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Clue
I had a mad, mad desire to see Clue back when it originally came out, back in the 1980s, a desire absolutely nobody around me shared, for about the same reasons. I wanted to see it because I'd heard that the ending was different at each and every movie theatre, and sometimes at each and every showing; everybody else wanted to skip it because they'd heard that the ending was different at each and every movie theatre, and thus thought, with some reason, that it didn't say much for the middle if viewers and the film could come up with three different endings – especially given that the movie was, in theory, a murder mystery, which by all the classic clichés of the genre should have one, and only one ending, unless on rare occasions you are Hercule Poirot and want to give one ending to the police and another ending to a nice cocktail party on a train. But I digress.
Also, perhaps partly thanks to the three separate ending, the initial reviews sucked.
Anyway, that all meant that I never got around to seeing this until last night, which also meant that I saw it the only way it's shown now – with all three endings. And I have to say, those three endings make it into a surprisingly fun and even good film.
Clue is based on the Parker Brothers board game, but despite this, manages to have a tiny bit of actual plot. It starts off rather slowly, as six guests arrive for a dinner party at a Mysterious Mansion at some Mysterious Time in the 1950s. (Cue dramatic lightning, which, obedient to the plot, goes off exactly when necessary.) It is of course Raining. And Cloudy. With Moody Music and TA DAS! The only thing missing: bats.
To somewhat preserve their anonymity, the guests are given pseudonyms from the board game – Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, and so on. (Miss Peacock in her glasses and Miss Scarlet in whatever she's wearing make the costumes.) If this leads you to suspect a Gone With The Wind joke, give yourself a hug. They are greeted by a Butler and a Maid, and are served a rather uncomfortable dinner by the Cook, and meet Mr. Boddy, who may, or may not, be the person who has been blackmailing all of them for various reasons. As I said, it's all kinda slow until Mr. Boddy dies, and then it gears up into high farce, as eventually six (or seven) people end up dead, with six (or eight) potential murder suspects, and dealing with the bodies turns out to be decidedly tricky.
The characters all deeply suspect one another, in part because a) they all have excellent motives, b) they are all mostly strangers and thus have no reason to trust anyone, and c) the directors had rather obviously seen a number of Agatha Christie movies. Indeed, the final three endings are all a fairly classic send-up of the Hercule Poirot final explanation for the murder, done in rather more frenzied style by Tim Curry.
But despite the dead bodies, this film is not really about the murders at all. Indeed, as the film rather cheerfully explains at the end, we can easily think of at least three different ways the murders could have been committed. What makes this particularly awesome is that all three endings get at least one detail completely wrong, meaning that even the one that is supposedly "what really happened," even though that's probably the best and most satisfying ending, may not be not "what really happened."
Which makes this, as said, less about the murders, and more about questioning how much any of us can really know about what happened – and more about how storylines can be manipulated. Who did invite the guests? Who did provide the weapons? (We see them handed out in nice boxes, but we have no idea who put them in the boxes.) And, ok, yes, it was the iron pipe in the library, but who was wielding it?
In some ways, it is also one of the most blatantly sexist films I've seen in awhile – quite apart from the camera angles and deliberate shots focusing on the cleavage of Miss Scarlett and Yvette the Maid, the men – with the exception of Mr. Green, are almost constantly fondling or attempting to fondle Miss Scarlett and Yvette, and to a lesser extent the Cook (before she dies) and Mrs. White (who as a – let us be polite – widow of at least five husbands, is given more of a berth). No one tries to fondle Mrs. Peacock – presumably the glasses, which she seems to be wearing partly as a disguise, are too terrifying – but she, too, drops hints in her dialogue that her life has been deeply constrained by men. And yet all of this is, a, perfectly in character and believable for the 1950s (as compared, say, to X-Men: First Class, which was even more sexist, but in a way that failed to show the actual sexism of the 1960s. Yvette, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. White and the Cook have all, in their own ways, learned to deal with predators; Mrs. Peacock has decided to go along with the system.
And it's undercut by the decision of the film to make the two worst sexual harassers – Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard – the most incompetent characters of the film (with the possible exception of the poor singing telegram girl), no matter which ending of the film you believe.
