Murder by Death (1976)

The cast is so good. You can tell they are having lots of fun. And for several, it's probably the last time we saw them. But it's really a fun watch.

It is easily one of my favorite movies and I can’t understand why it doesn’t get more attention. It’s so clever and good hearted.

I remember seeing this in the theater. I was only ten so I am sure I didn't get a lot of the jokes, but liked it anyway.

I recall going to the neighborhood movie theater with my sister to see this as a teen. We loved it so much we went back and saw it again the following week.

Maggie Smith of course walks away with the film.

I've only seen it on TV many, many years ago (back when ABC had its Sunday night movie -- that's how long ago). But yes, I remember that it was quite funny and I'd love to see it again sometime.

A mixed bag, with a good cast and some entertaining moments, but it seemed like it could have been much better.

It's on my shelf right now. Should I watch it tonight or maybe some early Hitchcock (or both?)

Thay your goddam pronounth!

I watched this on DL recommendation and because I love Peter Sellers. It was kind of funny.

"Buns!? You bought buns and you did not tell me!? Where are zhey? Where are zhe buns?"

I first saw this at the drive-in as a kid & have seen it many times since. Absolutely love it! Richard Narita was pretty hot too.

My Dickie!

“Where’s my Dickie?” - Maggie Smith.

Fixed it fer you.

"Voice come from cow on wall."

"Moose! Moose, you imbecile!"

They used to show this all the time on HBO in the early 80s. I watched it many times and have always loved it. I think that’s why I never warmed to the movie Clue. Murder By Death had already done it so much better 10 years earlier

Clue isn't very good. I've never understood the love for it. The editing is abysmal, it ruins the timing on most of the jokes. And as much as everyone says they love Madeline Kahn, she looks stiff and uncomfortable, like she's suffering from a back injury through the whole film.

......

I hate to be the detractor, but this film has three things going for it, in my opinion:

The opening credits by Charles Addams.

The appearance by Truman Capote - not that he's any good - he isn't - but it's still fascinating.

The last five minutes where Alec Guinness cycles through a half-dozen different suspects and does so brilliantly. "I prefer to be called 'Rita'!"

Other than that a laugh-free waste of a brilliant cast. The whole back and forth about number two was like something written by a not-very-bright 14-year-old. Clue wasn't that much better but at least it had period fashions and an amazing set to look at.

(Knock)

Dora (Maggie Smith): That must be the butler; come in.

Dick (David Niven): Darling, the man is stone deaf.

Dora: Oh, right -- COME IN!!!

R20 I agree with you that the ending is the best part. Alec Guinness was having so much fun. He really is one of the greatest actors of all time.

I read someone that Dom DeLuise and Zero Mostel were asked to play Milo Perrier, but they couldn't. While James Coco does a good job, I think Mostel would have been hilarious.

I always felt David Niven and Maggie Smith should have been in a remake of The Thin Man. They were the closest to their literary characters.

I adore this movie. Was my favorite as a kid.

I saw this in the cinema as a kid. I was a big Agatha Christie fan from an early age, and I knew Charlie Chan from all the old films. Dick and Dora were the only parody I didn't quite get at the time -But Niven and Smith were so damned good that it didn't matter in the least. My only complaint is that the ending just doesn't work. Was anyone really murdered? If so, who did it? There were clearly a lot of scenes and bits cut from the final release, and they would probably have helped it make more sense.

I remember seeing this when I was a kid.

The set up with everyone arriving at the house was funny, but the movie had nowhere to go after that point.

I haven't seen it in decades, and I would be curious to see if it's better than I remembered.

R25 Enjoy!

Alec Guiness as the blind butler was hilarious.

Clue had some great one-liners, but this is such a better movie.

"Dora (Maggie Smith): That must be the butler; come in. Dick (David Niven): Darling, the man is stone deaf."

No, the butler was blind.

The hired cook/maid (Nancy Walker) was deaf.

