Ultimate DVD Collection #2 Clue

Now, I'm not saying these are the greatest films ever, I'm not even saying they're particularly very good but I love them for one reason or another and they get watched a fair bit in our household.

This is my Ultimate DVD Collection so let's continue with one of my all time favourite movies based on a board game, Clue.

I remember watching this film when I was younger, then never hearing about it or seeing it again for years. No one ever did know what I was going on about so much so I thought I might have been making it up. Thank goodness then for the Internet and Region 1 DVDs, I was reunited with this classic when I was 18. Making sure I told everyone else THEY were the idiots. I also forgot that it had 3 different endings. Re-watching it I went for the theatrical/surprise ending (mainly because I couldn't find my DVD remote) but I did eventually watch all the endings. 

Checking out some secrets. 

Just in case you've never been bored out of your brains on a rainy Sunday afternoon and not resorted to playing it, let me fill you in. Yes it is based on the whodunit board game Cluedo (or Clue to our American friends) where 6 people are invited by a mystery guest to a dinner party. All have a secret to keep and Mr Boddy knows all of them. He is blackmailing each person and wants one of them to kill the butler, Wadsworth (Tim Curry, being awesome). After giving them all little gifts of a murder weapon including rope, a lead pipe, a dagger, a revolver, a candlestick and a wrench, he turns the lights out but it's not Wadsworth who ends up dead, it's Mr Boddy. But as the bodies pile up can you guess who the murderer is? They can't. Hilarity ensues.

A bit of a flop when it was released it made just under $15 million domestically, just short of its budget. What stands out with this movie is the fact it had three different endings in movie theatres and no one knew which they were watching. The three endings is a great piece of movie marketing but when you try to think about it in terms of the script I'm not sure any of them make much sense. To be honest it really wears thin after the first one if you are watching them all back to back but it's a nifty idea that I can't think of any other mainstream film trying. More questions are raised than are answered though. Fun little fact; apparently there were 4 endings but director Jonathan Lynn got rid of one, even he was like "that's enough." Thank goodness. Another thing I didn't know was John Landis' involvement in the script. Mmm, I'm not sure I'd have guessed. 

Another dead body, this time the classy maid. 

Out in 1985 you would have thought it would have taken less than 27 years before someone thought "Let's make another movie based on a board game." It's a comedy murder mystery and it works because we as an audience are trying to guess who is killer is too. Okay, it's not perfect but it's fun. It does get a little annoying towards the end when they are running around like headless chickens but getting there is enjoyable. The cast are all great, my favourite being Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet. She's clearly having too much fun. Christopher Lloyd is also on top form, but then isn't he always? Thinking about it and really it works best as a TV show. Anyone remember it? There was a different story each week with "celebrity" detectives trying to find out who the murderer was. And by celebrities I mean people like Andy Crane and Steve Wright. I'll write about it some other time but here are the opening credits. 

A few little niggles; Why didn't Wadsworth just suggest they kill Mr Boddy then they all would have been free? Oh, well actually not with the third ending. CONFUSING. The second ending where Wadsworth is an FBI agent is also rubbish. I think Mr Green should have actually been a Reverend and Mrs White should have been a cook, just like the game. And also why is there no study on that movie poster above??

Okay, so it doesn't make a lot of sense and it's convenient people keep coming to the mansion to get killed but the main characters are great, the mansion looks amazing, there are cool secret passages and it really is in the spirit of the board game. What's not to love? I'd have to say the third ending is my favourite, purely down to the last line from Mr. Green (turns out he was an FBI agent too) "Okay, chief take 'em away. I'm gonna go home and sleep with my wife." Stay classy.

BEST TIME TO WATCH? Throw a murder mystery dinner party and get everyone to try and guess the ending.