Clue (1985)

[Hiyo]

A cult classic indeed.

[Shannon L.]

I just watched this for the umpteenth time over the weekend.  It's so clever and I absolutely love it.

[Spartan Girl]

I know there was only supposed to be ONE ending, but I think it works better with all of them.

[Mabinogia]

For me, this is the single most quotable movie ever. It is also hands down my absolute favorite movie of all time. Clever, an incredible, perfect cast, and funny even after watching it over and over and over again. It just makes me so happy. 

[RunningMarket]

I grew up with this movie. Somehow it became the go-to at the sleep overs, and the group of us would stay up all night recreating scenes and quoting all the lines. It is absolutely the funniest movie I've ever seen, and I can watch it endless amounts and never get sick of it.

At the start of mask buying, I found one off some website that had 1+2+1+1 on it. I was ashamed no one ever got the reference. It's my favourite along with my "Spaceballs the Face Mask" uh, mask.

Comedy in this case, is not just a red herring.

Edited June 4, 2022 by RunningMarket

[Bastet]

I can recite this entire film verbatim, which I do a couple of times per year while watching along, as one of my best friends with whom I regularly share movie nights is the same so we'll occasionally toss it in as our final selection for a night.

I have two more friends who also have the film memorized, so if we gather additional people we could one day do one hell of a re-enactment.  Except we'd never agree on which character we each want to play, as they all have such great lines.

This was included in a lecture in my college film class 101 in the mid-90s, part of a great discussion on social commentary in movies that are not primarily devoted to it.  In addition to being funny as all hell, the wickedly intelligent dialogue has a lot to say about sexism, homophobia, red baiting, etc.  While a cult classic, I don't think this film gets enough appreciation on that front.

Going back to how quotable this film is, there are so many situation-specific lines, but whenever someone says, "To make a long story short," I have to bite my tongue unless circumstances allow me to respond, "Too late," it's so reflexive.  Also, if I hear any reference to Kipling, I immediately say in my head, "Sure, I'll eat anything."  And any reference to "a fate worse than death" means I can't help but say, often aloud, "No, just death, isn't that enough?"

I also use "flames on the side of my face" to express hatred, even if I'm not sure my audience will understand the reference; I don't care.

This is in my top five favorite films.

[andromeda331]

I love this movie! It's so hilarious. And yes so quotable. "I'll go first I've lived a long life." Mr. Green failing to catch a fainting Mrs. Peacock. Wadsworth's reaction after he thinks the cop saw the dead bodies. "Don't worry there's nothing illegal about of this." "Are you sure?" "Of course this is America. It's a free country don't you know." "I didn't know it was that free."

The cop wondering why J. Edgar Hoover was on the phone "He's on everyone else's phone why shouldn't he be on mine?"

Mrs. White's husband the illusionist who never reappeared. 

[Mabinogia]

9 hours ago, Bastet said:

Going back to how quotable this film is, there are so many situation-specific lines, but whenever someone says, "To make a long story short," I have to bite my tongue unless circumstances allow me to respond, "Too late," it's so reflexive. 

It's nice to know I'm not alone. I do that ALL the time. I actually do it to myself. 

I would have to be Mrs. White in a reenactment. She is hands down my favorite, even if "no man in his right mind would be alone together with you!" 

As quotable as it is, it is also visually brilliant. The wardrobe, the set/house, it is all so perfect. 

And the cast are all amazing physical comedians. Martin Mulls reaction when the chandelier crashes. All their reactions when they are drawing matches. Mr Green and Yvette going up the stairs LOL Plum wedged behind the two dead bodies on the sofa just trying to make himself at home lol

I really, I can't gush about this movie enough. So instead, I'm going to go rewatch it for the umpteenth time. Sometimes, life is good. 

The show Psych did a nice homage to Clue, complete with some of the original cast (though not playing their Clue characters). I also heard that Ryan Reynolds was at one point going to do a remake, but I think it fell through. I have very mixed feelings about that. The original is perfection IMO, but I also adore Ryan Reynolds and think that, if anyone could pull it off, he could. But if it does or doesn't happen it will never ruin the original for me, or replace it in my heart. I would marry this movie if I could, and have six of it's cute little murderous babies (along with one sexy, hot British butler to watch over them). 

[Chyromaniac]

It was a strange short-lived series overall, but the 2020 Syfy show Vagrant Queen also did a Clue tribute episode that was pretty fun.

