September 12, 2026 • 35 mins
Based on the classic board game, the 1985 film went on to become a classic in its own right, along with some iconic performances. We decipher some tropes and dig into the enduring popularity of the whodunit in this classic episode.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And Samantha.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
And welcome to Stuff Never Told You, a production by
Heart Radio. And we're back with another classic that is
a movie we did a while ago, Clue. The reason
this was on my mind was because I know Samantha
(00:31):
is making a horror, a tortured face. Tim Curry. We
lost Ollie Parton and Tim Curry back to back.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They were both 80, too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah. Yeah. He's been in so much stuff. He's a
queer icon because of Rocky Horror Picture Show. And this movie,
I hadn't seen when we watched it, but it's such
a fun... it's like a Halloween vibe, but he just,
(01:08):
he was so great at embodying. He knew the assignment.
He knew exactly what the assignment was.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
He was an actor through and through with a gift.
He could play an evil character. He could play a
demon character. He could play a musical character, but he played,
he also understood comedy. And this is in the era,
like he was with some of the like big hitters
in this movie. And he was, phenomenal in his comic
timing and this is one of those movies i grew
(01:39):
up loving it was one of my favorite movies as
a child and holds a dear place in my heart
and my heart hurts but i'm so glad we watched
this movie.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah i am too i am too you know i
talk about it in here in this episode but i
got that ribbon at dragon con i didn't understand And
you immediately were like, this is Clue. We need to
watch Clue.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You must know what this is.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah. No, and I've said before, jokingly, but the way
he says pizza in Home Alone 2, he should have
won an Oscar. The derision in his voice, in that
one word, it communicates so much.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's true. It's true.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yes. So... Very sad about this news, but please enjoy
this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And Samantha.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And welcome to Stuff I Never Told You, a production
of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And welcome. And we are doing another classic for our
feminist movie. Not exactly feminist movie.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Movie.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
That I will talk about with feminism. Is that how
we're going to do it?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I would classify this, and so would a lot of
the listicles that I have found, as a fall classic.
So this is why we kind of picked one. And
as we enter 60-degree weather in Georgia, by the way,
I've been wearing a cardigan. I see you're wearing a sweatshirt, Annie. Congratulations.
It's that time of year. We decided we would pick
(03:33):
a fall movie, and we are doing the 1985, yes,
40-year-old movie, classic, Clue, which we referenced before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We did, and you recently helped me solve a mystery.
of a ribbon I got at Dragon Con at this
quote I didn't recognize. And you were like, oh no,
that is from Clue.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I immediately knew what it was. And again, like I said,
this is not necessarily a feminist movie at its core.
In fact, there are several things in there that would
be like, eh, that's really sexist. However, there are some
good bits to.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It, including.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
The comedy genius from the likes of Madeline Kahn, who portrays,
in the iconic line you're talking about, this dark, foreboding widow, Mrs. White.
I would say it's empowering, for sure. Even Miss Scarlet's character.
I also think that there may have been some queer
awakenings through this movie. Because there were moments that I
(04:33):
had some feelings. I was like, wait. And I don't
necessarily qualify myself as queer because... But at the same time,
I'm like, oh, that's sexy. You know, like, I remember
those scenes as sexy, even though they're not really sexy,
because of Miss Scarlet, specifically, more than anybody else. All
of that to say, yes, I think her lines were
always delivered with quick, dry wit outside, again, of the flames,
(04:56):
the flames. But that was purposeful, comedic timing. And we
love it. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Did you play Clue growing up?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Oh, yes. That was one of my favorite games. I
played by myself, actually. Did you have a character?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I do sometimes.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Miss White. I was Miss White all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Miss White.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Even though in the game she's portrayed as the maid.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, she's like the very kind of matronly, on the
box cover at least.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I went with Miss Peacock usually.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
She was the matronly one to me. Mrs.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Peacock. I think I just liked her... Her outfit. It
was purely aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did find it funny that they referenced it in
the movie as colors for like coding rather than the
actual colors they wore, which happens in the game. Anyway,
moving on.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So we're going to go ahead and jump right into
this because I want to talk about it. about things
things that i didn't catch on as a kid versus
today and the way that i yes it's more sexist
than some but not as bad as you would think
there is some little bit like anti-queer but not necessarily
anti-queer just more confusing yeah it holds up pretty well
(06:12):
and i feel like it's kind of interesting how they
portray socialism anyway going on so This movie is based
off of the successful 1943 board game Clue, which is
a who, with what, and where murder mystery featuring the
characters of Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Ms. Scarlet, Ms. White,
and Professor Plum. Apparently, this was a game that was
(06:36):
by a British creator. But the movie decided they wanted
to do all those political views and so placed it
in New England in the 1950s. So this is kind
of the differences here. This group is led by Butler Wadsworth,
played by the amazing Tim Curry, who was apparently a
third choice.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
By the way, to play that character. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The crew, they are all invited to a mansion under
mysterious circumstances, each receiving a letter with an alias, as
these names are not their real names, even though they
adapted them very quickly, by the way. They receive invitations
to a not-so-exciting dinner party. Yes. I will say, I
feel like Knives Out was like an ode to that
(07:21):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah. This was very much like, you know, murder mystery
games you play and you like listen to the tape
yes yes now you figured this out yeah well.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh yeah i was gonna ask because i did i
buy you a star wars clue game or did i
see one and think i should buy that for you.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I believe you bought one somebody bought one for.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Me i think i bought it for you.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes i have a lot of versions of glue do
you have you played it I have opened it up
and looked at it because I'm always really interested. If
you've ever played like Clue and another property, it's really
interesting because it'll be like, I don't know. It was
Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon with a blaster. And
(08:05):
you're like, Han Solo killed this person. Like it could
be like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
This doesn't match. Oh, BT-dubs. Did you know that Carrie
Fisher was initially supposed to play Miss Scarlet?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
But she ended up going to rehab. Oh. Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I guess good for her.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Good for her. But also, huh, that would have been
an interesting couple. Anyway, going back, y'all are everywhere already.
