Murder By Death

Murder by Death (1976) is one of my favorite comedies. Robert Moore and Neil Simon's hilarious film is a pointed, witty spoof of the detective genre, with a hilarious script and a top-notch cast.

Eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) invites five of the world's greatest detectives to his estate for "dinner and a murder": Chinese detective Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers), hard-nosed American PI Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), British detective Dick Charleston (David Niven), Belgian Perrier (James Coco) and Miss Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), each with a wife or help mate in tow (Richard Narita, Eileen Brennan, Maggie Smith, James Cromwell and Estelle Winwood). Twain tells the detectives that they will have one hour to solve a perfect murder, and that the victor will prove themself the world's greatest detective. Sure enough, Twain turns up dead later that evening, and the detectives scramble to find whodunnit - even though each of them has a motive.

Murder by Death subverts the hoary whodunnit in a delightfully twisted manner. It predates the better-known Clue (1985), with an absurdly improbable series of twists making things utterly incomprehensible. It isn't the most subtle of films but the laugh quotient is impossibly high. Simon provides his familiar characters with sharp dialogue, and the ludicrous situations build on each other to provide endless amusment. Simon sends up fiction's greatest detectives, from Diamond's vulgar Bogeyisms ("I'd say you're a number two!") to Wang's fortune cookie aphorisms ("Adoptive son like athlete's foot: after awhile, very irritating") and verbal ineptitude ("Say your goddamn pronouns!" yells an exasperated Twain) borrowed from Charlie Chan. So many jokes come from so many angles that, even when gags are repeated once too often, Morre and Simon find something fresh to laugh about.

The movie benefits immeasuribly from its top-notch ensemble cast. Peter Sellers and Peter Falk get the biggest laughs; the slant-eyed Sellers brilliantly sends up a century of racist stereotypes, while Falk's dead-on Humphrey Bogart is hilariously vulgar and sexually ambiguous. An unflappable David Niven and classy Maggie Smith are also superb. Alec Guinness's butler role is regrettably one-note until the denouement, which handles with unflappable skill and wit. Every actor shines though, down to Estelle Winwood, Richard Narita and a young James Cromwell (W.) in peripheral roles, with Simon's script giving each star a chance to shine.

Murder by Death really is a treat. Rather than to try and convince you through pretentious blather, I just recommend you watch it ASAP: you're sure to laugh your ass off.