Murder by Death1976

“I guess Iiii did the butler! Hahaaa! Does that, does that scan?” If you like Clue, you’ll probably like this. Instead of just generic tropes, every character spoofs a specific mystery icon from page and screen. And it’s quite a stacked cast— David Niven and Maggie Smith do Nick and Nora Charles/The Thin Man Peter Sellers does Charlie Chan  James Coco does Hercule Poirot Peter Falk does Sam Spade by way of Humphrey Bogart Elsa Lanchester does Miss Marple Alec Guinness as the blind butler Nancy Walker as the deaf mute cook And Truman Capote as the host, Lionel Twain This movie is incredibly stupid, and honestly, not much happens, but it’s just funny enough to be entertaining. And just like Clue, I don’t think it works at all without such an incredibly stacked cast, Peter Falk being a particular standout.  This is one of the movies I watched with my grandparents growing up. And it’s because of my grandparents that I have such a great love for the mystery genre at all. They had one of those giant projector-style box TVs in a huge armoire, and on either side of the tv was cabinets that were 4-5 DVDs deep of just mysteries, war films, and classics.  I have no idea how many amazing films I watched for the first time there. Tora! Tora! Tora!, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Green Berets.  And countless mystery films and shows. My grandpa’s favorite was a little series called Pie in the Sky about a retired detective that owns a pie shop. But my absolute favorite was always Poirot, specifically the David Suchet version. He is 100% the definitive version of the character and responsible for the best adaptations I’ve ever seen.  None of this really has anything to do with murder by Death, but I thought it might be good to explain why the genre means so much to me.  My grandpa, Jim, passed away a few years ago, and I never got to say goodbye. So when I watch a movie like this, I can picture him sitting in his chair with his huge aviator glasses, laughing at the antics in this film. And me sitting there not getting any of the references but knowing it must be funny because of how loud he’s laughing.  I love you, grandpa. Thanks for the memories.  Mysteries Ranked