Clue (film)
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| Clue | |
|---|---|
 Poster from the movie Clue |
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| Directed by | Jonathan Lynn |
| Produced by | Debra Hill |
| Written by | Story: John Landis Jonathan Lynn Screenplay: Jonathan Lynn |
| Starring | Eileen Brennan Tim Curry Eileen Brennan Lesley Ann Warren Christopher Lloyd Michael McKean Madeline Kahn |
| Music by | John Morris |
| Cinematography | Victor J. Kemper |
| Editing by | David Bretherton Richard Haines |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 13, 1985 (USA) |
| Running time | 94 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15,000,000 (est.) |
| Gross revenue | $14,643,997 (USA) |
| IMDb profile | |
Clue is a 1985 dark comedy film based on the board game Clue (also known as Cluedo). It is a murder mystery set in a Gothic mansion. The style takes the idea in the direction of Murder By Death and other various murder/dinner parties of mystery. The film was directed by Jonathan Lynn, who collaborated on the script with John Landis. It stars Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, and Madeline Kahn alongside an ensemble cast of characters.
In order to prevent the ending from being revealed by the press or by word of mouth, three separate endings were filmed. In spite of this marketing gimmick, the film did poorly at the box office and received mixed reviews. On its 38th day of release, the reported box office earnings were only $13,377,261.
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[edit] Plot
Six invited guests, given assumed names, are summoned to the secluded mansion, Hill House, on a stormy night. Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren) and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn) are greeted by the British butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry) and the French maid, Yvette (Colleen Camp). Over dinner, the guests discover that each lives in the District of Columbia or is employed by the government. A seventh guest arrives, and is introduced as Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving).
The group then gathers in the study where, one by one, Wadsworth reveals that each guest is a victim of blackmail, provides evidence concerning the guests' indiscretions, and then explains that Mr. Boddy is the man who has been blackmailing them all, and that the police will arrive in forty-five minutes. After giving each guest a gift-wrapped weapon, Mr. Boddy tries to convince the guests that they must kill Wadsworth or be exposed, and then shuts off the lights. When they are turned back on, Boddy himself is dead. Wadsworth then confesses to being the one who invited all of them to the mansion, and reveals his motive for doing so was to bring Boddy to justice (his wife, who was also a victim, committed suicide as a result of the blackmail). Shortly after, the guests find the cook dead, stabbed in the back.
After locking their weapons in a cupboard and admitting a stranded motorist into the mansion (who is promptly locked in the lounge), the guests pair off to search the mansion after a suggestion by Mustard that there may be someone hiding in the house who is responsible for Boddy’s murder. During the search, an unknown character burns all of the evidence Wadsworth presented earlier, and kills the motorist with the wrench (which had been locked up with all of the other weapons). A policeman, having seen the stranded motorist’s car, comes to the door, asks to use the phone, and is locked in the library. He is later killed with the lead pipe, along with Yvette (in the billiard room with the rope), and another unexpected guest, a singing telegram girl (who is shot with the revolver on the front porch in the middle of her telegram). Shortly after, Wadsworth proclaims that he has solved the mysterious murders.
The viewer is then presented with one of the following endings, as described below.
[edit] The endings
The film is one of the few films to have true multiple endings. Cinemas approached this in a number of ways. Movie advertisements would list which theaters in an area would be showing the "A", "B", or "C" endings. Sometimes theatregoers could vote to choose the ending at a particular showing, and at other times the final scene was chosen randomly. All three endings have certain elements in common. In the home version all three endings play, one right after the other, with two intertitles; the first saying "That's how it could have happened. But how about this?" and the second saying "But here's what really happened". All three endings close on a freeze-frame.
By the end of the film, all of the weapons have been used for all six murders, committed in five of the nine rooms.
[edit] The first ending
Wadsworth reveals that Yvette killed Mr. Boddy and the cook, under orders from Miss Scarlet, who killed the motorist, Yvette, the cop and the singing telegram girl. Scarlet then reveals that her call-girl business is actually a cover for her real work, "secrets extortion," in which Yvette participated. Scarlet plans to use the information gathered that night to blackmail each of the other guests. However, as a butler, Wadsworth has no government information, and she threatens to shoot him. Wadsworth retorts that the gun has no bullets left and the two argue over how many bullets had actually been fired. Distracted by the doorbell, Scarlet is subdued by Wadsworth and the police rush in. Wadsworth is revealed to be an FBI agent, and to prove that there were actually no bullets in the gun, he fires it in the air. A bullet was left in the chamber, however, which hits another chandelier, sending it crashing to the floor behind Colonel Mustard (for the second time that night).
[edit] The second ending
The second ending has Mrs. Peacock as the murderer of all the victims. It is finally revealed that the cook used to work for her. She pulls out the revolver and threatens Wadsworth, but he points out that she has done them all a great favor by killing Boddy, their blackmailer, and his associates. Wadsworth also claims he never contacted the police, and the entire evening can easily be buried and forgotten. Peacock leaves to a chorus of "for she's a jolly good fellow" from the others. Wadsworth then reveals that he is an FBI agent who set up the entire meeting as a sting operation on Mrs. Peacock, who was taking bribes from foreign powers. Mr. Boddy's murder was an unplanned but convenient turn of events. Upon attempting to escape, Peacock is arrested, and Wadsworth offers the guests fruit and dessert.
This ending makes frequent errors with the plot. For example, according to the ending, Peacock decided to turn off the lights at the top of cellar, run back down to back up against the heater for a comedic scene for the audience, and then run back upstairs to kill Yvette, the cop, and the singing messenger. This is also the only ending with no flashbacks.
