Clue (film)

''Clue'' is a 1985 American black comedy mystery film based on the board game '' Clue''. It was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, who co-wrote the story with John Landis, and produced by Debra Hill, and it stars the ensemble cast of Eileen Brennan, Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, and Lesley Ann Warren, with Colleen Camp and Lee Ving in supporting roles.

Like the board game, the film has multiple different endings. Each of three possibilities were screened at different theaters, and home media releases include all. The film initially received mixed reviews and performed poorly at the box office, grossing $14.6 million in the United States against its budget of $15 million, but later developed a considerable cult following.

Plot

In 1954, six strangers are invited to a secluded New England mansion. Each guest is greeted by the butler Wadsworth and the maid Yvette, and receives a pseudonym to maintain confidentiality: "Colonel Mustard", "Mrs. White", "Mrs. Peacock", "Mr. Green", "Professor Plum", and "Miss Scarlet". During dinner, they discover they all hold government influence before being joined by Mr. Boddy, who has been blackmailing everyone for some time. Wadsworth has called the police to arrest Boddy, but Boddy threatens to expose everyone's secrets if they turn him in. He then presents the six guests with weapons—a candlestick, rope, lead pipe, wrench, revolver, and dagger—and suggests someone kill Wadsworth to protect their secrets before turning out the lights. After a gunshot rings out, Boddy is found on the floor, seemingly dead.

As the guests investigate Boddy's death, Wadsworth explains how he became indentured to Boddy and summoned the guests, hoping to force a confession from the group and turn one of them over to the police. As the group suspect the cook, only to find she was fatally stabbed with the dagger, someone discovers Boddy is alive before killing him with the candlestick. Wadsworth locks the weapons in a cupboard, but before he can throw away the key, a stranded motorist arrives and Wadsworth locks him in the lounge before throwing a key out the front door. The group draw lots to pair up before searching the manor. However, someone burns the blackmail evidence, unlocks the cupboard, and kills the motorist with the wrench. Discovering a secret passage, Mustard and Scarlet find themselves locked in the lounge with the motorist's corpse. When they scream for help, Yvette shoots the door open with the revolver. The group deduce that Wadsworth threw out the wrong key and the murderer pickpocketed the cupboard key from him.

A cop investigating the motorist's abandoned car arrives to use the phone. The mansion receives a call from FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, which Wadsworth takes alone. After successfully distracting the cop and concealing the bodies, the group resumes their search until someone turns off the electricity. In the darkness, Yvette, the cop, and an arriving singing telegram girl are murdered with the rope, pipe, and revolver, respectively. Wadsworth restores the power and gathers the group, having deduced what happened. Recreating the night's events and amidst a brief interruption from an evangelist, he explains how the other five victims were Boddy's informants who are each connected to one of the guests, which dovetails into one of three possible outcomes.

"How It Could Have Happened"

Yvette murdered the cook and Boddy under orders from Scarlet, who then killed her and the other victims. Intending to sell the guests' secrets, Scarlet prepares to use the revolver to kill Wadsworth, who argues there are no bullets left before disarming her just as law enforcement raid the manor and the evangelist is revealed to be the chief of police. Wadsworth further reveals he is an undercover FBI agent before accidentally firing the last bullet in the revolver at a chandelier, which narrowly misses Mustard as it falls.

"How About This?"

Peacock killed all the victims to prevent her exposure for taking bribes from foreign powers before holding the others at gunpoint to escape. To the others' confused relief, Wadsworth reveals he is an undercover FBI agent. Peacock is arrested outside before law enforcement raid the manor and the evangelist is revealed to be the chief of police.

"Here's What Really Happened"

Apart from Green, everyone committed one murder: Peacock killed the cook, Plum killed Boddy, Mustard killed the motorist, Scarlet killed the cop, White killed Yvette, and Wadsworth killed the singing telegram girl. Holding the guests at gunpoint, Wadsworth reveals he is the real Boddy, Plum killed the real butler, and announces his intent to continue blackmailing them. However, Green draws his own revolver and kills Boddy. He then reveals he is an undercover FBI agent sent to investigate Boddy before letting in law enforcement and the evangelist, who is revealed to be the chief of police, to arrest everyone.