And as they come together, we meet the cook, the maid, Yvette,
and again, Wadsworth, the butler that buttles, so he says.
We find out they all are from D.C. and have
some type of secret. After a lovely dinner of monkey's brains,
(08:47):
which we later find out that's what it is, and
it's Mrs. Peacock's favorite, We have the arrival of the
main guest, Mr. Body. They are then ushered into the
parlor for some cognac and revelations. Turns out all of
them are being blackmailed for different things, and Mr. Body
is the one who's behind it all. What? Wadsworth advises
(09:07):
that the police have been called, and they should all
report Mr. Body, that he has all this evidence, and
if they don't report him, that he will just hand
over those evidence anyway. Hmm. But Mr. Body isn't having that. Oh, no.
After a short-lived attempt to flee the premises, he comes
back with gifts for the guests. A candlestick, a wrench,
a pipe, which, by the way, that would be a
(09:28):
really disappointing gift, a rope and a revolver. After handing
out these gifts, he gives an alternative to Wadsworth's plans,
kill Wadsworth, and everyone walks away. He turns off the light,
and we hear a gun go off and a scream.
Several screams, I think. When the lights are turned back on,
we see Mr. Body lying on the floor, who Professor
(09:50):
Plumb declares is dead. And by the way, he is
a psychiatrist, so he's supposed to be a doctor as well,
but no longer practicing, which is why he's being blackmailed. Ah.
The panic sets in and everyone is acting confused. Who
did this? As it turns out, the bullet actually missed Mr.
Body and was probably not the cause of death. confusion.
(10:12):
Wadsworth then reveals this was his plan, getting them all
together all along, and that his wife had been a
victim of Mr. Boddy's blackmail as well. She was a
socialist and had been forced to work for him for
free until she died by suicide. So with all of that,
they go on to try to figure out what happened.
How did he die? At one point, they think maybe
(10:32):
there's poison in the cognac. which causes Yvette to scream,
who has been listening to the wiretap that's been in
that room and been recording from a different room, the billiard,
I believe. And so they all retrieve her from the
billiard room, and they come back together to the parlor
so they can discuss what is happening, finding that Mr.
Body's body is missing! Where's Mr. Body's body? After trying
(10:57):
to figure out what might have happened, they soon discover
the cook's body in the refrigerator with a knife to
her back. They decided to lock away all those weapons
and throw away the key, but as they try, they
are met at the door with another guest, a motorist,
who they decide to lock into another room because, you know,
they got things to do. Oh, and they rediscovered Mr.
Boddy's body with fresh wounds on his head, and they
(11:20):
are for sure now that he is dead. No, he
really is dead. His eyes are open and everything. So
they drag him back into the parlor along with the
cook's body. They decide they must go through the house
to see if there's any possible other guests hiding who
was killing everyone. So they pair off. The matchstick scene
sticks with me so clearly. I don't know what it was.
(11:41):
It's the sound of them cutting the matches, but I
remember that scene very clearly. So with that, they all
pair off. They all go to search the homes assigned
to different floors or areas. Later, they discover the motorist
has been killed and they are again met at the
door with another visitor. But they've actually supposedly thrown away
(12:03):
the keys at this point. This time it's a cop.
who they let in, but then they decided to lock
in a room as well. Very suspicious. Very suspicious. Surprise.
He is also killed, but this is after he goes
around and does a whole look-see of the house and
answers a phone call. That turns out, like, J. Edgar
Hoover is trying to find somebody in that house, you know. But,
(12:25):
you know, he dies later on. We then hear the
door again, and it's a singing telegram, and she's shot. Bang.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Immediately. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But I remember the, you know, you're singing Telegram. Like
that just that sits in my head forever.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And soon they all come back together and Wadsworth announces
that he knows what has happened. Who has done this?
Turns out all the guests outside of the main six
were informants of Mr. Body and had connections with the
main six and had been lured there for that very reason.
Several scenarios are shown in the movie, but the true
(13:06):
end is that everyone murdered everyone. And Wadsworth is actually Mr.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Body.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Oh, and Mr. Green just kills Mr. Body because he
was actually the FBI informant, and he was the one
that was supposed to get that call from Mr.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Hoover.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But, you know, Wadsworth was the one that took the call.
And he ends up killing Mr. Body. He goes home
to sleep with his wife because his secret was that
he was gay. But he wasn't gay. Yeah. End of story. So,
(13:49):
first and foremost, Annie, this was your first viewing. What
did you think of this movie? Did you figure out
the mystery?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
No.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It was really interesting because... You know, when a movie
is so popular, like you get pieces of it, whether
or not you've seen it. Right. And so I'm sure
we'll probably talk about this a little bit more later,
but there are tropes in the game. The butler's the killer. Like,
you know, all of those kind of, here's your sexy
femme fatale. So you did it. Like all of these
(14:22):
different tropes. So I didn't anticipate... the ending gag where
they have like three fake endings yeah so i was
definitely like i don't know what's true what's not what's
going on here but i did really enjoy it i
liked um it does have a very i was thinking
(14:45):
about this today because um Only Murders in the Building
came back today.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And they like the kind of that murder. I was like,
is there kind of a thing as cozy murder mystery now?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Kind of. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Because it has like, you know, it's raining outside. It's storming.