I’m also a lifelong fan of this film - our family recorded it off HBO around when it first came out (I would’ve been… 8-ish?), and I’m surprised we didn’t wear out the tape.  I loved the multiple endings, the pacing and timing of the dialogue, the tenuous tie-in to a game I also enjoyed, and the sharply drawn characters.  To be honest, I’m a bit shocked now that my parents let me watch it as often as they did- they probably assumed that the more risqué humor would go well over my head (I also found Batman to be a gripping drama at the time).  But I also had a reputation for repeating things, so who knows…. To make a long story short (too late), fantastic film.

[Ohiopirate02]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Mrs. White's husband the illusionist who never reappeared. 

"He wasn't a very good one."

I love Madeline Kahn, and her delivery in this movie is perfection.  

[elle]

9 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Wadsworth's reaction after he thinks the cop saw the dead bodies. "Don't worry there's nothing illegal about of this." "Are you sure?" "Of course this is America. It's a free country don't you know." "I didn't know it was that free."

All punctuated brilliantly by Mr. Green’s expressions behind the cop.

[Shannon L.]

5 hours ago, Mabinogia said:

And the cast are all amazing physical comedians. Martin Mulls reaction when the chandelier crashes. All their reactions when they are drawing matches. Mr Green and Yvette going up the stairs LOL Plum wedged behind the two dead bodies on the sofa just trying to make himself at home lol

I was going to mention this as well. The physical comedy and their reactions to different events are hysterical.  Tim Curry's (the butler who "buttles" 😄  ) retelling of who killed whom and how is so much fun.

I also have to bite back the words "Too late" when someone says "To make a long story short....."

[Mabinogia]

I also have to admit to randomly singing "I am your singing telegram" and then making a gunshot noise if I'm waiting outside a door.

I also use "this is war, Peacock!" when my friend is waffling about something. 

I realize I may need help, I just don't want to get it. 

[LilWharveyGal]

I love to wrap up group meals with, "Would anyone care for fruit or dessert?" and see if anyone gets it.

[Bastet]

12 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Mrs. White's husband the illusionist who never reappeared. 

"He wasn't a very good illusionist" is delivered perfectly.  Every word of that exchange about her husbands is brilliant.  I can't find it by itself, but it's at the beginning of this:

I'm particularly fond of:

- He didn't actually seem to like me very much, he had threatened to kill me in public.
- Why would he want to kill you in public?
- I think she meant he threatened, in public, to kill her.

[RunningMarket]

13 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

I love this movie! It's so hilarious. And yes so quotable. "I'll go first I've lived a long life." Mr. Green failing to catch a fainting Mrs. Peacock. Wadsworth's reaction after he thinks the cop saw the dead bodies. "Don't worry there's nothing illegal about of this." "Are you sure?" "Of course this is America. It's a free country don't you know." "I didn't know it was that free."

The cop wondering why J. Edgar Hoover was on the phone "He's on everyone else's phone why shouldn't he be on mine?"

Mrs. White's husband the illusionist who never reappeared. 

He wasn't a very good illusionist.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

22 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Mrs. White's husband the illusionist who never reappeared. 

"How many husbands have you had, anyway?"

"Mine or other women's?"

[Hiyo]

[Bastet]

I never saw this in the cinema, just as a video rental, so I have only seen the version with all the endings.  I think the "but here's what really happened" is the best ending, so I'm glad to have been introduced to it that way; I'd probably still love it if I'd walked out of a theatre thinking Miss Scarlett or Mrs. Peacock did it, but I understand why audiences were frustrated when they learned -- John Landis really shot himself in the box office foot with that gimmick.

It's too bad there's no surviving footage of the fourth ending (where everyone dies; Wadsworth was the killer [the butler did it], amusing himself by pulling off the perfect crime, and then poisoned the champagne so no one can testify to that, but then he is presumably mauled to death by a police dog that is somehow in his getaway car); for a long time, I thought the fourth ending was an urban legend, but then Landis, Jonathan Lynn, and Tim Curry all confirmed it (but Lesley Ann Warren can't remember it, which cracks me up).  Lynn has said he cut that ending because it was terrible, but I'd like to see it!  Ah, the days of lost footage.

[Hiyo]

Supposedly, there were also plans for each of the characters to have an ending where they did it all, but they only did the ones got around to doing were the ones for Miss Scarlett and Mrs. Peacock.

I liked all the ending but I think the first one works the best overall.

