I have always liked the game Clue and have a lot of fun playing the game over the years. In 1985, Clue was released.
Six strangers, who would be known as Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, Miss Scarlett, Mrs. Peacock and Mrs. White, were invited to dinner by Mr. Boddy. They were greeted at the house by Wadsworth the butler and Yvette the maid. Mr. Boddy finally showed up during the meal and then they learned that everyone was being blackmailed by him. Shortly after that, Mr. Boddy was murdered and all of the guests had the motive for doing it. They were locked inside the house and had to try to figure out what was going on before the police showed up. More dead bodies turned up which made each person suspect everyone else.
Clue was based on the popular board game of the same name. It is probably the only board game that could be turned into a movie that would work so well. The movie followed the basic premise of the game with Mr. Boddy being murdered somewhere in his house by one of six guests. The guests had the same names as the ones in the game but they weren’t all dressed in the same colors as their names like they were in the game. Wadsworth and Yvette, along with a few other minor characters, were added for the movie. The same rooms were shown with a few additions like a bathroom, attic, basement and bedrooms on the second floor. The same six potential murder weapons from the game were also used. The fact that three different endings were made also fit in very well since there is a different outcome every time the game is played.
Clue took the time to establish a reason for why everyone was at the house in the first place. The characters were briefly introduced and certain things about them were slowing uncovered as the movie progressed. The way the characters were handled worked and did add some mystery to the movie. There was a decent amount of mystery in the movie even though it could have been a bit stronger as well as some suspense in a few scenes. Mr. Boddy wasn’t the only person murdered in the movie. Some of the murders were shown as they happened, adding a small amount of violence without getting graphic. I don’t think the movie would be too violent for anyone. It was rated PG, so parents shouldn’t have to worry about their children seeing it. I did like how there were different endings for the movie and I actually would have liked it if there had been more than three. I did read that originally there were going to be more endings, but the director decided that the final running time with that many endings would be too long.
Clue wasn’t intended to be a serious movie even though it was dealing with murder. The movie was more of a spoof the typical serious murder mystery movie. Humor was added through things that were said and done by the different characters, especially Wadsworth. He was responsible for many of the things that made me laugh. Physical comedy was used in some scenes as well as dialogue that was a bit corny or silly at times, but it all worked for the movie, making it very fun and entertaining to watch. The movie could be a bit too silly or corny for some viewers. The movie did make some references to the fear of communism that was running through the country when the movie was set in 1954.
None of the characters in Clue were developed that much. Mr. Boddy was barely shown before he was killed, so Lee Ving had very little to do. The same was true for the other victims. Wadsworth was in most of the movie with very little being shared about him. He knew more about what was going on than the others at first and did act like he was in charge, making several decisions. Tim Curry was wonderful in the part. The way he said and did certain things added a lot of the humor to the movie. I loved him in this movie. Yvette was the very attractive maid who was wearing a somewhat revealing uniform and spoke with a French accent. She was mostly in the background, so Colleen Camp didn’t have as much to do as some of the others.
Very little was shared about the six guests, including their real names since they were going by aliases in the house. It did seem one or two of them knew who one of the other people in the house was. As the movie progressed, a little more was slowly shared about the guests. Mr. Green seemed to be jumpier than the others and a bit of a klutz. Mrs. White did have a tendency to be a bit dramatic at times which Madeline Kahn handled perfectly without going over board. Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlett also had their moments of being a bit dramatic or just over reacting as well. Colonel Mustard and Professor Plum had their own issues that did help to add humor to them. All of the actors did good jobs with their parts.
Main Cast
Eileen Brennan - Mrs. Peacock Colleen Camp - Yvette Tim Curry - Wadsworth Madeline Kahn - Mrs. White Christopher Lloyd - Professor Plum Michael McKean - Mr. Green Martin Mull - Colonel Mustard Lee Ving - Mr. Boddy Leslie Ann Warren - Miss Scarlett
Jonathan Lynn - Director
DVD Information
I picked up Clue for $5.50. My copy of the movie is the widescreen version. I’m not sure if there is also a full screen version. There really weren’t any special features. The theatrical trailer was included and there were two options for viewing the movie. It could be watched with only one of the three endings shown. The ending that was shown would be randomly picked. The other option would be to view the movie with all three endings shown, one after the other, from the home video version. Every time I have seen it on television, all three endings have been shown.
Clue was a very fun, entertaining movie. It worked very well as both an adaptation of the popular board game and as a spoof of murder mystery movies. I think it is definitely worth seeing, though it could be too silly for some people.
A group of blackmailed guests gather in a remote mansion hosted by a daffy butler Tim Curry in this campy adaptation of the popular board game. Suspic...More at Family Video
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