I remember this scene at the end when I saw the movie in the theater, but it was removed when Murder by Death was released on video. It wasn't until years later that it showed up on YouTube to prove that I wasn't just imagining it. Apparently the Conan Doyle estate said no or wanted too much money.

One of my all-time favorite movies. There's just something about the setting and atmosphere that feels so warm and safe to me. It's like an old friend.

Freaking hilarious movie

Murder by Death, What's Up Doc? and 9 to 5 are my 3 favorites comedies ever.

Inspired by references here to Dick and Dora to watch again the original The Thin Man, as I type.

How about...Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Steve Martin?

Ugh.

You can see the chauffeur of Perrier’s derrière.

Could a remake be done today?

The jokes about Wang’s grammar?

Sam’s closeted gayness?

Let’s recast—

It must have been on TV at some point because I remember seeing it, as a kid I honestly thought Keith McConnell as Sherlock was Basil Rathbone himself.

Were Marcel and Pierre gay? Definitely the vibe I got.

[quote]I love Peter Sellers. It was kind of funny.

And a little bit racist.

This film was great. But I remember around that time "The Cheap Detective" getting a really good review somewhere, and I thought it was a big stiff, nowhere near as good.

It wasn't, r42, but the women were fun.

La la la-la-la la...

Oh my!

Not really, r45. I think that Seller's casting is more a commentary on Warner Oland.

[quote] Clue isn't very good. I've never understood the love for it.

Well for one thing it had a special guest appearance by Jane Wiedlin from the Go Gos

You brought BUNS and you did not TELL ME?!?!

It took me years to realize that the sexy French chauffeur was James Cromwell.

R49, the scene at the end with him and in his under garments…

🔥🔥🔥

I think James Cromwell is the only living cast member of Murder by Death.

This movie came out when I was 10 or 11 and it was a tour-de-force EDUCATION in CINEMA.

R51 Excuse me!

r51...

I love R44... now just the girls... now just the boys... NOW JUST ME!

Bourbles.

Madeline...

It's a debate with me over which 1976 comedy was better, Murder by Death or the Pink Panther Strikes Again, both featuring Peter Sellers. Both has incredibly funny lines.

But that's a priceless Steinway!

Not anymore.

I meant have better lines. I have to fix that before Lionel Twain comes on here and gives me a tongue lashing.

R 59 And David Niven?

R61 He's not in PP Strikes Again. He's in the first one and two of the bombs from the 80s, but according to Wikipedia, his voice was dubbed by Rich Little. Those are the only two I have not seen from the original series.

Don’t forget Willie Wang, r51.

R63 Holy Shanghai!

I would love to love to have tasted Willy's Wang, or for that matter Wang's Willy.

It’s a HUGE mess, but dang is it hilarious

Mrs. Skeffington: "Sam met Twain at a...gay bar."

Sam: "Suspects! Suspects! I was always lookin' for suspects!!!"

Mrs. Skeffington; "Every night for SIX MONTHS?!?!?"

I enjoy this movie so much!!

Trivia: During filming, Alec Guinness was carrying the script of his next movie, a little film called...Star Wars.

R24 SPOILERS:

It is implied that the maid killed both Twain and the butler. What her motive is is not given - but given her laughter at the end it is probably something suitably diabolical.

R67 She prefers Rita.

I saw this that summer during a cross country family camping trip, I was 14. We were in the middle of the Great Plains somewhere and arrived at a campsite that was perfectly flat and completely treeless - with the very loud droning sound of cicadas. It was brutally hot After we got set up my mother took a look around and said - “let’s go see a movie.” I walked over to the office, and asked the middle aged lady at the counter where the nearest movie theater was. She just looked at me for a moment, then asked “where are you from?” in a very accusatory tone. “New York City,” I replied. Apparently that was the wrong answer. “Well,” she snorted, “this ain’t New York City with a movie on every goddamn corner!” “Ok”, I said as politely as I could, “but where’s the closest one?” She glared a me again, then pointed at the lone road and said dismissively “Theres one ten miles that way; and one ten miles the other way” We all got back in the gold Plymouth Satellite station wagon (just like the Brady’s!) and picked a direction. Eventually arrived at a really charming small town with all the buildings around a center square. As we found the theater, my dad muse “I wonder what time it starts?” “Probably when enough people get here,” I joked. I was a pretty snarky kid. We parked, waked up to the box office and asked the teenaged girl what time the show started. “When enough people get here,” she replied. I know this seems like an EST, but every word is true - it was one of the strangest days of the trip, and we all really loved the movie.