[blackwing]

On 6/3/2022 at 5:08 PM, Mabinogia said:

For me, this is the single most quotable movie ever. It is also hands down my absolute favorite movie of all time. Clever, an incredible, perfect cast, and funny even after watching it over and over and over again. It just makes me so happy. 

This is my favourite movie of all time, I have probably seen it nearly 100 times.  I used to be able to quote it line by line, but I'm probably a little rusty.

I love randomly saying things from this movie, but my favourite random line to say, which I say all the time and which drives my kids crazy, is "oh my, this soup's delicious isn't it".  My son asked me what I mean when I say that and I told him to me it's just a general expression of nothingness.  Like "these pretzels are making me thirsty".

On 6/5/2022 at 2:07 PM, Bastet said:

I never saw this in the cinema, just as a video rental, so I have only seen the version with all the endings.  I think the "but here's what really happened" is the best ending, so I'm glad to have been introduced to it that way; I'd probably still love it if I'd walked out of a theatre thinking Miss Scarlett or Mrs. Peacock did it, but I understand why audiences were frustrated when they learned -- John Landis really shot himself in the box office foot with that gimmick.

It's too bad there's no surviving footage of the fourth ending (where everyone dies; Wadsworth was the killer [the butler did it], amusing himself by pulling off the perfect crime, and then poisoned the champagne so no one can testify to that, but then he is presumably mauled to death by a police dog that is somehow in his getaway car); for a long time, I thought the fourth ending was an urban legend, but then Landis, Jonathan Lynn, and Tim Curry all confirmed it (but Lesley Ann Warren can't remember it, which cracks me up).  Lynn has said he cut that ending because it was terrible, but I'd like to see it!  Ah, the days of lost footage.

I remember being a kid in 1985 and calling around to all the local theatres to find out which ending each had received.  I had read in the papers that ending C was the best, so I made my parents drive me and my friends to some farther away theatre so we could watch the C ending.

Some years ago I bought the Clue Storybook from eBay, it does detail the fourth ending, which I thought sounded like great fun.

Would have loved to have seen endings where each of them did it, I guess there wasn't enough money to film all so we only got Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlet.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

Would have loved to have seen endings where each of them did it, I guess there wasn't enough money to film all so we only got Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlet.

I checked the IMDB listing for Clue, and the estimated budget was fifteen million dollars, which for a mid-eighties film was pretty good, but it made less than that worldwide and just a bit over two million opening weekend. They may have made quite a bit more out of rentals and such, like on Amazon Prime, but it's always been a cult hit rather than a blockbusting smash.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

I remember being a kid in 1985 and calling around to all the local theatres to find out which ending each had received.  I had read in the papers that ending C was the best, so I made my parents drive me and my friends to some farther away theatre so we could watch the C ending.

I either somehow missed hearing about it entirely when it was released or did but wasn't interested (maybe I thought a movie based on a board game was dumb?), because neither I nor any of my friends at the time ever went to see it in theatres.  (Later someone discovered it as a rental or on cable and word spread.)  I think it would have been fun to run around seeking different endings, although I might have balked at paying three times for essentially the same film (even with films I fall madly in love with, I don't see them in the theatre more than twice; I just buy them (on tape, then laserdisc, then DVD, then Blu-Ray -- it's a life-long habit) when they come out and watch endlessly.

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

my favourite random line to say, which I say all the time and which drives my kids crazy, is "oh my, this soup's delicious isn't it". 

The most random line I quote is probably "Dinner will be ready at 7:30" -- random because dinner will be a good deal later than 7:30.

Another sequence that is just brilliant, every step and every line:

[Hiyo]

I always liked Eileen Brennan's delivery in that scene ("Will you shut up, we're doing our best!"). I mean, who hasn't felt that exasperated at some point during a crisis...

Also, I have to give Colleen Camp credit, for doing all of that running around in high heels and not experiencing any type of wardrobe malfunction.

[AgathaC]

Oh thank heavens! I absolutely 100% adore this movie! As a kid, I begged my parents every weekend to rent it until my dad finally just bought a copy. It was also the first movie I bought when I got a DVD player.

I, too, can recite it verbatim. When I was in college, my choir went on a tour of Europe and at one point, we discovered that half of us had the movie memorized. The director thought we were nuts, wandering around Prague and Vienna randomly reciting dialog from an obscure movie and making zero sense. Though the lines are definitely quotable.

Any counting usually results in some version of “Even if you’re right, that’d be 1+1+2+1 not 1+2+1+1.”

