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S3.E1: The Game is Afoot – Unraveling Clue (1985)
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Welcome to the Season 3 premiere of The Average Reviews Podcast! 🎉 In this episode, we’re diving into the iconic 1985 movie Clue, a masterful blend of comedy and mystery. We’re thrilled to be joined by Evan from @thekiltandtheredneck podcast, who brings his unique insights and humor to the table.
Together, we unravel the genius behind the film’s multiple endings, its clever nods to the classic board game, and Tim Curry’s unforgettable performance as Wadsworth. Whether you’re a longtime fan or a newcomer, this episode is packed with laughs, deep dives, and a whole lot of love for this cult classic.
Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more movie reviews and fun discussions. Hit that bell to stay notified about our latest episodes! 🔔
#Clue1985 #TheAverageReviewsPodcast #Season3Premiere #TheKiltAndTheRedneck #MovieReview #TimCurry #CultClassic #Whodunnit
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast
00:00:31
Speaker
This is Tim. This is Jonathan. Welcome to the average where we break down movies, not by scene, but by what makes them truly stand out. We're talking script, acting, music, direction. You know, the good stuff. Things that turn a movie into an experience. Here's the deal. Everyone's life shapes how they see a movie. What speaks to me might miss you completely. And that's what makes this so much fun.
00:01:01
Speaker
Exactly. So we're inviting you to jump in with us. We rate movies using our scoring system and we want to hear your take too. From fresh releases to forgotten flicks, we'll explore it all and we're not afraid to get into the weird ones. Or argue about the big ones. Let's be real, our opinions don't always match.
00:01:24
Speaker
That's for sure. But that's why we're here, to celebrate the art of movies, the joy of debate and the power of perspective. But before we dive into today's episode, don't forget to like, follow and subscribe. Whether you're on YouTube, youtube Instagram or your favorite podcast platform, your support helps us keep these conversations going. And hey, hit that bell icon so you never miss an episode. Trust us, you don't want to miss what we've got coming up this season.
Guest Introduction: Evan
00:01:54
Speaker
Now, let's welcome our guest, Evan. If you've been with us during our 13 Nights of Halloween series, you'll remember him from our deep dives into invasion of the body snatchers. But it was not just a guest. He's got his own thing going on now with the Kilt and the Redneck podcast. Evan, great to have you back, buddy. Hey, thanks for having me with you guys today. I'm I'm excited to be here once again. Always good to talk with you guys. I'm pumped to have you and ah You said you're ah quite a big fan of this movie, if I remember correctly. ah Yeah. i've So in between the movie and then playing Clue from like the Super Nintendo back in the day and then playing the board game all the time, my wife and my daughter, they hate me for it because just how good I got. um I never played the video game version of it. Yeah, ah that's the best version.
00:02:53
Speaker
um My mom had me and my brother play in the board game all through childhood a lot. ah yeah Did you say that the video game is on Nintendo or Super Nintendo? it Yeah, it was it was on the Super Nintendo. So when I used to play it, I used to play it on the hardest difficulty with six people so that I made sure that I only had two cards. And after a while, I got to the point that I'd get it down in about six to seven roles and I would win.
00:03:24
Speaker
So you're the expert in this scenario. But now I want to check if my I have one of those ah Super NES things where the games were condensed and put onto the little device that was released just a couple of years ago. I want to know if Clue's on that. I need to double check now, because I didn't know that was a thing.
Exploring the Film 'Clue'
00:03:45
Speaker
But let's set the stage, because we're talking about Clue the movie.
00:03:49
Speaker
which was released in 1985, but its roots go back to the classic board game we all know and love. It was first introduced as I don't know if this is I want to pronounce it in like almost Spanish, Croydo or Cluedo. I'm not sure. Cluedo in 1949 in the UK, which makes me think it's Cluedo.
00:04:16
Speaker
It became a staple of mystery and strategy in households everywhere. And then in the mid 80s, later on after the release of the game, ah they decided to take that board game and turn it into a film, a bold move, considering how open-ended the game is with all the different options and everything of how it could turn out. Directed by Jonathan Lynn, the movie features an ensemble cast, including Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, and Christopher Lloyd.
00:04:44
Speaker
It's a murder mystery, sure, but with a comedic twist that makes it stand out. It's one of those films that's as much about the journey as is the destination with multiple endings to keep you guessing. It takes the structure of the board game and gives it a cinematic flair, blending slapstick humor with suspense. Plus, that iconic mansion setting really brings it all together.
00:05:13
Speaker
And that's what makes Clues such a fun movie to dissect. So let's get into it. Script, acting, music, direction, and how it all comes together to create this unique experience. I'm ready. All right. So diving into our first category, who wants to kick off?
Personal Connections to 'Clue'
00:05:31
Speaker
Evan, you're the expert. Do we let you kick off? Expert and guest. I'm calling you expert because you played it more than I am. I give honors to Evan.
00:05:41
Speaker
It's up to you. You want to go first or last? Let me go last. Let me hear you guys' beautiful voices talk more about it because I'll come in a little hard in the end. How about that? My beautiful voice is a little thick with a cold right now. I like it because I think my voice sounds deeper. Yeah, it does. It really does. Okay.
00:06:06
Speaker
I actually had no voice on Monday. So this is this is an improvement. ah dan All right. Yeah. So the story in the plot, I think Clue does something very few game ah adaptations have been able to do successfully, whether that's video games, or I can think of even fewer board games that have been turned into a movie.
00:06:32
Speaker
But I think it's a brilliant black comedy mystery that cleverly incorporates the familiar elements of the board game into its storyline. I like it being set in 54. The story invites the Six Strangers to a secluded mansion where they're each given their iconic pseudonyms of Colonel Mustard, Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, and Miss Scarlett.
00:07:00
Speaker
I think that's clever, just like, oh, I presume you're Colonel Mustard. That's not my name. It is tonight and moving from there. ah
00:07:10
Speaker
From the start, it pulls you into this world full of secrets and the mansion itself kind of becomes this maze of potential crime scenes. If you played the game, I love that the movie, the sets are set up like the board game.
00:07:27
Speaker
with rooms on certain sides as the entrance. And there have been multiple iterations of the board game. But if you look up a photo of the board game, it's pretty much spot on. It's great. I think the genius lies in how it brings that board game to life. The mansion is a character in its own right. The b rooms play a pivotal role in the mystery from the library to the kitchen, each location mirrors the spaces players know from the game.
00:07:58
Speaker
creating that immersive experience. I think the weapons are another clever touch to the story, how they incorporated the candlesticks, knives, lead pipes, and more. And they're not just props, but parts of the plot. I think it's inventive. And I think it's funny. And the the main thing here i is the multiple endings. And I think this is both a detriment and a quality to this movie. a We have the three different endings. I'm not going to go through each of them. But by the end of it, I i want to know what movie or what ending you guys think is your favorite if you have a favorite ending. But I think the three innings is
00:08:52
Speaker
one of the coolest parts of the story and the way they did this, because it's a board game, it doesn't have a defined ending, it's going to change every time you play it. So I thought it was genius to have three different endings. However, that also means some of the setup for those endings and conclusions in those endings don't necessarily answer every question you might have. And in some cases feels a little, well,
00:09:22
Speaker
The delivery is especially rushed, but I still, I still love it. I still love it. So Jonathan, I'll give my scores when we all talk.
Character Arcs and Storytelling
00:09:33
Speaker
All right, so this is a big one for me because this is absolutely one of my favorite films from my childhood and so many wonderful memories with my late mother because we used to play this game a lot when I was a kid. Between me, her and my brother and my baby sister, we just kind of sit there, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever, you know, being a baby. God, we used to have a hell of a time playing this thing, man. Anytime this movie came on TV, I was like glued.
00:09:59
Speaker
I was like, I love this movie. It's so great. And it's like one of the one of the big ones, you know, as far as like early core memories as a kid, the story of itself, man, like when you play the game, it's like you don't get the same kind of story that you get here with the movie, which is fantastic, in my opinion, um because it gives you a little more kind of a rounded feel for an actual story than just making up whatever as you play the board game.
00:10:24
Speaker
So seeing how they interpreted the game and wrote out these characters, gave them backstories and everything with this whole blackmail situation and trying to figure out who is who, it gave so much more depth to it than being just a game. And for me, man, like the the way they play the whole thing out from from getting to end and characters with just how they're portrayed and everything is so awesome.