They're in this big mansion. The costumes are great. The
background is great.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
The music is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah. It just is very visually appealing and kind of
like it makes you want to, at least me, I
was like, I'll curl up in this blanket, try to
figure out. Yeah, exactly. Try to figure out what this is.
But no, I did not figure it out. I was
suspicious of pretty much everybody, but I will say Tim Curry.
I was suspicious of Tim Curry.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
He's always suspicious in every show he's ever in. Let's
just be real honest.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So the ending was an ode to how the game
has different endings and scenarios. Again, how it could have
happened is the first scenario with Miss Scarlet killing everyone
with the assistance of a vet who had helped her
and was a former employee of hers. That's her connection.
And then we have, she also had a connection with
a cop who she paid off. And then we had
(15:56):
Wadsworth work for the FBI. How about this? Instead was
Peacock killing everyone, which was kind of like the most
random scenario I felt like, especially like how is she
going to choke somebody? Like she doesn't have the body strength. OK,
whatever you do you. And then here's what really happened
with everyone killing their connected person, except for Professor Plum,
who kills a body person. And Wadsworth killing the singing
(16:18):
telegram woman. They do have a connection, but don't have
a connection type of thing. So it was very interesting
in that. I know when it was originally released, different
theaters got different endings. They didn't get the all three.
I watched it on VHS. Goes, yes, baby. I'm that old.
We rented a VCR from Curtis Mathis with the movie
(16:41):
because we did not have a VCR. We were not
rich like that. And I got to watch that movie
and I loved it. This is an ode to slapsticks,
even though to me, 1980s, 1970s, lots of slapstick. And
that was kind of one of the best parts of comedy.
I miss some of that. I'm not going to lie,
(17:01):
but it made me laugh hysterically. The way that Mr.
Green just gets bobbled about.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like as a scenario as being Mr. Body, I love
those slapstick comedies. And this was one of those. And
it made me laugh every time, every time. And you
will hear me, like I told my partner, he was
watching it with me, part of it with me last
night in which they were like, you know, to make
a long story short and everybody's like too late. I
(17:27):
do that to him because of this movie. And he's
probably like, what? And he didn't understand where that came from,
but I still cannot help myself because every time I
hear someone say that, that's the line I think of next.
So there are so many things to that. This quip
is such a funny level of comedy, the wit, the humor,
(17:48):
the back and forth.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I loved it as a kid. So all of that
to say this is kind of what it reminisces of.
And I also, again, like I said, Because we're not
necessarily doing a lot of themes, because I think that
themes are fairly... It's not, like, because of its dark
humor element with a very over-the-top rhetoric, I feel like
(18:13):
it's fairly obvious. You can tell me if you're wrong
and you have some themes that you want to talk about, Annie,
our listeners. But, like, one of the things I did
love about the movie is that women held their own
in this movie. They were more memorable characters than the
men to me outside of Tim Curry. Like, they... did
such an amazing job in their portrayal. I will say, like,
probably the least in the women is Mrs. Peacock. But, like,
(18:37):
I remember Leslie Ann Warren's voice as Miss Scarlet. I
remember her line of saying, who are you? Perry Mason? Like,
that line, which, by the way, made me laugh because
I'm like, Perry Mason wasn't existing in the 1950s, I
don't think. But, like, she was, like, that person. And obviously, again...
(18:59):
My favorite would be Miss White. So, like, for me,
Miss Scarlet is the femme fatale. But in the movie,
she's an unapologetic sex worker. Like, and a madam. Like,
she does what she does and knows everybody's secrets. It's like, eh.
This is my job, and I know what you did,
so you have no room to judge me, like type
of conversation. Here's a quote from CleoJournal.com. They write, quote, Ms. Scarlett,
(19:22):
who proudly outs herself as a Washington madam, seems to
have found one of the few direct routes to power
for a woman in the 1950s America, selling sex. Cheerfully
impervious to the evening's bourgeoisie code of conduct, she is
the only character who appears to be enjoying herself, delivering
a stream of maywest-like wisecracks throughout the evening. This is
(19:43):
an example. Professor Plum, I am a doctor, but I
don't practice. Miss Scarlet, practice makes perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
most men could use a little practice don't you it's
a great line and he's been sexually harassing her the
entire time yeah like but she stands like she's so
used to it she's like and then we have miss
white the dark and mysterious widow who comes off as
unapologetic and ready with vengeance With another wonderful quote, she says, yes,
(20:10):
just the five husbands. Husbands should be like Kleenex, soft, strong,
and disposable. I'm like, yeah, okay. I enjoyed that. And
note here that the only ad-lib in this movie the
entire time was her line, which she says, Yes, I
did it. I killed a vet. I hated her so much. It,
(20:34):
the flames, flames, flames on the side of my face.
The breathing, breathing, breathing, heavy breathing, heavy breathing. And then
that's it. It's so wonderful. Her acting, that was one
of the most iconic. And then the cutaway to Colonel
Mustard going, what? It's comedic genius. Like, I don't know why,
(20:58):
but I think it's, like, one of the top five
comedic timings that I will remember. For all my users, like, genius.
