12 Movies Challenge: 'Clue'

by Julian Spivey
Last year I embarked on a movie challenge in hopes of seeing some films I’ve never seen and more importantly opening myself up to some kinds of films I likely would never see. The premise is that you have 12 months to watch 12 movies recommended by 12 friends. I don’t often participate in such social media challenges but being a movie buff, I felt this might be an interesting way to get out of my comfort zone a bit when it comes to watching movies.

Like in 2023, I have some movies on the list that I’ve always meant to get around to watching but haven’t – most notably the 1962 classic “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which I think I saw the first half of in school but was absent on the day it finished. And there’s some stuff I probably never would’ve gotten around to like Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 Polish film “Ashes and Diamonds.”

As I did last year I will write about my thoughts and feelings on each of these films after I have viewed them.
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Here are the 12 movies recommended to me and the months I’ve assigned myself to watch them:
 
January: “The Wonder” (2022)
February: “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962)
March: “Dreamgirls” (2006)
April: “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004)
May: “21 Jump Street” (2012)
June: “Mamma Mia” (2008)
July: “City of Angels” (1998)
August: “Fried Green Tomatoes” (1991)
September: “Ashes and Diamonds” (1958)
October: “Clue” (1985)
November: “The Intouchables” (2011)
December: “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (1965) 

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Photo: Paramount Pictures

I didn’t have any recommendations this year that made for perfect October Halloween watches, as I did in 2023, so I chose the closest one to it in the 1985 murder-mystery-comedy “Clue,” directed by Jonathan Lynn, and based on the classic board game.

My friend Remington recommended this one last December when I asked for a recommendation for 2024. In a unique coincidence, he’ll actually be starring as Boddy in a local playhouse version of “Clue” in early November.  

“Clue” finds the popular characters from the board game: Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Anne Warren), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mr. Green (Michael McKean) and Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), all at a mysterious mansion one night in 1954. They have been invited by butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry) to find out and kill the person who has been blackmailing them.

Well, someone does just that, and the rest of the movie is spent trying to figure out which one of the characters committed the murder, just as the gameplay goes in the board game.

I wouldn’t recommend turning many board games into films, but Clue sets up perfectly for an Agatha Christie-like story, and the talented cast and crew of the film do a good job in spoofing those stories, even if I wish the film overall provided more laughs than it does.

I understand the film wasn’t well reviewed by critics when it was released but has developed something of a cult status over the decades.

The performances that I found to be the most entertaining were Curry’s as Wadsworth, especially the running around the mansion trying to recreate the entirety of the evening at the outcome, and McKean as Mr. Green, a homosexual who’s been forced to keep his sexual preference a secret for his government job.

The biggest laugh I had during the entire movie was McKean’s response of “No, thank you” to the buxom maid Yvette’s plea to go with her upstairs in the dark after Plum and Mustard’s enthusiastic “I will!” answers.

Having known Lloyd and Kahn for their incredibly humorous roles in other comedies of that era or prior, I was surprised by how little laughter their performances as Plum and White, respectively, brought out of me.

One of the more intriguing things about “Clue” is something I wouldn’t have gotten had I seen it at the cinema in 1985. The film has three different endings, and via home video and streaming, all three are strung together at the end, whereas when shown in theaters upon its release, each show was given a different ending: A, B, or C, to have people watch the film multiple times (it was a ploy that didn’t work on audiences).

It's an interesting ploy, but after the first ending, when the film continued with the possibility of another murderer, I grew concerned the film was going to have six different endings, one where each of the main board game characters committed the crime. That was one of the film’s initial plans until they realized it would make for a two-and-a-half-hour movie. While I understand the reasoning behind doing it, I wish we had only one ending.  

“Clue” is worth watching for anyone interested in board games—one of my favorites as a child, which I need to revisit—or murder mysteries. I don’t think it’s a standout of the genre, but it’s certainly interesting enough for one viewing.