Madeline Kahn as “Mrs. White,” Lesley Ann Warren as “Miss Scarlet,” and Tim Curry as “Wadsworth” in Clue (1985).

MISS SCARLET: Do you miss him?
MRS. WHITE: Well, it’s a matter of life after death. Now that he’s dead, I have a life.
WADSWORTH: But he was your second husband. Your first husband also disappeared.
MRS. WHITE: But that was his job, he was an illusionist.
WADSWORTH: But he never reappeared.
MRS. WHITE: He wasn’t a very good illusionist.

Lesley Ann Warren as “Miss Scarlet,” Madeline Kahn as “Mrs. White” and Tim Curry as “Wadsworth” in Clue (1985).

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