Because they let her do it. And they realized how
amazing this was. But, like, those moments like that really, like,
things that I remember, again, going back to Miss Scarlet
being her, like, very, like, booby, but green dress, like,
(21:21):
iconic self, having her high-pitched laugh. Like, it just made
her character to me, even though she wasn't wearing a
Scarlet dress.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, that threw me, too. That threw me, too. Because
in the game, if some of you listeners have somehow
never played this game, it's very color-coded and, like, Mrs.
Colonel Mustard is in yellow. Scarlet is in scarlet. Like, yeah,
they were, I think you're right in that the women
were much more memorable than the men. And they had better,
(21:59):
I thought they had better line deliveries. And just in general,
they had more presence. And it was interesting to me
because that, I mean, Clue, the game, is very much
playing to tropes. And this movie, like, heightened it it
was like oh you think here's your sexy french maid
(22:19):
and all of this but they were doing it very
comedically but while also saying like yeah miss scarlet is
not going to stand for your nonsense miss white might
kill you they i love how they gave like every
character a very this is what I love about a
good mystery, a very plausible, like, I can see her
(22:41):
doing it. I can see it being her.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yes. I mean, they definitely do a great job in
giving each character their own backstory without even having too
much of a backstory.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
At the beginning. You're seeing them as they're presented and
you're like, okay, you know who this is. You know
who this is. Yeah. And again, the men are not
as memorable.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
No. They really aren't.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I thought about how many games, board games that have
been turned into movies. Like we've seen many video games,
which sometimes they don't work. The number one was Last
of Us, if you needed to know. That was the best.
Clue is always in the top five. It's not number
one for the board game editions or renditions. And the
top five with that is Jumanji. Hello, Ouija. Which, by
the way, Jumanji is not a real game. So it's
(23:38):
kind of like one of those things like based on
board game, but it's not a real game.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It didn't exist before. But it came out after.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Exactly. That's what I'm saying. It wasn't the original game. Ouija,
it does have a lot of horror, obviously, behind that.
And then they said Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm like,
is that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Really a board game? Tabletop game, I would say.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Okay, but not a board game. But you know what?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I'll allow it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I'll allow it. So it did bring that in, but
they did have one of the best adaptations to that.
And I think because maybe there's not a lot of games.
I don't know how you turn life into a movie.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Well, there's plenty of them that I'm like, I'm not sure...
What's the new one that Margot Robbie's going to be in?
And I was like, huh.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Oh, I just know Weathering Heights, but that's a book.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
No, it's a board game adaption. I can't remember what
it is. But I was like, huh. All right.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Someone tell them.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Like, sorry. Yeah, it's not sorry, but, you know, I
would be surprised.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But yeah, so it is interesting to see that. But
I also wondered about like the murder mystery concept, because
I feel like this is kind of in tune with
all that. The whodunits and we got to figure it out.
We can't leave this house until we find the killer
type of conversation. And many attribute the murder mystery dinner
shows to be from the 1940s, 1950s. But then it
(24:58):
evolved in the 80s, involving audience members. Have you ever
done one of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Those, Amy? I played a game. I've never gone to
an event space and done it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, I haven't either. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I have a friend who did, and it sounded like
it went disastrously. I don't think that reflects.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, you get control what the audience is going to do. Yeah.
Which seems kind of like.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's a roll of the dice.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah. I know I've seen people do it at home
with their friends so they know them well enough and
give them character display, right? That's a thing. So you've
done that?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yes, I have. I have one. it is like a,
it's a masquerade that went wrong. And it's on a train,
of course, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
On the train. Like, obviously, The Office has an infamous episode. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I do declare.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I do declare. Yeah. I didn't do it. I do
not have that accent. Anyway, but I do think like
when we talk about like movies like Knives Out and
those types of movies, like it kind of is reminiscent
to Clue as well. The board game versus also like
these movies that have some iconic moments. Again, the one
(26:09):
thing that the Knives Out was more serious. And also
they left the house.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah. I mean, but that is a thing about a
lot of these murdered people. mystery stories is they usually
have one space where they're generally confined i would say
in knives out they were confined by the will so
even if they could leave the house the second one
the second one they were confined on the island but
the murder happened outside of yes and then they come
(26:37):
back and then was there more murder Murder. There was
attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Murder. That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Right. And I really thought that was interesting. And we
could talk about murder mystery concepts in general because of that. Like,
also Shakespeare in the Tavern type of thing. Like, this
level of conversation. But that's, again. But, of course, we
couldn't go beyond this without the politics of Clue. Like,
they really wanted to have that Red Scare, the McCarthy
era type of conversation in here. And they actually portray...
(27:07):
I couldn't tell. You can't tell what they're saying necessarily.
And this was done in the 80s once again. So
right outside of still Cold War times. level of what's
going down, you know? So it was interesting to see
when they talked about, like, she was a socialist. And
then it came down to, you're a communist. She's like, no,
I'm the purest form of capitalism, which is, I feel
(27:29):
like a conversation today of, like, the mixture. You're like, no,
we're leaning to communism, but you think that it's, like,
also our capitalist is turning into communism, and you're not
realizing what's happening, and you think communism is just socialism,
and that's not what's happening. We're having a dictatorship in communism. Back. Okay.
But all of that to say is they have that
(27:50):
conversation in here. I will say there are so many
jokes in there that I did not understand as a 10, 12-year-old.
Was it like, red herring? What does that mean? I
had to look that up not too long ago, to
be honest.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I knew about that because of another mystery book, and
it was a clue, and I was like, ah, red herring.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It's just a red herring but it was interesting to
see them bring that as a part of that conversation
which you don't have obviously in the game there's no
real reason yeah there's no back there's no plot to
it you just get murdered and you have to get like.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Right well and you know that would be an interesting
exercise me and my friends used to do this where
we would try to describe why they did it.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Or really you would go that far Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah. Sometimes. Especially if you get, again, like, I have, like,
a What We Do in the Shadows one. You know.