Eggs? “You can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Every cook will tell you that.” “But look what happened to the cook!”

Kleenex? “Husbands should be like Kleenex. Soft, strong and disposable.”

When we were kids, my sister and I would take turns playing the Singing Telegram Girl on our parents’ bed (so it wouldn’t hurt when we fell down).

As a kid, I desperately wanted to live in (or at least visit) that house so I could explore. As an adult, I still covet it.

A few years ago I found an oral history of Clue article that was very good. May have to go searching…

ETA: Found it:

https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/adambvary/something-terrible-has-happened-here-the-crazy-story-of-how

Edited June 7, 2022 by AgathaC

[Shannon L.]

On 6/5/2022 at 12:07 PM, Bastet said:

I never saw this in the cinema, just as a video rental, so I have only seen the version with all the endings.  I think the "but here's what really happened" is the best ending, so I'm glad to have been introduced to it that way; I'd probably still love it if I'd walked out of a theatre thinking Miss Scarlett or Mrs. Peacock did it, but I understand why audiences were frustrated when they learned -- John Landis really shot himself in the box office foot with that gimmick.

Really? Interesting.  I remember everyone in my orbit loving it. Every time someone saw it for the first time we'd ask "What ending did you get?" and, if was different, we'd talk about both.  I thought it was really clever.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, AgathaC said:

When we were kids, my sister and I would take turns playing the Singing Telegram Girl on our parents’ bed (so it wouldn’t hurt when we fell down).

My friend's brother always did Wadsworth's "I'm not shouting!  Alright, I am.  I'm shouting, I'm shouting, I'm shout--" bit as we watched, and to this day claims he's affected by falling to his knees so many times.  Not by playing football, by playing Wadsworth.

26 minutes ago, Shannon L. said:

Really? Interesting.  I remember everyone in my orbit loving it. Every time someone saw it for the first time we'd ask "What ending did you get?" and, if was different, we'd talk about both. 

Yeah, it was weird how it somehow escaped us.  At least we caught on later and made up for lost time by memorizing it.

[RunningMarket]

As kids, we would jokingly say if someone from our friend circle walked up to us, <pause> "Maybe they'll just go away". It worked, because we had ALL seen the movie and were in on the joke.

[Bastet]

9 minutes ago, RunningMarket said:

As kids, we would jokingly say if someone from our friend circle walked up to us, <pause> "Maybe they'll just go away".

Upon hearing a doorbell, I've been known to say, "Whoever it is, they gotta go away or they'll be killed."

[AgathaC]

One thing I love about this movie is that when I was a kid, a lot of jokes and plot points went right over my head. I was young and sheltered so things like “Flies are where men are most vulnerable” and “I run a specialized hotel and a telephone service which provides gentlemen with the company of a young lady — for a short while” went right past me. So, when I watched as an adult, it was like discovering it all over again.

Edited because lies and flies are not the same thing.

Edited June 7, 2022 by AgathaC

[Hiyo]

I missed the "Oui Oui" joke as a kid.

Mrs. Peacock: Is there a "little girl's room" in the hall?

Yvette: Oui, oui, madame.

Mrs. Peacock: No, I just need to powder my nose.

Also, even though most people on here have memorized the dialogue, here is the script.

[Ohiopirate02]

5 minutes ago, AgathaC said:

One thing I love about this movie is that when I was a kid, a lot of jokes and plot points went right over my head. I was young and sheltered so things like “Lies are where men are most vulnerable” and “I run a specialized hotel and a telephone service which provides gentlemen with the company of a young lady — for a short while” went right past me. So, when I watched as an adult, it was like discovering it all over again.

By the time Clue showed up on HBO and I watched it every time it was on, I had seen enough of The Golden Girls to get the sex jokes.  What went over my head was all the 50s Red Scare talk, HUAAC, the J. Edgar Hoover telephone joke, and "communism was just a red herring." 

[AgathaC]

9 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

By the time Clue showed up on HBO and I watched it every time it was on, I had seen enough of The Golden Girls to get the sex jokes.  What went over my head was all the 50s Red Scare talk, HUAAC, the J. Edgar Hoover telephone joke, and "communism was just a red herring." 

Yeah, I had no clue what any of that meant, either! 

[Morrigan2575]

On 6/5/2022 at 3:07 PM, Bastet said:

thought the fourth ending was an urban legend, but then Landis, Jonathan Lynn, and Tim Curry all confirmed it (but Lesley Ann Warren can't remember it, which cracks me up).  Lynn has said he cut that ending because it was terrible, but I'd like to see it!  Ah, the days of lost footage.