00:10:50
Speaker
And even as goofy as it is and with the multiple endings, it's hard not to like this movie in in my opinion. um So I i just ah so such grief for the movie. to So, yeah. Yeah. All right, expert.
00:11:08
Speaker
So I've seen this movie countless times, you know, throughout my childhood, I'd go over to my friend's house or I'd be at my house and it would be on TNT. And I'd be like, you know what? I'm going to sit down. I'm going to watch Clue. I'm going to keep watching it play a game with my friends when they come over. We're going to watch Clue and we're going to play the board game at the same time.
00:11:30
Speaker
Then, you know, with the addition, besides, uh, you know, our, our normal characters, we had also the, uh, what, uh, what is it? The maid, then we had the cook and the police officer. Uh, you know, those additions of those people, it was like, whoa, there's so much more story to this because there's that addition of those extra characters.
00:11:58
Speaker
That being said, you know, the multiple endings, I know it can turn some people off, but you know, to me, it's exactly like it should be played just like a board game. You know, you're not always going to get it right. that You know, think of it like you're the one that who just said the accusation and you're out of the game. That's one of your multiple endings.
00:12:25
Speaker
Maybe that didn't work out for you, but it works out for somebody else in the go around. The setting, the setup of it on a rainy night, that was awesome. You know, everything about this movie is fantastic. Dark and stormy night murder mystery. I love it.
00:12:48
Speaker
And the fact that it was made, what is this, the 70s, 80s? 85. So it was 85. But even when you watch it now, you just think to yourself, they were really good in 85 to be able to pull this movie off and it still stick with you. Right now we're in 2025. And it still sticks with me. Yeah. 40 years later.
00:13:13
Speaker
40 years later oh yeah later, we're recording a podcast to talk about this movie. I love it. and i'm gonna I'm gonna say I love Tim Curry. anything he's done at i don't i was about say I don't think I've ever seen a movie that I had liked him in. It's true. He's always fantastic. And I'm coming fresh off of ah Home Alone 2 from Christmas because I watched both Home Alones every year. I think I watched them each like three or four times this year because they were just comfortable. But yeah yeah, and he's great in that. And I want to say he has a very similar line. There's a maniac or there's a homicidal maniac. I i think he says both lines in Home Alone 2 and in this. All right. Evan, was that what you had to say about Story?
00:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, that that's what I had for it. So our scores, I was a four. Four. Right up in it. Four. And a four for me as well. really agreement it there All right, so diving into our characters, this is one that I have a love hate relationship with. All right, so I'm gonna I picked three of them. There are so many and I you can talk about a lot of them. um I picked three of them that I'm gonna kind of go through their arc. The first is Tim Curry as Wadsworth. Initially the butler
00:14:47
Speaker
He bottles. It's great. He transforms into I'm not even sure he transforms into a pivotal character. He is the main character. He's the first one we see. dup it out But we find out that he might be the person orchestrating events to reveal the murderer. His character shifts from a composed servant to a figure of chaos, honestly, in the end.
00:15:15
Speaker
And in one ending, even the villain. So that's a unique spin. I like his character. Miss Scarlet portrayed as a confident, savvy madam. Her arc involves maintaining control and calm under suspicion, but she ends up becoming one of the villains in another ending. Mr. Green.
00:15:47
Speaker
who is better every time you watch this movie, especially if you follow ending C, which the ending C is the one that had me dying. a His arc is probably the most transformative if you go with that ending, where he reveals that he is secretly an FBI agent. You all right there?
00:16:15
Speaker
yeah sorry i didn't joke on my own sp i was so excited In ending C, if you're following that one, Mr. Green is revealed to be an FBI agent who was posing as a timid, closeted man throughout the film. And if you watch it with that knowledge, like he initial watch is he's just timid, not really. He has some funny moments. Him standing up and saying he's a homosexual gets some hilarious reactions from the room because this movie takes place in 54.
00:16:52
Speaker
ah That's hilarious. But then if you go all the way through to the ending C when it reveals that he's the FBI agent, and he's just like, I'm going to go home and sleep with my wife at the end is a nice little punch line on the end.
00:17:08
Speaker
So there's a lot going on with characters, and I just named three of them. We didn't even talk about Colonel Mustard. We didn't talk about Mrs. White, Mrs. Peacock. There's so many great characters. My only drawback to any of this is that I do feel like we're we're given caricatures of these characters.
00:17:34
Speaker
So that's one where I think this film kind of the story and the way it's structured is because there are three different endings, we can't let on too early who a villain is. And so I do think that portrays or that betrays Some of the choices made early on, like we can't have Tim Curry be a villain the whole time because he's only a villain in one of the endings. So I do think that hurts a little bit of the character arcs. However, these characters are still a blast to watch on screen. And I the Blu-ray copy I have of it, the from Shout Factory has the ah option
00:18:23
Speaker
to choose a random ending. So you can put the movie on and it says, watch all the trilogy of endings or pick a random one. And it will just pick an ending for you and you can watch it through as if that's the movie. Which i'll get I'll get to that part later. But yeah, so that that's my thoughts on character. They're great characters here. I just think that they're held back a little bit by the fact that we can't really know who is a villain until the end. And so in some way, they are all always a villain and they are all always innocent.
00:19:02
Speaker
okay so With character, it's it's hard it was really hard for me to try and score this one because you know when you think about arc and development of a character, it it varies. And some of the characters don't really get much in that way. um if anything If anybody had arc, it would be more so um Wadsworth out of anybody because of how more involved he is from beginning to end than anybody else. yeah And depending on what ending you go with as well.
00:19:33
Speaker
um I love Mr. Green just because of like, when you focus on, if you watch it multiple times and you focus on a different character each time ah versus just trying to like watch the whole picture, you notice these things and it's like funny little slapstick. And with Mr. Green, like the whole thing with him and his like being accident prone and then going with that one ending where he's like the FBI agent and everything, it's like, oh my God, he was just playing it up. You know, it's just shtick to throw them off from the real trail.
00:20:05
Speaker
you know, what's going on. So I thought that was pretty awesome. ah But with the other characters, you know, it's it's just you don't really get much as far as any kind of like build and finale, you know, with the exception of those who are just, you know, kind of killed off and it's whatever. um Just the the side characters were great. I love those, you know, having like Mr. Body, ah the singing telegram girl, it gets shot. I loved that random moment I know just some weird little things that pop up like that to kind of give a little more fill with story. You know, the motorist, the cook, um police officer, you know, the extra characters really kind of help set a little something extra for it, and kind of helps give you that variation in what you might get with an ending as well.
00:20:51
Speaker
um Professor, as far like Professor Plum, and he he was okay. um There wasn't much Christopher Lloyd's great and all, but like there there was as far out of that character, there wasn't really too much going on with that guy. He was kind of like, you know, this first one felt more like a B character in it than more like the A.
00:21:10
Speaker
ah So, I mean, i said this is a really tough one for me. Like they all were good characters and the kind of the story that you get from each of them with their background once you find out more of the story is cool. but I don't know, man, they like I said, this is a tough one for me.
00:21:28
Speaker
um What do you think? What's going on, Evan? What's your brain gonna throw at us? So, my favorite character I'm gonna echo with you guys was Wadsworth. Of course, you know, it just it being Tim Curry, but just how eccentric and ecstatic about everything that he does throughout the whole movie. You're just like, man, he is he's going at a high level in comparison to most of these other characters that we're getting.
00:21:57
Speaker
He's more fleshed out than anyone else, of course. As Tim said earlier, he is more the main character than anybody else could even be. And he's not even technically supposed to be a character in the clue board game. But, you know, with him being as great as he is,
00:22:21
Speaker
yeah Think of it, the scene like when they're trying to figure out the murders and he's just flying through all these spots and he's going from one room to this room and then he he dies in one little section and then he falls forward and, oh, this is what happened here. like It's slapstick. It's classic. It's like silent movie Charlie Chaplin over the top animation. It's so good. Mm-hmm.
00:22:51
Speaker
And and now I have myself, you know, with Professor Plum, I could kind of see him being a bit of a problem. And like today's cancel culture, as they'd like to say, um was he was a bit of a pervert, if I might say. Naughty, naughty doctor. Yeah, he was he' a naughty, naughty doctor than he was.