You know these characters, so you can try to describe, like,
why in the world would they have done this?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, now I needed you to play Star Wars to
see the backstory.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Oh, my gosh. I would.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Because you're supposed to know... Who gets murdered in that one?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I'm not sure if anyone gets murdered. So... Some of
the newer ones do this thing where, like, in what
we do in the shadows one, the cursed hat goes missing. Oh.
I feel like in the Star Wars one, it was
something like that, too. It wasn't murder, but.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Oh, look.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Oh, now I've got a good excuse to.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You have to look it up for me. Yeah. Now
that I think about it, I remember I also had
a 3D clue and it was a museum. And I
think they were finding certain artwork. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah. it's been a long time i have to say
you know i hate to bring it up but and
i had the harry potter clue and that one it
was murder and i always thought that was kind of
pretty dark for.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Uh wait was it like harry potter murdered somebody.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
It was like a bunch of Death Eaters. But one
time I played it when Jenny got murdered. And I
was like, holy heck. This is really dark.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Oh, my stars.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Poor Jenny. So maybe they moved on. Maybe they're trying
to make ones now that are less about murder.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I don't know. I would love to see what a
remake of this would look like today.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It would be interesting. Because again, it is... They're trying
to make you think like everybody could have done it.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
And at the time, you know, you have this like
the Red Scare and communism. You have this character who's
gay and is like, and then not gay. But they
were trying to be like, it's him. So it would
be interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was one of those funny moments where I was like,
but I'm not ashamed of that. But I don't want
to be fired, which could be still very much today.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I know.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I was thinking about that. Like, it would not be
that hard because communism is still a threat. Supposedly. Socialism
is a threat.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah. It would be interesting. I'm sure there's probably been
talks about remaking it. Oh, there is, actually.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
So I just pulled it up. So in 2024, there
was a conversation of Sony taking it. But it would
be not like the film.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It would be more like the game.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Again.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And they've been trying, it says.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I could see it being like a four-episode Netflix series
or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
So apparently Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman tried to get
onto it with The Muppets. That's not what I was expecting.
I don't know if I read that right. Okay, y'all
tell me because I'm like, wait, what? But yeah, it
would be interesting. So there was a conversation about how
(32:01):
when they had some interviews in between, like for anniversaries
of Clue, Tim Curry had had a stroke and was
not able to participate, but was able to come back
later to participate and talk about his memories of it,
which I was really glad was able to happen. Because
that would have made me sad. Because Tim Curry was
pretty iconic in this whole era. I feel like he
(32:22):
was 80s, 70s champion, to be honest. Between that, Rocky Horror,
for me, Legend, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
He's pretty iconic in most of his roles.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Oh, and by the way, that's what it was. I
saw someone cross... Crossing Rocky Horror with Legend in their cosplay.
It was beautiful. It was like Tim Curry for both
of those as one.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It was an amazing one. I forgot about that until
just now because I was like, oh my God, I
get that.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I don't think many people would because they don't remember Legend.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You'd be surprised. A Dragon Con, I don't know. A
couple of years ago, me and a whole group of
friends tried to just go as a bunch of different
Tim Currys. Really? It didn't work out, but I still
think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Somebody goes as a butler, somebody goes as... And then
he was a horrible character in Criminal Minds. Oh, no.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I feel like I'd want to go as the Muppet
Treasure Island one. It? Oh, gosh, you're right.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
There's a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
There's a lot of options. But, okay. Yeah, so that
was Clue. What would you grade this movie, Annie, this
cult classic that I love so much? Hmm.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
How do I grade it? Like a home run with
the candlestick in the library? I don't know. It was fun.
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
You tried. You tried to add that all together. Yes,
I hope you did. This is definitely one of those
that I don't watch often, but every time I watch it,
I just giggle each time. Each time. And I love this. So, yeah, listeners,
let us know what you think about this movie. Have
you loved this movie? Is this something that you think
is a cult classic? If you did, tell me why.
If you haven't, tell me why.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, and hopefully, I mean, we're well outside the window
of spoilers, but if you haven't seen it, Go watch it.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Should I spoil it? It's 40 years.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, we're well outside the window.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Hopefully, if somebody really wanted to watch it, they would
have stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
They would have not.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah. But I mean, even if you know the ending,
it kind of goes in a wild way.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
It does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I think you'll still be surprised.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Go watch it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah. Yes. Okay. Well, email us all of your thought
listeners at hello at stuffonevertoldyou.com. You can also find us
on BlueSky at MomStuffPodcast or on Instagram and TikTok at
Stuff I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We
have merchandise at Cotton Bureau. And we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks, as always,
to our super producer, Christina, our executive producer, Maya, and
(35:06):
our contributor, Joey.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And thanks to you for listening. Stuff I Never Told
You is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
you can check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, this is Annie.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And Samantha.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
And welcome to Stuff Never Told You, a production by
Heart Radio. And we're back with another classic that is
a movie we did a while ago, Clue. The reason
this was on my mind was because I know Samantha
(00:31):
is making a horror, a tortured face. Tim Curry. We
lost Ollie Parton and Tim Curry back to back.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
They were both 80, too.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Yeah. Yeah. He's been in so much stuff. He's a
queer icon because of Rocky Horror Picture Show. And this movie,
I hadn't seen when we watched it, but it's such
a fun... it's like a Halloween vibe, but he just,
(01:08):
he was so great at embodying. He knew the assignment.