Cast

* Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, the wife of a U.S. senator who has been accepting bribes from foreign powers.
* Tim Curry as Wadsworth, a butler who was forced to work for Mr. Boddy and seeks justice for his wife. In Ending C, he is revealed to be the real Mr. Boddy.
* Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, the widow of a nuclear physicist and four previous men, all of whom died under suspicious circumstances.
* Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum, a disgraced former psychiatrist for the World Health Organization who now works for the United Nations.
* Michael McKean as Mr. Green, a State Department employee and a closeted homosexual. In Ending C, he is revealed to be an undercover FBI agent.
* Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, an army officer guilty of war profiteering.
* Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet, a sassy Washington, D.C. madam.
* Colleen Camp as Yvette, a voluptuous French maid who formerly worked as a call girl for Miss Scarlet and had an affair with one of Mrs. White's late husbands.
* Lee Ving as Mr. Boddy, a man who has been blackmailing the six guests and Wadsworth's wife. In Ending C, he is revealed to be the real butler.
* Bill Henderson as The Cop, a police officer whom Miss Scarlet had been bribing.
* Jane Wiedlin as The Singing Telegram Girl, a former patient of Professor Plum, with whom she had an affair.
* Jeffrey Kramer as The Motorist, Colonel Mustard's driver during World War II.
* Kellye Nakahara as The Cook (Mrs. Ho), the former cook of Mr. Boddy and Mrs. Peacock.

Additionally, Howard Hesseman makes an uncredited appearance as the Chief of Police who works undercover as an evangelist.

Production

Development

Producer Debra Hill initially acquired the rights to adapt the game from Parker Brothers and intended to distribute through Universal Pictures. As early as 1981, Hill mentioned plans to adapt the game into a movie, with P. D. James reported to be writing the screenplay with multiple endings.

Screenplay

The multiple endings were developed by John Landis, who had initially been set to direct, and who claimed in an interview to have invited playwright Tom Stoppard, writer and composer Stephen Sondheim, and actor Anthony Perkins to write the screenplay. The script was ultimately finished by Jonathan Lynn, who was invited to direct as a result.

A fourth ending was written for the film; according to Lynn, "It really wasn't very good. I looked at it, and I thought, 'No, no, no, we've got to get rid of that.'" In it, Wadsworth committed all the murders, and reveals he poisoned the champagne, leaving no witnesses when the six guests soon die. The officers arrive and capture Wadsworth, but he breaks free and steals a police car, though his escape is ultimately thwarted when three police dogs lunge from the back seat.

Casting

Carrie Fisher was originally cast to portray Miss Scarlet, but withdrew to enter treatment for drug and alcohol addiction; she was replaced with Lesley Ann Warren. Jonathan Lynn's first choice for Wadsworth was Leonard Rossiter, but he died before filming commenced. The second choice was Rowan Atkinson, but it was decided that he was not sufficiently well known at the time, so Tim Curry was cast. The entire cast received the same salary and billing, despite their different levels of notability at the time.

Filming

''Clue'' was filmed on sound stages 17 and 18 at the Paramount Pictures film studios in Hollywood. The set design is credited to Les Gobruegge, Gene Nollmanwas, and William B. Majorand, with set decoration by Thomas L. Roysden. To decorate the interior sets, authentic 18th- and 19th-century furnishings were rented from private collectors, including the estate of Theodore Roosevelt. After completion, the set was bought by the producers of ''Dynasty'', who used it as the fictional hotel The Carlton.

All interior scenes were filmed at the Paramount lot, except the ballroom scene. The ballroom and two driveway exteriors were filmed on location at a mansion in South Pasadena, California. This site was destroyed in a fire on October 5, 2005. The driveway and fountain were recreated on the Paramount lot and used for most shots, including the guests' arrivals. Exterior shots of the South Pasadena mansion were enhanced with matte paintings to make the house appear much larger; these were executed by matte artist Syd Dutton in consultation with Albert Whitlock.

Jonathan Lynn screened '' His Girl Friday'' for the cast as inspiration for how to deliver their lines. Madeline Kahn improvised her monologue about "flames."

Release

The film was released theatrically on December 13, 1985. Each theater received one of the three endings, and some theaters announced which ending the viewer would see.

Novelizations

The novelization based on the screenplay is by Michael McDowell. Landis, Lynn, and Ann Matthews wrote the youth adaptation ''Clue: The Storybook''. Both adaptations were published in 1985, and feature a fourth ending cut from the film: in a variation on the-butler-did-it trope, Wadsworth explains how he killed Boddy and the other victims, then reveals to the guests that they've all been poisoned, leaving no witnesses to his perfect crime. As Wadsworth proceeds to disable the phones, the police chief (having previously posed as an evangelist) returns with a squad of officers who disarm Wadsworth. He nonetheless manages to escape, and attempts to get away in a police car, only to crash after Dobermann

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