For all of this, this is a murder mystery with multiple endings primarily cast with comedians (and one rock star). The cast is pretty much all hilarious; if some of the sexual innuendo gets a little much, and a couple of the are the groan out loud sort (Wadsworth: "But he was your second husband! Your first husband also disappeared!" Mrs. White: "Well, that was his job. He was an illusionist." Wadsworth: "But he never reappeared!" Mrs. White: "He wasn't a very good illusionist.") Glad I caught up with it.
Also, perhaps partly thanks to the three separate ending, the initial reviews sucked.
Anyway, that all meant that I never got around to seeing this until last night, which also meant that I saw it the only way it's shown now – with all three endings. And I have to say, those three endings make it into a surprisingly fun and even good film.
Clue is based on the Parker Brothers board game, but despite this, manages to have a tiny bit of actual plot. It starts off rather slowly, as six guests arrive for a dinner party at a Mysterious Mansion at some Mysterious Time in the 1950s. (Cue dramatic lightning, which, obedient to the plot, goes off exactly when necessary.) It is of course Raining. And Cloudy. With Moody Music and TA DAS! The only thing missing: bats.
To somewhat preserve their anonymity, the guests are given pseudonyms from the board game – Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Professor Plum, and so on. (Miss Peacock in her glasses and Miss Scarlet in whatever she's wearing make the costumes.) If this leads you to suspect a Gone With The Wind joke, give yourself a hug. They are greeted by a Butler and a Maid, and are served a rather uncomfortable dinner by the Cook, and meet Mr. Boddy, who may, or may not, be the person who has been blackmailing all of them for various reasons. As I said, it's all kinda slow until Mr. Boddy dies, and then it gears up into high farce, as eventually six (or seven) people end up dead, with six (or eight) potential murder suspects, and dealing with the bodies turns out to be decidedly tricky.
The characters all deeply suspect one another, in part because a) they all have excellent motives, b) they are all mostly strangers and thus have no reason to trust anyone, and c) the directors had rather obviously seen a number of Agatha Christie movies. Indeed, the final three endings are all a fairly classic send-up of the Hercule Poirot final explanation for the murder, done in rather more frenzied style by Tim Curry.
But despite the dead bodies, this film is not really about the murders at all. Indeed, as the film rather cheerfully explains at the end, we can easily think of at least three different ways the murders could have been committed. What makes this particularly awesome is that all three endings get at least one detail completely wrong, meaning that even the one that is supposedly "what really happened," even though that's probably the best and most satisfying ending, may not be not "what really happened."
Which makes this, as said, less about the murders, and more about questioning how much any of us can really know about what happened – and more about how storylines can be manipulated. Who did invite the guests? Who did provide the weapons? (We see them handed out in nice boxes, but we have no idea who put them in the boxes.) And, ok, yes, it was the iron pipe in the library, but who was wielding it?
In some ways, it is also one of the most blatantly sexist films I've seen in awhile – quite apart from the camera angles and deliberate shots focusing on the cleavage of Miss Scarlett and Yvette the Maid, the men – with the exception of Mr. Green, are almost constantly fondling or attempting to fondle Miss Scarlett and Yvette, and to a lesser extent the Cook (before she dies) and Mrs. White (who as a – let us be polite – widow of at least five husbands, is given more of a berth). No one tries to fondle Mrs. Peacock – presumably the glasses, which she seems to be wearing partly as a disguise, are too terrifying – but she, too, drops hints in her dialogue that her life has been deeply constrained by men. And yet all of this is, a, perfectly in character and believable for the 1950s (as compared, say, to X-Men: First Class, which was even more sexist, but in a way that failed to show the actual sexism of the 1960s. Yvette, Miss Scarlet, Mrs. White and the Cook have all, in their own ways, learned to deal with predators; Mrs. Peacock has decided to go along with the system.
And it's undercut by the decision of the film to make the two worst sexual harassers – Professor Plum and Colonel Mustard – the most incompetent characters of the film (with the possible exception of the poor singing telegram girl), no matter which ending of the film you believe.
For all of this, this is a murder mystery with multiple endings primarily cast with comedians (and one rock star). The cast is pretty much all hilarious; if some of the sexual innuendo gets a little much, and a couple of the are the groan out loud sort (Wadsworth: "But he was your second husband! Your first husband also disappeared!" Mrs. White: "Well, that was his job. He was an illusionist." Wadsworth: "But he never reappeared!" Mrs. White: "He wasn't a very good illusionist.") Glad I caught up with it.