He knew exactly what the assignment was.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
He was an actor through and through with a gift.
He could play an evil character. He could play a
demon character. He could play a musical character, but he played,
he also understood comedy. And this is in the era,
like he was with some of the like big hitters
in this movie. And he was, phenomenal in his comic
timing and this is one of those movies i grew
(01:39):
up loving it was one of my favorite movies as
a child and holds a dear place in my heart
and my heart hurts but i'm so glad we watched
this movie.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Yeah i am too i am too you know i
talk about it in here in this episode but i
got that ribbon at dragon con i didn't understand And
you immediately were like, this is Clue. We need to
watch Clue.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You must know what this is.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Yeah. No, and I've said before, jokingly, but the way
he says pizza in Home Alone 2, he should have
won an Oscar. The derision in his voice, in that
one word, it communicates so much.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
It's true. It's true.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yes. So... Very sad about this news, but please enjoy
this classic episode. Hey, this is Annie.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
And Samantha.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And welcome to Stuff I Never Told You, a production
of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
And welcome. And we are doing another classic for our
feminist movie. Not exactly feminist movie.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Movie.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
That I will talk about with feminism. Is that how
we're going to do it?
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
I would classify this, and so would a lot of
the listicles that I have found, as a fall classic.
So this is why we kind of picked one. And
as we enter 60-degree weather in Georgia, by the way,
I've been wearing a cardigan. I see you're wearing a sweatshirt, Annie. Congratulations.
It's that time of year. We decided we would pick
(03:33):
a fall movie, and we are doing the 1985, yes,
40-year-old movie, classic, Clue, which we referenced before.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
We did, and you recently helped me solve a mystery.
of a ribbon I got at Dragon Con at this
quote I didn't recognize. And you were like, oh no,
that is from Clue.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
I immediately knew what it was. And again, like I said,
this is not necessarily a feminist movie at its core.
In fact, there are several things in there that would
be like, eh, that's really sexist. However, there are some
good bits to.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
It, including.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
The comedy genius from the likes of Madeline Kahn, who portrays,
in the iconic line you're talking about, this dark, foreboding widow, Mrs. White.
I would say it's empowering, for sure. Even Miss Scarlet's character.
I also think that there may have been some queer
awakenings through this movie. Because there were moments that I
(04:33):
had some feelings. I was like, wait. And I don't
necessarily qualify myself as queer because... But at the same time,
I'm like, oh, that's sexy. You know, like, I remember
those scenes as sexy, even though they're not really sexy,
because of Miss Scarlet, specifically, more than anybody else. All
of that to say, yes, I think her lines were
always delivered with quick, dry wit outside, again, of the flames,
(04:56):
the flames. But that was purposeful, comedic timing. And we
love it. Yes. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Did you play Clue growing up?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Oh, yes. That was one of my favorite games. I
played by myself, actually. Did you have a character?
Speaker 1 (05:10):
I do sometimes.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Miss White. I was Miss White all the time.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
Miss White.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Even though in the game she's portrayed as the maid.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, she's like the very kind of matronly, on the
box cover at least.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
I went with Miss Peacock usually.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
She was the matronly one to me. Mrs.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Peacock. I think I just liked her... Her outfit. It
was purely aesthetic.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I did find it funny that they referenced it in
the movie as colors for like coding rather than the
actual colors they wore, which happens in the game. Anyway,
moving on.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
So we're going to go ahead and jump right into
this because I want to talk about it. about things
things that i didn't catch on as a kid versus
today and the way that i yes it's more sexist
than some but not as bad as you would think
there is some little bit like anti-queer but not necessarily
anti-queer just more confusing yeah it holds up pretty well
(06:12):
and i feel like it's kind of interesting how they
portray socialism anyway going on so This movie is based
off of the successful 1943 board game Clue, which is
a who, with what, and where murder mystery featuring the
characters of Colonel Mustard, Mr. Green, Mrs. Peacock, Ms. Scarlet, Ms. White,
and Professor Plum. Apparently, this was a game that was
(06:36):
by a British creator. But the movie decided they wanted
to do all those political views and so placed it
in New England in the 1950s. So this is kind
of the differences here. This group is led by Butler Wadsworth,
played by the amazing Tim Curry, who was apparently a
third choice.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
By the way, to play that character. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
The crew, they are all invited to a mansion under
mysterious circumstances, each receiving a letter with an alias, as
these names are not their real names, even though they
adapted them very quickly, by the way. They receive invitations
to a not-so-exciting dinner party. Yes. I will say, I
feel like Knives Out was like an ode to that
(07:21):
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
Yeah. This was very much like, you know, murder mystery
games you play and you like listen to the tape
yes yes now you figured this out yeah well.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Oh yeah i was gonna ask because i did i
buy you a star wars clue game or did i
see one and think i should buy that for you.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
I believe you bought one somebody bought one for.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Me i think i bought it for you.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yes i have a lot of versions of glue do
you have you played it I have opened it up
and looked at it because I'm always really interested. If
you've ever played like Clue and another property, it's really
interesting because it'll be like, I don't know. It was
Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon with a blaster. And
(08:05):
you're like, Han Solo killed this person. Like it could
be like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
This doesn't match. Oh, BT-dubs. Did you know that Carrie
Fisher was initially supposed to play Miss Scarlet?
