Clue (1985) is one of the best Adaptations ever made.
In best Adaptation I consider both the quality of the movie itself and the ambition/challenge of the source material. Adapting the board game Clue is daring because Clue doesn’t offer any narrative other than ‘murder mystery’.
But it also has some very specific rules—one house, specific named guest characters, specific potential weapons, and a ‘board game’ vibe. Just tricky to make that work really well. And they did!
The cast is crazy of course:
Lesley Ann Warren
Martin Mull
Madeline Kahn
Michael McKean
Tim Curry
Christopher Lloyd
Eileen Brennan
Lesley Ann Warren
Martin Mull
Madeline Kahn
Michael McKean
Tim Curry
Christopher Lloyd
Eileen Brennan
Warren as Miss Scarlet, Kahn as Mrs. White, and Christopher Lloyd are real standouts, but everyone feels really great and on par…
But Curry as the Butler runs away with the whole thing.
But Curry as the Butler runs away with the whole thing.
This is almost a skrewball comedy murder mystery in the pace, the fast paced witty repartee, and the physical comedy. And Curry carries the lead role with aplomb.
And Colleen Camp is in a ridiculous bimbo french maid outfit as Yvette.
The movie solves its hardest problem (the weapons) by making a character of its victim “Mr. Boddy” Unfortunately, this actor, Lee Ving, who is actually the guy from the hardcore band Fear (lol), is one of the few weaker actors.
Nevertheless, Boddy is a gangster extorting the other characters. He brings the weapons as a counter-gambit to their mysterious Host. It’s a clever way to make the tricky connection between necessary gimmick and story.
There are subtle touches too—the characters squeezing past each other in tight corridors and secret passages echoing the game rule of blocking opponents, and the dialog references many classic rooms.
In fact the film went so far with this that it had 3 alternate endings, since the game obviously has no canonical outcome. They gave one of three randomly to each theater! This isn’t just a mystery with Clue branding, this is a Clue Movie. A real Adaptation.
But because of the skrewball pacing, the movie has time to build its own identity too. There’s a lot of funny gentle political comedy going on including my favorite gag “Communism? That’s just a red herring.”
The whole thing is a masterpiece of skrewball dialog and ensemble comedy. Tim Curry’s solving-the-mystery monologue as the finale is a wild piece of group acting.
One of its best moves is to build the characters connections and suspicious very early. Why waste time acting like they’re innocents? We know they’re suspects. That’s what we’re here for. Just get started!
I also really like the home video version where all three endings play in a row. The third ending is the perfect conclusion. “I did it. In the hall. With the gun. And now I’m going to go home and sleep with my wife.” 
The movie got dim reviews, most blaming a soggy middle. I don’t really agree, but I think that impression comes from the too-early death of Mr. Boddy, but frankly I don’t think the actor could have handled a bigger role.
But I think it’s a masterpiece in terms of stripping the mystery genre down to the essentials of story, character, and acting, and interpreting it as both a comedy and a board game adaptation.
It is an arch comedy, but it never feels afraid to commit to its own mystery genre. It never feels like it has to apologize for showing you archetypes like a femme fatale or a black widow or a military man or a horny psychologist.
Highly recommended!
Fun trivia: Rowan Atkinson almost got Curry’s role as Wadsworth but they decided to go with Curry’s star power. Atkinson could have done it though.
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