00:23:12
Speaker
Yeah. yeah but Now, when I first saw this a long time ago, I also thought that Miss Scarlet was ah actually, what is her name? Sigourney Weaver. I thought it was Sigourney Weaver the first time I saw it. And I was like, oh, the lady for millions. Okay, I got it. I got it. And then as I've gotten older, I'm like, that's not her. This is a whole nother lady. A very different lady. ah But altogether,
00:23:42
Speaker
Yeah, they could have fleshed out everybody a little bit more, but also knowing at the same time that there's so many different characters, it's hard to reach everybody's storyline in the same sense. There's, you know, if they wanted to flesh out everybody, that'd be about a five hour movie. Oh, yeah. And nobody in 85 had time for that. No, this movie barely breaks 90 minutes.
00:24:09
Speaker
And, you know, it was ah it was actually a really good 90 minutes and it always will be. ah Oh, yes. So that's that's my thought on the characters right there. I will say also, I want to say Yvette, the maid, though, was one of my favorite characters growing up. But I think, you know, why I was going to think, you know, why she's she's a bombshell. I is that was doing it for me as a kid.
00:24:33
Speaker
It's the appropriate moment to bring up that I love like for the first, it's terrible. I love like for the first third of the movie, every scene she is in, someone is staring at her chest.
00:24:46
Speaker
every single scene, even the women on screen are just like boobs. And my wife is watching it with me and she goes in the very first shot because she's like bouncing them around. and My wife goes, her boobs are just flapping out all over the place. Thank you, Colin. I love that it's an ongoing sight gag throughout the film, though, is that almost every scene, you'll catch somebody like
00:25:15
Speaker
Is it going and ogling? Yeah, like when she's bringing in the soup and she's putting the plates down like right by Christopher Lloyd, like she almost puts her rack on his face just about. yeah He's just like. He was rest his hand on is an objectification and terrible and dewy condone that behavior. I don't condone it, but it's hilarious on screen. I enjoy it, but it was done intentionally for the sake of comedy, so I don't think it's that done for comedy. And there's nothing I condoned it in 85.
00:25:47
Speaker
So my score for the characters, like I said, we don't really get to know any of them on a deeper level. We kind of get to know what brought them here to the scenario and how they react in this scenario. I gave it a three. I think it's good. Aha. Shazam! That's where I'm at. Three zone is will.
00:26:07
Speaker
Uh, you know, I actually, I gave it a four and I'm honestly, I could go with three, but I gave it a four for Tim Curry's performance the whole way through. Don't stick with that. That's fair. ah Yeah. Go with what you feel, man. That's all right. All right. So on to the music and sound design, the music and sound design, ah it's spot on.
00:26:31
Speaker
starting with the opening tune that screams kind of classic murder mystery over that, ah we talked, like it's a dark and stormy night, that classic, that's basically the line. ah John Morris's score balances the suspense with a comedic flair. So I think the music complements this film perfectly. Every little action, like doors closing,
00:27:02
Speaker
they get their own musical punctuation times, as especially at the beginning when he's greeting like Mrs. White or Colonel Mustard. There'll be a weird musical flair that accompanies the set the door closing. It makes small things feel a little bit more significant.
00:27:21
Speaker
I also really enjoy the 50s soundtrack. I think there's like three songs, but early on, we get Shake Rattle and Roll. I added that to my notes. It's fun. It's a beat, not exactly something you expect with a murder mystery. But I like it. um One scene that stood out to me that I thought was kind of comedic genius. And this is this is one of those weird movies where not every comedic element makes me laugh, but this movie makes me laugh a lot.
00:27:50
Speaker
ah This doesn't make me laugh, but I appreciate it for what it does is when he's passing around the gifts and they're going through and everybody's opening and the music keeps building to like you think it's going to crescendo.
00:28:06
Speaker
but every gift and then it builds again and then it builds again and it keeps building and it keeps building and the gifts just keep getting open and the scene goes on just a little bit too long and the music just keeps building past that moment. I think it's a really smart way to build the music into the scene and into the comedy itself. The music is complementing the comedy. ah We get the classic crescendos when bodies are discovered Uh, it was released on vinyl for a 30th anniversary. So that would have been in 15 with character themed color variance, which just seems awesome. I wish I would have been into this movie then. I was not, I was not in the vinyl then either, but I just think that's a really cool little element. Uh, yeah, I, this movie, I'll mention it now because I think the music definitely takes a lot from it.
Soundtrack and Sound Design
00:29:08
Speaker
I get notes of Scooby Doo. Scooby Doo was 20 to 10 years in ongoing during this time, but I get that kind of punctuation and accompaniment from the music.
00:29:30
Speaker
That's all I have for that. but okay so Like you were saying with that opening sequence with the theme there, I love that theme. You know, that's one of those songs where, you know, I'm going to remember that, you know, in just all the kind of the high trill parts in it. did it didn done and it done it an internet internet and You know, all this kind of stuff in it, you know, it really sets the tone for like this sense of suspense of like, Ooh, what's going to happen? Ooh, this, it's like a kind of foretelling song of some, some dangers from darkness going to happen, you know? Um, and like all the different variations of the theme and all the different little bits and notes and how they build
00:30:10
Speaker
on all the different moments, whether when their people are paired up and searching through the house in different rooms, when something's happening, when someone's freaking out over here, when everyone's trying to find out what's going on, you know, trying to run to the door and seeing who it is, like the rushing back and forth, and just how the music in this it just heightens everything. And they really set it up really well for every scene in this. And The sound design I thought was great because you're hearing like everything that's going on, man. yeah The rain effects, the dogs out there, you know, walking up and down through everything, the actions from being hit, shot, whatever, bludgeoned, all the different stuff, you know, even like hearing the chef and her knife sharpened and all the stuff, you know, while she's cooking and everything. Um, one of my, one of the things I really liked though, like did towards the beginning though, when the guests are showing up,
00:31:01
Speaker
when Colonel Mustard's already in the study with a vet and miss white Mrs. White shows up and her and Wadsworth come rushing in. He's like there by the door. They open it up and he's just like, oh, oh, he's trying to stop it. And then you hear him go, o as you get squashed by the door, trying to get out from under it or away from it. um They did really great with this, man. um I was really big on, I think the sound and the music and this was was done really, really well.
00:31:30
Speaker
oh it Especially when the chandelier breaks and it comes down and that huge thing. man i was like oh man they That sounded great. It was really good.
00:31:41
Speaker
and That's all I really got to say about music and sound design. that so I'm going to go ahead with you on that one, Tim. was ah You had said something about when they're getting their gifts and it the music is just going so well and then it's sweet it's kind of like if you watch an old TV show and they start to look at each other, like yeah it keeps going back and forth. It's like that to me.
00:32:05
Speaker
huh huh hu but It's so it's so much fun to listen to how they had it going on. and They knew what they were doing. And like Jonathan said, was, you know, the rain and everything like that all around. You could really if you if I was sitting in a dark room,
00:32:28
Speaker
watching this movie, even if I didn't have the movie on and I was in a dark room just listening to it, I would just have a stellar time you know all the way around. i don't I don't have to see the movie. I'd know where we're at for the most part, but ah you know it's ah it was a it was killer. The sound design was great.
00:32:50
Speaker
um The music, yeah, definitely gives gives you the feels of the 50s. You know, I'd say that, but I wasn't in the 50s, so I don't really necessarily know. But it is like that Scooby-Doo feel. And I'm for that. I love Scooby-Doo. I do too. I love Scooby-Doo. So, unfortunately,
00:33:14
Speaker
ah it's not unfortunately. I gave it a three. I think the music and sound design is good. So it's right there with the characters. There's not enough that main theme. Like I know it now. But I don't. I don't know that there's enough variation throughout the film to make me want to go a little bit higher. And I do have to nitpick. There are a couple of times that the ADR is a little bit off. So you'll notice i when Tim Curry greets someone at the door and it's raining outside.
00:33:50
Speaker
It almost sounds like his voice is from a tin can. And there are a couple moments, and I'm watching this on a Blu-ray version of it that I would think would have the best audio. So there are just a couple moments or when he's voicing over the events during the reveal, that it'll go from his voice to an actual shot of him speaking.
00:34:13
Speaker
And there's just a little tonal quality, but I'm nitpicking. I know. But it's just that little bit of his voice sounding like two separate recordings that does take me out of a movie a little bit. I don't hold that against the movie, but it is what stops me from going much higher than a three. So and in a way, I guess I do hold that against the movie. But I'm still going to watch this movie live. so but Like I said, the with as much as I enjoyed it and the way the impact that that the music has on this, I went with a four. Good. um um I'm right there with you, Jonathan. i've got I've got a four as well on that one. um i had a good I always have a good time watching it, listening to it, everything. I like what you said about you would listen to this without watching it because there is part of me that thinks this plays out like an old radio adventure.