Speaker 1 (08:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
But she ended up going to rehab. Oh. Wow.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I guess good for her.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Good for her. But also, huh, that would have been
an interesting couple. Anyway, going back, y'all are everywhere already.
And as they come together, we meet the cook, the maid, Yvette,
and again, Wadsworth, the butler that buttles, so he says.
We find out they all are from D.C. and have
some type of secret. After a lovely dinner of monkey's brains,
(08:47):
which we later find out that's what it is, and
it's Mrs. Peacock's favorite, We have the arrival of the
main guest, Mr. Body. They are then ushered into the
parlor for some cognac and revelations. Turns out all of
them are being blackmailed for different things, and Mr. Body
is the one who's behind it all. What? Wadsworth advises
(09:07):
that the police have been called, and they should all
report Mr. Body, that he has all this evidence, and
if they don't report him, that he will just hand
over those evidence anyway. Hmm. But Mr. Body isn't having that. Oh, no.
After a short-lived attempt to flee the premises, he comes
back with gifts for the guests. A candlestick, a wrench,
a pipe, which, by the way, that would be a
(09:28):
really disappointing gift, a rope and a revolver. After handing
out these gifts, he gives an alternative to Wadsworth's plans,
kill Wadsworth, and everyone walks away. He turns off the light,
and we hear a gun go off and a scream.
Several screams, I think. When the lights are turned back on,
we see Mr. Body lying on the floor, who Professor
(09:50):
Plumb declares is dead. And by the way, he is
a psychiatrist, so he's supposed to be a doctor as well,
but no longer practicing, which is why he's being blackmailed. Ah.
The panic sets in and everyone is acting confused. Who
did this? As it turns out, the bullet actually missed Mr.
Body and was probably not the cause of death. confusion.
(10:12):
Wadsworth then reveals this was his plan, getting them all
together all along, and that his wife had been a
victim of Mr. Boddy's blackmail as well. She was a
socialist and had been forced to work for him for
free until she died by suicide. So with all of that,
they go on to try to figure out what happened.
How did he die? At one point, they think maybe
(10:32):
there's poison in the cognac. which causes Yvette to scream,
who has been listening to the wiretap that's been in
that room and been recording from a different room, the billiard,
I believe. And so they all retrieve her from the
billiard room, and they come back together to the parlor
so they can discuss what is happening, finding that Mr.
Body's body is missing! Where's Mr. Body's body? After trying
(10:57):
to figure out what might have happened, they soon discover
the cook's body in the refrigerator with a knife to
her back. They decided to lock away all those weapons
and throw away the key, but as they try, they
are met at the door with another guest, a motorist,
who they decide to lock into another room because, you know,
they got things to do. Oh, and they rediscovered Mr.
Boddy's body with fresh wounds on his head, and they
(11:20):
are for sure now that he is dead. No, he
really is dead. His eyes are open and everything. So
they drag him back into the parlor along with the
cook's body. They decide they must go through the house
to see if there's any possible other guests hiding who
was killing everyone. So they pair off. The matchstick scene
sticks with me so clearly. I don't know what it was.
(11:41):
It's the sound of them cutting the matches, but I
remember that scene very clearly. So with that, they all
pair off. They all go to search the homes assigned
to different floors or areas. Later, they discover the motorist
has been killed and they are again met at the
door with another visitor. But they've actually supposedly thrown away
(12:03):
the keys at this point. This time it's a cop.
who they let in, but then they decided to lock
in a room as well. Very suspicious. Very suspicious. Surprise.
He is also killed, but this is after he goes
around and does a whole look-see of the house and
answers a phone call. That turns out, like, J. Edgar
Hoover is trying to find somebody in that house, you know. But,
(12:25):
you know, he dies later on. We then hear the
door again, and it's a singing telegram, and she's shot. Bang.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Immediately. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
But I remember the, you know, you're singing Telegram. Like
that just that sits in my head forever.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
And soon they all come back together and Wadsworth announces
that he knows what has happened. Who has done this?
Turns out all the guests outside of the main six
were informants of Mr. Body and had connections with the
main six and had been lured there for that very reason.
Several scenarios are shown in the movie, but the true
(13:06):
end is that everyone murdered everyone. And Wadsworth is actually Mr.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
Body.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Oh, and Mr. Green just kills Mr. Body because he
was actually the FBI informant, and he was the one
that was supposed to get that call from Mr.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Hoover.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
But, you know, Wadsworth was the one that took the call.
And he ends up killing Mr. Body. He goes home
to sleep with his wife because his secret was that
he was gay. But he wasn't gay. Yeah. End of story. So,
(13:49):
first and foremost, Annie, this was your first viewing. What
did you think of this movie? Did you figure out
the mystery?
Speaker 1 (13:56):
No.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
No.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
It was really interesting because... You know, when a movie
is so popular, like you get pieces of it, whether
or not you've seen it. Right. And so I'm sure
we'll probably talk about this a little bit more later,
but there are tropes in the game. The butler's the killer. Like,
you know, all of those kind of, here's your sexy
femme fatale. So you did it. Like all of these
(14:22):
different tropes. So I didn't anticipate... the ending gag where
they have like three fake endings yeah so i was
definitely like i don't know what's true what's not what's
going on here but i did really enjoy it i
liked um it does have a very i was thinking
(14:45):
about this today because um Only Murders in the Building
came back today.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And they like the kind of that murder. I was like,
is there kind of a thing as cozy murder mystery now?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Kind of. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Because it has like, you know, it's raining outside. It's storming.