I'm remember watching Minty cover Clue and he mentioned the 4 endings. That was the first I heard of a 4th ending 

[Popples]

1 hour ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

By the time Clue showed up on HBO and I watched it every time it was on, I had seen enough of The Golden Girls to get the sex jokes.  What went over my head was all the 50s Red Scare talk, HUAAC, the J. Edgar Hoover telephone joke, and "communism was just a red herring." 

I think I was about 7 the first time I watched it and had no idea what "communism" or "red herring" meant either, so when I finally learned about communism, I was really confused that the term "red herring" didn't appear anywhere that chapter of my history book. Then I had Literature class and it all made sense.

[Mabinogia]

Seeing all these quotes from different characters reminds me of another reason I love this movie. It truly was an ensemble. Every character had great lines, great moments, no one actor ran away with the show. For me at least, there were no weak links. Even the bit players were great. It seems like the cast all respected each others talent and no one tried to outdo the others. They all just worked perfectly together. 

It is, to me, one of those perfect storm, once in a lifetime things. The perfect cast for the perfect script with the perfect director at the perfect time in the perfect house. (Seriously, if I could move into the Body Mansion I would do it even if it meant facing a 1 in 6 chance of being a murderer. 

[Cobalt Stargazer]

4 hours ago, Bastet said:

Upon hearing a doorbell, I've been known to say, "Whoever it is, they gotta go away or they'll be killed."

"But your souls are in danger!"

"Our lives are in danger, ya beatnik!"

[Ohiopirate02]

Just now, Cobalt Stargazer said:

"But your souls are in danger!"

"Our lives are in danger, ya beatnik!"

"The kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

"I have news for you, it's already here."

[Bastet]

13 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

(Seriously, if I could move into the Body Mansion I would do it even if it meant facing a 1 in 6 chance of being a murderer. 

I remember years ago so hoping that was an actual house somewhere, that one could rent out for special events.  (Alas, it was a set constructed for the film.)

[RunningMarket]

35 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

"The kingdom of Heaven is at hand!"

"I have news for you, it's already here."

As WKRP was a little before my time, to me, Howard Hesseman will always be The Chief.

[LilWharveyGal]

53 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

...in the perfect house. (Seriously, if I could move into the Body Mansion I would do it even if it meant facing a 1 in 6 chance of being a murderer. 

As a dorky child I may or may not have attempted more than once to build an accurate replica in The Sims.  Maybe. I've admitted nothing. 😄

[Hiyo]

Quote

It truly was an ensemble. Every character had great lines, great moments, no one actor ran away with the show. For me at least, there were no weak links. Even the bit players were great. It seems like the cast all respected each others talent and no one tried to outdo the others. They all just worked perfectly together. 

Bittersweet that some of them are no longer with us.

Quote

Seriously, if I could move into the Body Mansion I would do it even if it meant facing a 1 in 6 chance of being a murderer.

Not to mention a 1 in 6 chance of being murdered as well ;)

[Guest]

Between this and Back to the Future, 1985 was a very good year for Christopher Lloyd. And for me, since those are my two all-time favorite movies.

[blackwing]

16 hours ago, LilWharveyGal said:

As a dorky child I may or may not have attempted more than once to build an accurate replica in The Sims.  Maybe. I've admitted nothing. 😄

But you paid the blackmail.  How many husbands have you had?

[RunningMarket]

7 minutes ago, blackwing said:

But you paid the blackmail.  How many husbands have you had?

Mine, or other women's?

[Spartan Girl]

I use "I hate her...SO MUCH....just, flames, flames on the side of my face" more often than I should, particularly about fictional characters.

[Morrigan2575]

36 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

I use "I hate her...SO MUCH....just, flames, flames on the side of my face" more often than I should, particularly about fictional characters.

Total adlib by the great Madeline Kahn and the only improvised moment in the movie. 

[Hiyo]

Quote

in the perfect house

Interesting fact about the set used for filming, it was later re-used as part of the fictional Carleton Hotel on Dynasty (the 80s version).

[Hiyo]

[blackwing]

There's a great article about "Clue" that was just posted on EW.

https://ew.com/movies/clue-oral-history/

Not sure what prompted this article, but anything about "Clue" is welcome by me.   I'd love to finally see a BluRay release with lots of extras/specials.