00:35:13
Speaker
im like yeah okay I don't really to see even though these sets are fantastic and that's I'm gonna talk about that there's not really special effects in this film so the editing and special effects I'm gonna talk about some of that ah the editing was handled by Richard Haynes but we talked last season UHF ah This was back in the day when sight gags needed razor sharp editing to land correctly.
Editing and Set Design
00:35:46
Speaker
And this film does that. This film does that. So the pacing is crucial, especially during Wadsworth's rapid fire running all over the place recounting the night's events. ah Every cut is
00:36:06
Speaker
It's amazing that they did this without computers. I can't imagine going through and doing this the old way to edit all of this. The practical effects include like the chandelier crashing. That's that's nothing crazy special, but it's it's a nice little touch. But there are some weird continuity quirks like that chandelier crashes in the center of the room by the door.
00:36:35
Speaker
to even having them like stepping away from the door and crunching across glass to get into the next room when the police officer shows up but then later when Mr. Green is giving the police officer the tour the chandelier is moved off closer to the fireplace into the side of the room and the glass is all cleaned up. So there's little things like that in the continuity that stand out Again, i don't because of the type of movie this is, I don't hold that against it as as far as affecting the story. But that's something that when I'm watching, I'm like, didn't they have to step around the chandelier two scenes ago? Oh, yes, they did. And now it's over there. ah But the sets, because there's not a lot of special effects, the editing is comedic and what it needed to be. there
00:37:31
Speaker
There was something about old comedy movies having impeccable timing on editing. And this movie lands that. But I'm throwing the sets into the editing and special effects because they are lavish. They are fantastic. They create the perfect backdrop for this. We already said they're kind of based on the game, on the board game itself.
00:37:57
Speaker
But we also get clever use of lighting to kind of go with that noir sensibility in certain scenes. I believe towards the end of the second act, beginning of the third act, we get that like the police officer is on the phone and it's just his eyes and light. And that's echoed throughout. It's played for comedy, but it still works so well. It's great. I love the editing and special effects in this movie.
00:38:24
Speaker
I think if the editing was anything less than what it was, the film wouldn't have worked.
00:38:32
Speaker
Right on. Like I said, there's not much to the special effect aspect of this, but one of the things I always appreciated was at the beginning of the movie, in multiple scenes, not just with Tim Curry, but also with Christopher Lloyd and the other lady, what's her face,
00:38:54
Speaker
Leslie and Warren as Miss Scarlett. um When you're coming up the house, like just that scene that they put together, you know, it's like kind of a set painting thing. It's kind of obvious in this day and age, maybe not so much back paintings because they look so good. Yeah. Just seeing the picture. Yeah. the The picture of the mansion up on the hill, the stormy background and the lighting from the house and everything. That's something I always had a big appreciation for that I thought was really cool. Um,
00:39:21
Speaker
Other than that, don't really have any words about special effects, except, you know, just the the bit of blood that you see from the people who have been murdered or bludgeoned, beaten or whatever. It is I think this category, it's it's more so about the editing because the transitions from scenes from this couple investigating here to what's going on with this couple investigating over here and then finding the secret passage and everyone routing around and, you know, trying to figure out what's going on, the way they cut back and forth between all of those and yeah And I just thought they did it really well on that, man. And as you're seeing, you know, different perspectives while you got, you know, the police guy who's over here in the one room, while everyone's trying to figure out what's going on over here, the transition between that and then who's scared and who's listening in this room with a vet and all this other stuff, like, man, just, it all worked really, really well. And they were just so spot on with all the transitions and the way everything connects.
00:40:17
Speaker
i I just thought it was great. So that's about really all I can say. All right, Evan, what did you think? So I didn't think much on a special effects just because there wasn't really anything too special to this movie.
00:40:38
Speaker
like that way. But like, now editing wise, yeah, as, you know, me getting into editing myself, there's no way I could have edited anything like this, even in, you know, today's standards. But to be able to do what they did in 85, they did it really, really well. ah You know, technology wasn't nearly as impressive as it is nowadays.
00:41:04
Speaker
but you I'm kind of harsh on this one, just because there are some things that they could have done better on, in my opinion. I don't know. Maybe it's just me. Maybe me being in a nitpicky asshole. it I was on the music, so. Even if you want to be, man. Go for what you feel. But I mean, tell us what takes you out of it. Go for it. Hmm.
00:41:35
Speaker
There's nothing really that takes me out of it, out of it, because i i like I said, I like this movie. I really love this movie, but there's just some things. it's it's just And I don't know where to say it at. you know It's just one of those things that gets in your brain and you're like, eh.
00:41:52
Speaker
Could have done better here. Could have done better there. But that's just me being a nitpicky asshole, like I said. And I can't place the scenes that I'm thinking of just because it's little pieces. It's so finite that it's like, and nobody else would be paying its attention to it, but I see it and I'm like, okay.
00:42:15
Speaker
Ugh. That's about as far as I've got on it, though, because I i i unfortunately didn't rank very high on that ah the editing and special effects, to be honest. The list scored out. That's all right. That's all right. I'm going to make up for it, because where I was harsh on sound design, I'm generous here. ah I'm overlooking the continuity quirks, because this is a quirky movie. And honestly, I think that should probably come down to the director's job, making sure the set looks like it did when they cut.
00:42:47
Speaker
But ah I give this a five on editing. I'm a sucker for sight gag editing. Like, it's so good. There's even moments where a character is saying a line that describes the person you are seeing. And it's just like to edit that that minutely. And it's not like, oh, I'm talking about Colonel Mustard. Here's Colonel Mustard.
00:43:16
Speaker
they're talking about like they're making a joke about something and the joke is that while they're saying that, they're showing a specific person on screen. It's so sharp. I love the editing in this film. I give it a five. Okay, ah as much as I like the editing still with that lack of special effects and everything, um I came in at a three. Yep, I came in at a three as well.
00:43:44
Speaker
and how big All right, that's fine. yeah's that I don't feel bad about being low on the sound, no. But the script now, this was a tough one for me to score. This was a tough one for me to score. So Jonathan Lynn and John Landis wrote the script for Clue. And i this ah this goes back to the story, they go hand in hand.
Script and Dialogue
00:44:13
Speaker
but it's mostly pure genius. It's packed with sharp, fast paced dialogue that keeps the farcical tone the entire time. I just I wrote down random lines and this is 1 16th of the great lines from this film because there are so many. But things that It shouldn't be funny, but when they're pulling up to the house and she goes, why is the car stopped? And the doctor replies, it's frightened. The car is funny. I don't know why I found that funny, but I thought it was not. I'm scared. He's attributing it to the car. I thought it was funny. Or when Colonel Mustard is questioning Wadsworth.
00:45:01
Speaker
You're the butler. So what do you do? And he goes, I bottle sir. and It's so good. Yeah. youwer Is all about clever wordplay and timing. So that goes back to the editing. The way Mr. Body, Mr. Body, d the body is introduced. And he is the first victim. He doesn't need a name. He's the body.
00:45:31
Speaker
that gets everything going. I think that is the kind of cheeky stuff that makes this movie work. The iconic exchange of, are you trying to make me look stupid? You don't need any help from me, sir. You're doing just fine by yourself. So good. It showcases the script's linguistic humor, not to mention classic lines like,
00:46:01
Speaker
Husband should be like Kleenex, soft, strong and disposable.
00:46:07
Speaker
I love it. I love it. And then let's not forget the improvised line from Madeline Kahn about flames in her ending. of I just hate her so much. I had flames.
00:46:26
Speaker
and assuming that she improvised that and it's one of the funniest moments of the film. I do think this goes back, I gave it, I was debating, do I give the story a three and the script a five? do How do I do this when I was scoring things? I ended up splitting it, but I do think this is again where the multiple endings hurts it as well as enhances it. I think it's genius to have the multiple endings. I love that. I love that they wrote two thirds of a movie that can work with three very different endings. That is genius. However, I do think those endings all leave a little bit to be desired.