Richard Narita got MUCH hotter as he aged. He was also in DL faves Dallas and Drop Dead Gorgeous, plus 100 million soaps. I'm surprised more people here didn't recognize him.

Angela Lansbury should have been Miss Marbles.

R71 No Joan Plowright should have

Bensonmum.

ALEC GUINESS. “Sir Bensonmum”

This scene just cracks me up! When I can’t sleep I replay this scene in my head and it makes me grin.

Saw this in the theatre as a kid. The scene with Nancy Walker in a box scared me, but was my favorite.

Each role in this movie was perfectly cast.

I absolutely love it now. But as a kid, it absolutely infuriated me. My little OCD mind couldn’t bear that it didn’t actually make sense as a mystery. My mother was more amused by my incensed bewilderment than she was by the film itself.

Messier Perrier: “Good God!…Franks and beans!”

No one is talking about Elsa Lanchester? She was Mrs. Charles Laughton and The Bride of Frankenstein

I still love Nancy Walker's silent screaming as Yetta the mute maid.

Truman Capote was pretty terrible in this. I remember one critic said with this performance he joined Zsa Zsa Gabor as the rare celebrity who could not even convincingly play their own persona on the screen.

In one of the episodes of Ryan Murphy’s Feud: Capote’s Women there’s a scene of Capote (Tom Hollander) on set in Murder by Death.

[quote] I still love Nancy Walker's silent screaming as Yetta the mute maid.

The film would have befitted from a better maid

R82 No

[quote]Not really, [R45]. I think that Seller's casting is more a commentary on Warner Oland.

What am I -- chopped liver?

[quote]Directed by the theatrical Robert Moore.

AKA Phyllis Lindstrom's gay brother.

FYI, Yetta was the cook, not the maid.

In case anyone needs the link

Poor Maggie would have had her hair in curlers for days to get that bouffant.

And poor old Niven looks like a dead haddock.

The score is brilliant too!

I think Murder by Death (1976) works very hard at being funny, so I can tell where I'm supposed to laugh, but it's kind of a wash.

I expected it to be truly funny, whereas it is more of a "ba dum DUM!" kind of affair.

Excuse my hat. I’m losing my hair.

One of my favorites. So funny.

Yeah r90 that's kind of the point.

I always thought Toby Jones's costume in the "Captain America" movie looked a lot like Truman Capote's costume at the end of "Murder by Death" when he's revealing all his true identities.

I rewatched last night. My thoughts:

Alec Guinness steals the movie

Maggie Smith is a close second

David Niven and Maggie Smith should have done a Thin Man movie. It would have been amazing.

James Coco and James Cromwell are hilarious.

The score is amazing. Each have their own entrance music.

Estelle Winwood was in silent films. Her best line is "Jesus H. Christ" is hilarious.

RECAST:

Jamessir Bensonmum- Laurence Olivier

Yetta- Imogene Coca

Sam Diamond and Tess Skeffington- John Cassavetes and Bernadette Peters

Dick and Dora Charleston- James Mason and Deborah Kerr

Sydney Wang and Adopted Son Willie- Peter Ustinov and Richard Narita

Milo Perrie and Marcel, the lowly chauffeur- Zero Mostel and Richard Moll

Miss Jessica Marbles and Nurse Miss Withers- Peggy Ashcroft and Lillian Gish

Lionel Twain- Rip Taylor

James and Maggie are the only ones still with us.

How many times do I have to say I’m still here!

I rewatched it tonight. Absolutely delightful. Maggie Smith and Eileen Brennan were my favorites. I loved Maggie’s reaction to learning about necrophilia.