[edit] The third ending
No one person orchestrated all six murders. Each of the guests murdered one of the victims; Professor Plum killed Mr. Boddy, Mrs. Peacock killed the cook (who used to work for her, as it turns out), Colonel Mustard killed the motorist (his driver during the war), Mrs. White killed Yvette (who had an affair with her husband) and Ms. Scarlet killed the cop (whom she'd been bribing to allow her to continue operating her 'specialized hotel'). By process of elimination the guests accuse Mr. Green of killing the singing telegram girl, although he claims he is innocent. Wadsworth pulls the revolver from his coat, revealing that it was he who shot the girl, and holds the guests at gunpoint. Wadsworth then reveals the shocking secret that he is, in fact, the real Mr. Boddy. The "Mr. Boddy" killed earlier was actually his butler, set up to take the fall.
Mr. Boddy/Wadsworth thanks the guests for getting rid of his accomplices, and in doing so, all the evidence against him. He also reveals he never called the police as he claimed, and suggests they stash the bodies in the cellar, leave quietly one at a time, and pretend the evening never happened. He also plans to continue blackmailing them. Mr. Green suddenly shoots and kills Mr. Boddy, revealing that he (Green) is an undercover FBI agent. Backup forces rush in and surround the five murderers. The police chief asks which is the guilty party, and, in a nod to the game, Mr. Green replies, "They all did it. But if you want to know who killed Mr. Boddy, I did. In the hall, with the revolver." He then says: "Okay, Chief, take 'em away. I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife," thus revealing that even his claimed homosexuality was just part of his cover.
When this ending is shown on television and on video and DVD releases, the title card states that it is the true ending. Early in the film as the guests eat dinner, a painting can be seen hanging on the wall which depicts Mr. Boddy in a butler's uniform, foreshadowing the revelation of his true identity.[1]
[edit] The fourth ending
A fourth ending was shot for the film, but never released. It was included in the film's novelization, and a picture is featured in the movie storybook.
This ending features Wadsworth killing Boddy, and then revealing to the guests that he has poisoned them all so that there will be no witnesses and he will have committed the perfect crime. As he runs through the house to disable the phones to prevent the guests from calling a hospital and locking the doors, the evangelist from earlier returns, followed by the police, who disarm Wadsworth. Wadsworth then repeats the confession he had given earlier to the guests. When he arrives at the part about meeting Colonel Mustard at the door, he steps through the door, closes it, and locks it, leaving all the guests trapped inside. The police and guests escape through a window, while Wadsworth attempts to make a getaway in a car, only to hear the growling of a German Shepherd Dog from the back of the car. Remnants of this ending can be seen in that Wadsworth is technically unaccounted for during each murder, just like the other guests who are shown to have committed one or more murders in one of the endings - he is noticeably absent when Mrs. Peacock was screaming over the poisoned cognac, and disappears for the first half of the scene in the kitchen discovering the cooks body, then reappears along with Professor Plum and Mrs. Peacock, who are each also shown to have killed Mr Boddy during that time in at least one of the endings. He is also shown to have gone into a different bedroom than his searching partner Mrs. White during the latter four murders, making it easy for him to slip away.[2]
[edit] Production
Clue was filmed on sound stages at the Paramount Pictures film studios in Hollywood. The set design is credited to three separate people, Les Gobruegge, Gene Nollmanwas and William B. Majorand, with set decoration by Thomas L. Roysden.[3]
All but two scenes, the ballroom scene and the driveway gate scene, were filmed within the studio lot. Those two scenes were filmed on location at a mansion located in South Pasadena, California. Exterior shots of the mansion were enhanced with matte paintings by Syd Dutton, in consultation with Albert Whitlock. This site was destroyed in a fire on October 5, 2005.[4] To decorate the set, real 18th and 19 century furnishings from real mansions were rented. This included Teddy Roosevelt's Estate in upstate New York.[5]
[edit] Cast
- Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard
- Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock
- Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet
- Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum
- Michael McKean as Mr. Green
- Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White
- Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy
- Tim Curry as Wadsworth
- Colleen Camp as Yvette
- Bill Henderson as the Cop
- Jane Wiedlin as the Singing Telegram Girl
- Jeffrey Kramer as the Motorist
- Kellye Nakahara as the Cook
- Howard Hesseman as the Chief
[edit] Reaction
Critics were mixed with reviews, and the film did poorly at the box office. Rotten Tomatoes rates the movie at 74% "fresh" rating. It has been re-released to the midnight circuit and has a large cult following among many Rocky Horror Picture Show fans in the U.S.[citation needed]
[edit] Release
The film was released on December 13, 1985. The VHS release in Canada and the U.S. was in 1986. In other countries the VHS release was February 11, 1991. In 2000 the DVD was released. In June 2008 the film was made available to rent and buy in the UK iTunes store.
[edit] Remake
On February 20, 2008, Variety reported that, following the success of Paramount's Hasbro-based film Transformers (co-produced with DreamWorks), Universal Pictures has entered into a six-year deal with Hasbro and will make at least four movies based on Hasbro games. The properties licensed for filming include Monopoly, Candy Land, Clue, Ouija, Battleship, and Magic: The Gathering.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Clue Trivia. www.experiencefestival.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Clue : The Movie - The Fourth Ending. www.cluedofan.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Full cast and crew for Clue (1985). www.imdb.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Photos from Filming Location - 2003. www.theartofmurder.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ 80s Rewind, Clue (1985). www.fast-rewind.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Universal pacts with Hasbro. Studio announces six-year deal with co., Variety, February 20, 2008
[edit] External links
- Clue at the Internet Movie Database