00:47:20
Speaker
I think they actually work best as all three endings. When you get one right after the other, it kind of doubles down on the comedy, but it's a little bit choppier that way. So this, I was going to save it, but I want to bring it up now. When this was released in theaters in 1985,
00:47:41
Speaker
different theaters got different cuts of this film. Oh, so people would go see this in theaters. And some of them would walk out saying Mr. Green was an FBI agent. And some of them would not. You know, some of them would say that ah the madam was the killer. It's so I think that is so genius that they said different theaters, different cuts of this film, no theater had all three endings. So depending on where you went, you saw a different movie. ten that's amazing um It was not until home release that people have got to see all three endings. So I think that is so cool. I think that's I think it's genius. But like I said, I do think it also
00:48:34
Speaker
detracts from some of the depth of storytelling that could have been there. And this isn't a deep movie. That's not what it's about. But when you're doing a whodunit, I do kind of look for clues.
00:48:48
Speaker
And it's hard to follow those clues in this film when there are different people every time. So the other thing, my mom actually got in on the scoring for this movie and sent me her thoughts, which this is the first. This is the first.
00:49:04
Speaker
But she compared it to a Mel Brooks film. And I would i would say yeah, because I was thinking the way he parodied movies, the way he parodied Star Wars and Westerns and so on. This is definitely a Mel Brooks style parody of a locked room murder mystery. And it's, it's great.
00:49:34
Speaker
Is that all for you, Tim? Yeah, on to you. So speaking of Mel Brooks, from what I understand, they're supposed to be making a Spaceballs 2. Yeah, I saw that. I'm kind of excited about that. Josh, I think Josh Gad is supposed to play John Candy's part.
00:49:53
Speaker
Hmm. It'd be interesting to see, but okay. remember But, uh, yeah, second that next to acting the script, I think is the big meat and potatoes of the whole thing, really. Cause there's a lot of great writing in this with all the slapstick that they write in with all the jokes, the one liners, you know, there's so much different stuff here. Um, like, uh, when Wadsworth is, uh, talking with it to Scarlett and he's like, frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn. Yeah. They kind of borrow that line. You i know,
00:50:20
Speaker
ah Which is still cool to hear that and I think a lot of people kind of found that awesome and connected with it with time with the film came out, you know, for that crowd. um Mr. Green talking, he's like, now there's one thing I don't understand. Professor Plum's like, one thing? You know, Wadsworth running around trying to do all his explanation is like, oh, and to make a long story short, and they're all like, too late, you know. yes There's so many quips in here, so much great dialogue that like it's hard pressed not to find a scene where there's something amazing, like something that's really awesome that they're saying.
00:50:53
Speaker
and it I just really like the script because this kind of writing is my kind of thing. I like that because it's it's it's kind of smartly written, but it's written comedically. It's intelligent. Yeah, exactly. you And there's so many jokes in there that maybe not everybody's going to get, but there's so many jokes and there's there's multiple levels that a lot of people get different pieces of. So it with the way they wrote it, it could be appealing to just about anyone with the variants and dialogue across the whole thing.
00:51:24
Speaker
um and to see what was else there. It's one of those that if you're not paying attention, you honestly probably wouldn't find it funny. Because it is so smartly written. It's written in an age where you kind of got to pay attention part of that being the linguistic nature of a lot of the humor. ah Something about I'm going to butcher the line but when she's like murder him in broad daylight and he goes I think you mean this and replies back like it's just a great example of smart humor.
00:52:01
Speaker
And I like that part, too, like everyone's like splitting up to go search the rooms. And that's like who's coming with me and a bunch of guys like me, me, me, me. But Mr. Green's like, no, no, thanks, not me. No, it's like, oh, that's what I meant back in the character, like when you rewatch it. And if you're going with the ending where Mr. Green is a straight married ah FBI agent, that scene becomes even funnier because, hey, he's playing in character where he's gay and he's like, I i don't care to be with her.
00:52:31
Speaker
or he's straight and that he's so deep in character. It's one of those scenes that like repeated watches have made me appreciate the humor in that one so much more. Yeah, there's a really a lot to dig into like when you when you watch it over and over. There's so much if you miss it the first time you'll catch something you didn't get before the next. It's it's awesome.
00:52:57
Speaker
And then, you know, um' when you get the very beginning in that Mr. Green is coming into the house, you've got Wadsworth who's talking to the dogs. He says, sit. Oh, yeah. And immediately Mr. Green sits down and it's like, OK, all right. So we're in for we're in for some comedy. That's great. um Then at one point, ah Mrs. White asks Mr. Green, is ah are you a cop? And he says, no, I'm a plant. she said And Ms. Scarlett says a plant. I thought men like you are usually called a fruit. but And you're like, what the fuck?
00:53:36
Speaker
And then we've got everybody, you know, I think it was in the study and they, uh, I can't remember who it is says, uh, what are you guys staring at? And they're like, nobody. And then she's like, nobody. who What are you talking about? And they're like, there's no body in here where there's supposed to be one. Maybe he wasn't dead. Well, we could have been sure by cutting off his head. Yes. It's so good.
00:54:06
Speaker
I mean, everything about this movie, like that the whole acting, the whole script, it it was great. The script was good. The characters were able to pull it off very well. um
00:54:19
Speaker
It's so slapstick and they're so well timed with how they say everything. And I don't know if it's just because of the acting or if that's how the script wrote out to be it. But it was it was very, very well done.
00:54:35
Speaker
um
00:54:38
Speaker
And then you've got, oh, what was it? Mrs. White. And they, was it Mustard? Mustard had said, ah how many husbands have you had? And she says, mine or other people's. Sassy lady.
00:54:54
Speaker
it's so good Oh man. That's what I've got on that one. oh before forget I really like that scene though when the cop shows up and they're trying to pretend that it's a party and they're all like in the room making out and they got the one driver who's drunk and the cop's like, this man's drunk. Dead drunk. And they're like, dead right. You're not driving home, are you? Oh, he'll be driving home, officer, I promise. No, no, no. Somebody's giving him a lift, huh? Oh, we'll get him a car. A long black car. And I'm like, yeah.
00:55:24
Speaker
Yeah, there's just such good dialogue in that, man. ending Very punny. When Mr. Green goes, so it was you, I was going to expose you. And Wadsworth goes, I know. So I chose to expose myself. And Colonel Mustard goes, please, there are ladies present. It's just that. And it happens so fast, so fast.
00:55:48
Speaker
ah One of my other favorites that's so so, it's so silly. It's stupid. And it's funny. um When just checking is everything all right? Yep, two corpses. Everything's fine. Like, at that point, i guess so natural the communism is a red herring, being repeated multiple times and the way they talk about ah doing the most American thing they could.
00:56:17
Speaker
which is making money off of other people of other people blackmailing them is the most American thing you can think of. ah Back in with the murders, when Wadsworth goes three more murders, six altogether, this is getting serious. Like the first one wasn't serious enough. Now it's up to six. It's like dude for real. So the script, I gave it a four.
00:56:45
Speaker
I want to give it a five, but some of the choppiness that I've said about having the multiple endings, not being able to give, not being able to be fully fleshed out in the first two thirds because they change every ending hurts it a little bit, but there's so much genius in it. I want to give it a five. I just can't. ah just I I, I, I, I got sick with four on it.
00:57:13
Speaker
No, I get you, man. I totally understand. Like I i was very, very conflicted about that. i Like it's so good. There's so much fun dialogue, but you're still some parts where it's kind of some of some parts of those fall flat with some of the, you know, just a basic dialogue and some of the in-betweens. But I think four was reasonable. So yeah, I'm right there with you on it.
00:57:35
Speaker
I also, I also gave it a four as well. But I also wanted to say one other thing about the script was it was when the cook was dead and it was Wadsworth and somebody I can't remember who it was. And ah he says, I think we need to move her body to the study. And why? Because I'm the butler and I like to keep the kitchen tidy. just So stupid, but it's funny. Mm hmm. Are you acting?
00:58:02
Speaker
The ensemble cast of this film nails the style with exaggerated theatrical performances, but it's really Tim Curry who steals the show.
Acting and Performances
00:58:17
Speaker
His energetic portrayal of Wadsworth drives this movie.
00:58:24
Speaker
especially during that frantic climactic recap where he essentially reenacts the entire movie in seconds. He has an impeccable timing and physical comedy that it it just elevates the movie. It makes everything a little bit more engaging. Madeline Kahn is unique in her ah We already mentioned the flames dialogue, but just to her portrayal of this sly, almost conniving woman is great. Michael McKeon's subtle shift in ending C as Mr. Green is a great moment for him. ah But really, it's Curry's presence who kind of holds it all together. And it's so good. I was trying to look
00:59:23
Speaker
at his movies prior to this. ah
00:59:29
Speaker
This was slightly pre. He was doing some TV movies at the time. He was in Annie before this. ah I mean, he was in the Rocky Horror picture for a show 10 years, 10 years before this. Little Rocky Horror. Yeah.
00:59:49
Speaker
So he that was 10 years before that. Other than that, he did a lot of TV work. So I don't know if it would be appropriate to say he was in his heyday at this time or what, but I kind of want to say his heyday was actually around.
01:00:08
Speaker
And he's just done so much, it's hard to say he's been active basically his entire career.
01:00:18
Speaker
But yeah, so I mean, the performances are all just tight. They're solid. But outside of Curry's, there's no real one that stands out to me. yeah Well, I thought it was a fantastic ensemble cast that they put together. There's a couple of people who I was never really familiar with growing up, like ah Eileen Brennan, who played ah Mrs. Peacock.
01:00:45
Speaker
or Leslie and Warren as Miss Scarlett. I don't really really call much ah seeing them in anything that really stood out to me when I was younger. Um, but between Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Martin mole, Michael McKean, Colleen camp. Um, and even one of the, the chief later at one of the endings, Howard Hessman, i've I've seen all of those people in a lot of different stuff. They've all got wonderful careers and have a great catalog of work. Um, and I just think that these people were just, just about the perfect set of people to put together because of the chemistry and how well they made these scenes work together.
01:01:21
Speaker
You know, even when it's just a one-on-one, when it's just people coupled up running around the house, when they're all in a group, they all just, they brought a lot of delivery and how smart it was that they did it. Just, I think it was super impactful to that. Like I said, when we're talking about script, next to acting, it's like one of the big things here. And then the way they delivered was fantastic. They all had these wonderful little, little, little specific quirks to themselves as characters. And that's something that I think just was just super rad.
01:01:52
Speaker
Madeline Kahn, though, i'd think I'd say Madeline Kahn and Tim Curry were probably two of my favorites out of performances. um Colleen Camp as a vet, though. Man, like just that that that goofy like cliche made with the bogus French accent kind of thing. I love the one scene where she drops it. What? The one scene where she drops the French accent. like When you realize that she's been faking it the whole time, it's It's just a small moment, but it's good. Yeah, it du like I said, they all had fantastic delivery here. So I can't really be mad at any of it because it all just came together fantastically. And
01:02:37
Speaker
Colleen Camp, thank you again for wearing that skimpy outfit. and Yeah. Even when like she goes to sit down in the one room and even though she's got a short skirt, she kind of flips up her skirt and everyone sees her panties. When I was a kid, I was like, oh my God, oh my God, panties. You know, but aside from that, everyone just was just fantastic, man. ah I can't really say anything bad about the acting in this. um Evan, your thoughts?
01:03:03
Speaker
Yeah, ah Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, those were top tier favorites of the movie along with Yvette. I personally like Mr. Green and everything he did. He really portrayed it so well. And then you had that ending scene.
01:03:23
Speaker
one of the three endings and he was ah actually the cop and he wasn't a homo or he wasn't gay, he was actually straight and had a wife and it's like, you motherfucker, you got me. You got me there. Because the whole time you're like, is he gay? He's gay. Yeah. why Why wouldn't he want to go with Yvette, you know?
01:03:47
Speaker
um And Miss Peacock, you know, she did such a good portrayal of what I would have imagined, you know, before this movie, if I would have had to have Miss Peacock be a real person and think to myself, ah she's probably like a crazy cat lady.
01:04:05
Speaker
And there she is with this, these pieces of grass and tree limbs and her hair and everything like that. And she, she does it so well that she is, she is like a crazy cat lady right off in the beginning. And she just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, at the dinner table. She reminds me of Angela Lansbury for some reason. freaking shitty cathy There are multiple times. She reminds me of Angela Lansbury. Yeah, I can see that.
01:04:36
Speaker
and And I know a lot of it's, you know, from the direction or from the director and the ah the script and everything like that. But to have such a, I'd say that at the time of the eighties, this was probably an A-list cast of any movie you could put together. And they did it. And they did it for such a slapstick, comedic movie. They did really good. It's great.
01:05:03
Speaker
So I i might have not have seemed super enthused about the acting, but I give it a four because it's solid across the board. I think it's great. But Tim is definitely the standout for me. So I was a four. Well, fine, Tim. Be that way. I'm just going to be like, you know what? Five, bro. Five. I am going to sit five on the acting on this for me. All right, Evan. Jonathan, I'm.
01:05:31
Speaker
All night tonight, so far. I've got a five as well, buddy. All right. That's kilted bros, man. That's a kilted bros. We're on it, man. Yes, sir. So we are moving on to the direction directed. This movie is actually written by Jonathan Lin as well. I know this is our Jonathan's favorite category, the direction. So I think he nails the balance between comedy and I don't want to say suspense because I don't think this is dripping with suspense, but it's got that murder mystery aesthetic.
01:06:09
Speaker
He nails the balance and he pulls from classic like his girl Friday type movies. The multiple endings make it something that you can watch over and over again. Like I said, the Blu-ray copy from Shell Factory has an option to just watch it with a random ending. So you can watch it and get a different ending. Well, up to three times. ah I think he does a nice job of capturing that 1954 aesthetic with the opening cars, the incredible mansion that feels like a character itself. That's a great thing to pull off. I love the eerie vibe that he puts to the mansion. Like this movie is
01:07:01
Speaker
It's not horror, but I want to say this whole murder mystery aesthetic that they have going here on a stormy night in a locked big mansion is horror adjacent. This is comedy. but It's as horror as Scooby Doo is. So if you're looking for those creepy, big, awesome mansion, people are dying, but it's lighthearted and fun.
01:07:31
Speaker
this is your go to and he does that so well.
01:07:36
Speaker
I like the way he uses shadows for that old school noir effect. I mentioned that earlier. ah And one of my one of the best scenes that I really enjoy is when there's that locked door with the chandelier and the maid comes out and she's going to shoot the door open and ends up shooting the chandelier. And all of that is like this culmination of tension and hilarity.
01:08:11
Speaker
And I think he manages to pull off that kind of chaos really well. He does it with no particular flair. He doesn't do like really long dramatic shots or takes. It's all very basic camera shots, basic camera angles, because that's not what this movie is about. He kind of knows what he's going for and he stays in his lane and he does a great job of getting it done.
01:08:43
Speaker
I mentioned, like, there's this chaotic element to it. And my mother put in her notes that that is one of the main reasons she doesn't enjoy this film quite that much is because it's just a little bit too frenetic for her.
Direction and Cult Status
01:08:58
Speaker
But she is. Sixty something, so I can understand. Damn, I understand. This is definitely my type of movie, but I really appreciate how Jonathan Lynn handles the direction of this film. All right. um Running gags. Love that shit. The beginning of the movie, Tim Curry, Wadsworth comes up, dogs are there, feeds the dogs, and he steps in the dog poo. Wipes off a shoe, goes in, and then throughout the entirety of the beginning sequence, when all the guests are showing up,
01:09:42
Speaker
It comes back, they step in, they're like, snipping, checking their shoes, checking their shoes, and then on they go. And it continues on and on. And I love that. I think that really helped set the like kind of comedic tone early on in the film before they really got into it. So I think that was a smart play um that I really, really appreciated.
01:10:04
Speaker
um the the paranoia that it sets in with everybody once they split up to start searching the house. Like there's that one part where Mr. Green and Yvette are together and they're going to the attic, but nobody wants to go first. And so they're like, fine, we'll go together. And then like they're smashed together, like trying to walk up the steps and Yvette's like taking an angle back, like almost about to fall backwards, trying to get up there. You know, the way they hit them plays out scenes like that. I thought it was really cool.
01:10:35
Speaker
um
01:10:38
Speaker
man, that's kind of where my brain goes on direction since I'm not great at that part. But, um, yeah, and Evan, why don't you take it away from here? I'm sure you'll be way better on the stop for me. So, you know, having watched this movie so as many times as we have, it's not one that ever gets lost to me. It's something, you know, I could pick up at any point and be like, all right,
01:11:06
Speaker
Let's get back to it, let's watch this again, let's watch it again. I'm one of those that I can watch a movie if I enjoy it enough and they do a good enough job with the direction, the director does good enough. It's a movie I could watch three times in a day if you're good enough to do it. Get a different ending every time. Exactly, you get a different ending every time and how fun would it be i'm I'm glad that they didn't do it, but how fun would it be if they would have given an ending for everybody to be something different? That'd be cool. that That would have been great. That being said, I enjoyed it. I always enjoy it. I've enjoyed it for how old am I? 32, 20 something years I've enjoyed it.
01:11:55
Speaker
um But you know some movies could just bore the piss out of you. You get midway through it and you're just like, I'm not following direction of this. you know I'm going to go do something else. I've lost interest. I don't lose interest. I i try my best.
01:12:14
Speaker
to watch this as so thoroughly as I can because even though I've seen it so many times, even to this day, you're still able to catch little things that you didn't catch before. Like you saying something about the chandelier being moved earlier. I i hadn't noticed that. meaning But now that you've said it, now that you've said it, I'm going to watch it again and be like,
01:12:39
Speaker
He was right. Tim was right, that's crazy. Oh, a bitch, it does move. Yeah, it does move. What are you doing, Timmy Mann? But all in all, you know he did the damn thing and what with such a cast of characters, it could be almost like a prima donna kind of thing where you've got all these big list actors and who's gonna act out better than you them. He's keeping them so well together, well put.
01:13:08
Speaker
that they don't have the chance to out out acted either one of either any of each other, you know, he's got them on a tight leash, but have fun at the same time. Yeah. So our scores for that one. I gave it a four. I'll be honest, I actually came up while I was talking about it, because I was like, Yeah,
01:13:34
Speaker
I was a three, but he does do an excellent job of kind of staying in his lane and not going overboard with this. He keeps it tight and that's what this needed. So I gave him a four. All right. Well, despite my inability to really give depth on direction, I'm at a four as well. All right. Now I'm sitting high and pretty with a five. All right. Fancy.
01:14:02
Speaker
All right, so the it factor for this movie, everybody scores this a little bit differently. And I love that about this category because this category is supposed to represent the cultural significance of the movie. But Clue has carved out its own little place in pop culture. It manages to be both a parody of whodunits and a pretty good whodunit at the same time. I'm not sure movies like Knives Out or Glass Onion would work as well today. Whodunits have been a thing. We've had Agatha Christie and Murder Shiro and all of that for a long time. Yeah. And I love those films. But I feel like the newer
01:14:56
Speaker
Knives Out movie has more in common with Clue than a lot of those because it leans into that kind of dark comedy atmosphere. I will say I think Knives Out is probably a better mystery, but the comedy in Clue is fantastic.
01:15:15
Speaker
So it did not, however, blow up the box office initially. It wasn't until that home release, the VHS release, that this gained popularity. Part of that strategy of releasing three different endings into different theaters heard it. Different people saw different films. Some people liked the ending, some people didn't. If they had gone to a different theater, they might have experienced a different movie. I think it's genius now. I think it would be great marketing to like advertise, hey,
01:15:49
Speaker
different endings at different theaters, I would go see different theaters to try to catch all the endings on screen. So I don't know if that was part of the advertising or not. But it wasn't until the VHS release that it really kind of gained that popularity when people could talk about the endings and see all those endings. But it's got that campy humor, clever dialogue, innovative structure that sets it apart.
01:16:17
Speaker
The popularity, like I said, is soared on VHS release, and now it's seen as one of the must-watch movies of the comedy and mystery genre, which I'm not sure I can name another movie out of. So I know I named Knives Outz Kinda in there, but that's more mystery, less comedy. I'm not sure how many comedy mysteries there are, though maybe BBC has more of those.
01:16:46
Speaker
I feel like that's more of a BBC thing, but it's unique blend of the humor, the mystery of the interactive storytelling. But because of its total is almost considered a box office failure. Like it did not do well then and it's gained popularity later in life. And I have to be honest, I wanted to do this movie because I saw it for the first time last year.
01:17:16
Speaker
So I'm late to this game. i can Yeah, I knew of its existence. i But when we my wife and I went on our trip to Alaska, this was on peacock. And this was one of the movies that I downloaded to my iPad to watch. More Tim Curry 1985 murder mystery. I was like, Sure, it sounds like fun. I hadn't really heard that much about it. I knew of its existence, but didn't know if it was actually good or anything like that. So I ended up watching it two times on our vacation. First time I put it on like while I was working out to be just as just to have on and I was like, oh, this is actually really good. I need to pay attention to it. And so I watched it again to pay attention to. Since then, I've purchased the Shout Factory release. I like I love this movie now. But because of how little I knew about it,
01:18:15
Speaker
I have to, and its but initial box office failure, I have to give it a two. I think it didn't have much cultural significance. And I think, I say that, but it's interesting that I've had quite a few people message me about this film because they remember it, but nobody goes out of their way to like tell you about Groot. You know, we don't have,
01:18:43
Speaker
Have you heard of my Lord and Savior clue? like and that Yeah, so I gave it a two because I wish it had more of an impact, but I don't think it's had that much. I might be wrong. I think the board game has had more than the movie. So that that's where I'm after this one. Okay. All right. Well,
01:19:10
Speaker
For me, like I said, this was one of those big films for me as a kid growing up. Most of the people that I know and grew up with, you know are they know this film, love it, um and I'm 41. This movie came out like two years after I was born. um and I've been watching this thing since childhood and it's fantastic.
01:19:29
Speaker
and I'm pretty sure like most of the people within like close to my age group and though at work, I could talk about this and they would know exactly what's going on. Maybe some of the younger generations you know maybe may not be aware, but it's one of those lasting films that even though it didn't do well in the box office, it still became kind of a cult classic after the fact.
01:19:49
Speaker
um And it even went on to or to spawn an actual TV series. I think it was like a couple of years ago. ah But yeah it was kind of more set up for like more of like teenagers, kids kind of thing though, it looks like. I haven't watched it because I'm like, you know what?
01:20:04
Speaker
Good for them. I'm going to stick with what I know and what I like. I'm going to have fun with that because I'm pretty sure if I watch it, I'm probably going to like it. But the fact that they still chose to, to make a TV series out of it, uh, regardless, I think it was still pretty cool. And I think that's very impactful. And you know, you go to any kind of like movie cons, they're probably going to have a lot of people who have a lot to say about this movie. So I felt pretty good. Uh,
01:20:31
Speaker
We're given scores already or no, I forgot best. Yeah, yeah, for this one. Oh, yeah. So, yeah. Wait, did you give a score? I forget. Yeah, I was two. Oh, yeah, I was right. You said you're two. OK, so yeah. So for me, I went with a four on it. OK.
01:20:49
Speaker
And I'm going to swing right on in here and give it a five right off the bat. All right. Shit. So. It also gave us, you know, from the cult standing of it, you know, we got Murder Mystery with Adam Sandler and ah Jennifer Aniston, which was a horror comedy. who done Well, not really horror comedy, but a whodunit comedy. um I've always been a big fan of Agatha Christie, but it's not something that, you know, I would have watched. had I can't say that I wouldn't have watched it had I haveve not seen this movie. But we had like Knives Out and we had a
01:21:27
Speaker
Oh, what's that other one? Murder on the Orient Express and all those. Hercule Poirot and everything. Those are my type of movies. I love a whodunit. And if you can provide me with a good whodunit,
01:21:41
Speaker
You better believe I'm in for the long haul. I'll pack my ass right up into the damn suitcase, go on ahead and stroll me out and let's go for it. because you know it's just There's so many different types of mystery movies out there that you could just be like, okay, yeah, this is great, this is great, or this is good. and But a good whodunit just is good for my heart.
01:22:08
Speaker
It's like it's like baked beans good beans beans good for your heart. like this it's It's good. Go right ahead. i I feel like the whodunit is kind of a dying genre. And even though I say that ah we've had the Kenneth Brown films lately, bringing them back to theaters, we've had knives out bringing them back.
01:22:34
Speaker
And I love bringing it back. Whether you liked glass onion, as much as knives out or not, it's still a fun, whodunit murder mystery. You know, I didn't care for a haunting in Venice. I thought that was the weakest of the new Perot films. But it's still a whodunit film. And Branagh is delivering in that Perot role. I've heard the fourth one's on the way. And I'm very good. But his Murder on the Orient Express is actually probably my least favorite Agatha Christie book. I think the ending is kind of a cop out, but it's it's fine. It's fine. fine there Hey, everybody did it. Okay. like that That's not the fun of the whodunit, is that everybody did it? that's That just takes some of the fun out for me. The story is great, but I'm waiting for an excellent adaptation of and then there were none.
01:23:33
Speaker
um cool my may say I The only reason I really got into Poirot is because of my grandmother, Marilyn. Rest her soul, man. She was a huge Poirot fan. yeah She was all about that stuff, man. Did you see the the newer films? I saw the the Murder on the Order experience. I haven't seen the Murder in Venice yet, though.
01:23:50
Speaker
the and the Death on the Nile. Death on the Nile. I haven't seen Death on the Nile either. I gotta catch up. That one's beautiful as well. Branagh is an excellent director, and you can tell he cares about the material. But I i know in The Never Known, it's not a pro-ro novel, but man, that story is fantastic, and I would love to see a great rendition of that. but And I think this this itself kind of borrows from that idea of a bunch of people invited to a mansion locked in.
01:24:22
Speaker
and one by one they're dying off. So that and then there were none story. It's fantastic. So let's go in. I want final entertainment value. Evan, did you give us your yeah, you said five. Yes, yes, five. Let's go entertainment value. How entertained were you? And your favorite ending? Which ending is the ending for you?
01:24:51
Speaker
of the three of these. And then we'll do our final scores and wrap it up.
Ratings and Recommendations
01:24:56
Speaker
So for me, since I've been going first this whole time, ah entertainment, I know I was like fairly critical of stuff throughout this. I love this movie. It's a nine out of 10 for me. I love this film.
01:25:11
Speaker
I have watched it three times in the days leading up to this, and I don't really get bored of it. There's something different to pick up every time. I do find on repeated watches, I kind of tune certain moments out on repeated watches. But it's an excellent film, especially if you care about older comedy. I mean, this is not hot tub time machine. That's not and's not even close
01:25:44
Speaker
You have to pay if you're on your phone, you're gonna miss anything funny that happens in this film. It requires your attention. And that is what I love about it. I don't think people should be on their phones when they're watching movies. That's just my personal soapbox. But I you can my wife will tell you I drive her crazy when I'm like, are you on your phone? No. Yes, you are. I can see the light. put it ta It's all time. But Because then you get the question of like, well, why is he doing that? Well, if you hadn't a been on your phone 10 minutes ago, you would know why that's happening. But anyways, I sidetracked there. i Yeah, it's a nine and out of 10. Ending for me is ending C. I do really like the twist of Mr. Green being the FBI agent the whole time, the call from Hoover being for him.
01:26:37
Speaker
And I think that is the biggest punchline ending. Ending B has a punchline as well, but ending C to me is the one that I think was hilarious and worked the best. So for me, ending C, 9 out of 10. I love this film. All right. um I have no problem watching this over and over. That's never going to be a problem for me. It's definitely a film that I would recommend to other people.
01:27:07
Speaker
I mean, most people I know, I wouldn't have to recommend it. They'd just be like, hell yeah, let's watch that. You know, like, that's not even a question with a lot of people I know. um So I think I miss scored, so I'm going to change mine. I put eight, but I need to be at a nine on this one. All right. So yeah, um I'm going nine.
01:27:30
Speaker
I'm not going to BS you guys. I'm pretty sure after I get done with this, I'm gonna go ahead and walk out there to the living room and put this back on.
01:27:44
Speaker
just because you know much I've been watching it little piece by piece and I'm like, oh yeah, okay. but ah you know i When I texted you, I said that I just got home from work was the first thing as soon as I walked in the door was, all right, throw on clue, throw on clue. Let me watch a little bit of it before before we do this. um But I'm pretty sure my wife has been out there watching it the whole time since then. So I'm going to go ahead and walk back out there and start it back over and say, like another round of it. That being said, I gave this movie a ah nine out of 10 as well. It's something that I can watch any time of the year. ah Kind of like a Interstellar for me is one of those that I could watch any time of the year, any day, any hour. I'm cool with it. Clue, I could watch any time of the year.
01:28:36
Speaker
um It's just all all all around fun, has always been fun. And if I could get my daughter to watch it, then I'm in really good shape. Hey, all right. Yeah, definitely share it with the children. It's something to share with the children. It's a family time movie. I can get down with it. And for all the viewers out there, it is free to watch on Pluto TV as well. oh You want to check it out? That's where you can get it. Okay. i I didn't see it streaming on any of my services and I already owned it on Blu-ray, but I watched it on Peacock. So I know it goes in and out of Peacock occasionally. So you can, but I'm glad to know it is currently on Pluto. Uh, so we actually- It's on Tubi too, I think. <unk> I didn't see it on Tubi. I looked at it and it wasn't there, but I just did a search and I found it on Pluto on a demand. Okay. Is that the yellow one?
01:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, I believe so. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So we actually got scores from our buddy Travis with the nightclub. He says his scores for this movie. So he doesn't have a whole lot of thoughts to add to it. He gave the story and plot a four. He gave the character three music and sound designer three editing a special effects of three script was a four acting was a five direction of four.
01:30:03
Speaker
It factor a three and entertainment value was an eight for him. Overall final score for him was 37 or three and a half stars out of five. ah His main takeaway at the end was the performances were the highlight and he'd like to watch it again around Halloween. And I agreed that goes with what I said about it being kind of horror adjacent.
01:30:28
Speaker
You can watch a deeply disturbing get under your skin film and follow it up with clue because it's still going to fit the vibe, but it's going to not get under your skin. It's going to be a great time. So my final score is I'm a little bit higher than Travis, but lower than the rest of you. I'm 38. So that would round up.
01:30:51
Speaker
it round up to four out of five stars. And I think that's an accurate representation of this film. I enjoy it nine out of 10. But overall, I'm 38 out of 50 or four stars out of five. and Okay, fine. Well, I'm gonna bear down and be like, I'm all in some 40 stars or 40, 40, 40 points at a four star rating.
01:31:17
Speaker
And I'm ranging in here at 43, giving me a 4.5 stars. I could probably give it a five, but I'll stick with that 4.5. All right. So as I mentioned, I got a bunch of like messages and comments from people who knew Clue, watched Clue, and were participating, but they didn't give me scores. Oh! You can't factor in the scores, but like I said, my mom Set thoughts, ah our buddy Hayden, who I started the average with way before it was a show back in like 2018, when it was going to be about ranking Marvel films. i His, his partner sent me her thoughts and said it was a great film and she wished there were more endings. So we I got a lot of feedback from this, but got to have those scores in there.
01:32:14
Speaker
So if I take the final scores that we have 39.5 or four stars out of five that's where this is going to end up.
Social Viewing and Engagement
01:32:24
Speaker
I think that's an accurate representation and I think that's as we say it goes back to social settings. That's an accurate representation of this film for a social setting.
01:32:34
Speaker
It's a four star out of five. It's going to be a great choice for a social setting. Most people are going to respond well to this film, especially if you do like ah put all your phones in a basket and and nobody you be on there. Anyways, that's me in my old fashioned ways. So any other thoughts on the movie before we right out of here? I think I'm good. All right. That wraps up our deep dive into Clue.
01:33:03
Speaker
After breaking it down, our final scores for the Classic, as I said, four stars out of five. Very nice. And a huge thanks to Evan for joining us again today. Always a pleasure having you on,
Closing and Listener Interaction
01:33:17
Speaker
bro. ah Before we go though, Evan, where can our listeners find your podcast? ah So you guys can find us. ah Currently, we are on Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, ah YouTube.
01:33:32
Speaker
I'm still working on trying to figure out Apple. They're just being a little bit picky there. They're tricky. But hopefully we get out further and we're also on Podbean right now as well. um So you can find us at any of those locations. We are on Instagram.
01:33:51
Speaker
ah we are at the Kilt in the Redneck podcast. So if you want to just look at the little pieces that we have there, I just started it up. um Travis got on to me the other day and said, Hey, get to working on that. I said, Okay, I'll do that. Yeah. All right. Well, awesome. And as always, thank you all for tuning in. Don't forget to like follow up to subscribe if you haven't already.
01:34:20
Speaker
And be sure to leave us your thoughts on Clue. I love seeing the comments about how much you think we suck, but that's not what we're asking about. We're asking about what you think of the movie. So, provide us those comments. Did we get it right? If not, what did you think? What is your score? Use that same link to leave your review. We love hearing from you.
01:34:44
Speaker
And remember, movies are more than just what's on screen. They're the conversations that we have long after the credits roll. So keep the dialogue going, share your thoughts, and let's turn every movie night into something unforgettable. This is the average where the real review happens with your friends. See you next time.