They're in this big mansion. The costumes are great. The
background is great.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
The music is fantastic.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah. It just is very visually appealing and kind of
like it makes you want to, at least me, I
was like, I'll curl up in this blanket, try to
figure out. Yeah, exactly. Try to figure out what this is.
But no, I did not figure it out. I was
suspicious of pretty much everybody, but I will say Tim Curry.
I was suspicious of Tim Curry.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
He's always suspicious in every show he's ever in. Let's
just be real honest.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
So the ending was an ode to how the game
has different endings and scenarios. Again, how it could have
happened is the first scenario with Miss Scarlet killing everyone
with the assistance of a vet who had helped her
and was a former employee of hers. That's her connection.
And then we have, she also had a connection with
a cop who she paid off. And then we had
(15:56):
Wadsworth work for the FBI. How about this? Instead was
Peacock killing everyone, which was kind of like the most
random scenario I felt like, especially like how is she
going to choke somebody? Like she doesn't have the body strength. OK,
whatever you do you. And then here's what really happened
with everyone killing their connected person, except for Professor Plum,
who kills a body person. And Wadsworth killing the singing
(16:18):
telegram woman. They do have a connection, but don't have
a connection type of thing. So it was very interesting
in that. I know when it was originally released, different
theaters got different endings. They didn't get the all three.
I watched it on VHS. Goes, yes, baby. I'm that old.
We rented a VCR from Curtis Mathis with the movie
(16:41):
because we did not have a VCR. We were not
rich like that. And I got to watch that movie
and I loved it. This is an ode to slapsticks,
even though to me, 1980s, 1970s, lots of slapstick. And
that was kind of one of the best parts of comedy.
I miss some of that. I'm not going to lie,
(17:01):
but it made me laugh hysterically. The way that Mr.
Green just gets bobbled about.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
Everywhere.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Like as a scenario as being Mr. Body, I love
those slapstick comedies. And this was one of those. And
it made me laugh every time, every time. And you
will hear me, like I told my partner, he was
watching it with me, part of it with me last
night in which they were like, you know, to make
a long story short and everybody's like too late. I
(17:27):
do that to him because of this movie. And he's
probably like, what? And he didn't understand where that came from,
but I still cannot help myself because every time I
hear someone say that, that's the line I think of next.
So there are so many things to that. This quip
is such a funny level of comedy, the wit, the humor,
(17:48):
the back and forth.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
I loved it as a kid. So all of that
to say this is kind of what it reminisces of.
And I also, again, like I said, Because we're not
necessarily doing a lot of themes, because I think that
themes are fairly... It's not, like, because of its dark
humor element with a very over-the-top rhetoric, I feel like
(18:13):
it's fairly obvious. You can tell me if you're wrong
and you have some themes that you want to talk about, Annie,
our listeners. But, like, one of the things I did
love about the movie is that women held their own
in this movie. They were more memorable characters than the
men to me outside of Tim Curry. Like, they... did
such an amazing job in their portrayal. I will say, like,
probably the least in the women is Mrs. Peacock. But, like,
(18:37):
I remember Leslie Ann Warren's voice as Miss Scarlet. I
remember her line of saying, who are you? Perry Mason? Like,
that line, which, by the way, made me laugh because
I'm like, Perry Mason wasn't existing in the 1950s, I
don't think. But, like, she was, like, that person. And obviously, again...
(18:59):
My favorite would be Miss White. So, like, for me,
Miss Scarlet is the femme fatale. But in the movie,
she's an unapologetic sex worker. Like, and a madam. Like,
she does what she does and knows everybody's secrets. It's like, eh.
This is my job, and I know what you did,
so you have no room to judge me, like type
of conversation. Here's a quote from CleoJournal.com. They write, quote, Ms. Scarlett,
(19:22):
who proudly outs herself as a Washington madam, seems to
have found one of the few direct routes to power
for a woman in the 1950s America, selling sex. Cheerfully
impervious to the evening's bourgeoisie code of conduct, she is
the only character who appears to be enjoying herself, delivering
a stream of maywest-like wisecracks throughout the evening. This is
(19:43):
an example. Professor Plum, I am a doctor, but I
don't practice. Miss Scarlet, practice makes perfect.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I think.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
most men could use a little practice don't you it's
a great line and he's been sexually harassing her the
entire time yeah like but she stands like she's so
used to it she's like and then we have miss
white the dark and mysterious widow who comes off as
unapologetic and ready with vengeance With another wonderful quote, she says, yes,
(20:10):
just the five husbands. Husbands should be like Kleenex, soft, strong,
and disposable. I'm like, yeah, okay. I enjoyed that. And
note here that the only ad-lib in this movie the
entire time was her line, which she says, Yes, I
did it. I killed a vet. I hated her so much. It,
(20:34):
the flames, flames, flames on the side of my face.
The breathing, breathing, breathing, heavy breathing, heavy breathing. And then
that's it. It's so wonderful. Her acting, that was one
of the most iconic. And then the cutaway to Colonel
Mustard going, what? It's comedic genius. Like, I don't know why,
(20:58):
but I think it's, like, one of the top five
comedic timings that I will remember. For all my users, like, genius.
Because they let her do it. And they realized how
amazing this was. But, like, those moments like that really, like,
things that I remember, again, going back to Miss Scarlet
being her, like, very, like, booby, but green dress, like,
(21:21):
iconic self, having her high-pitched laugh. Like, it just made
her character to me, even though she wasn't wearing a
Scarlet dress.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, that threw me, too. That threw me, too. Because
in the game, if some of you listeners have somehow
never played this game, it's very color-coded and, like, Mrs.
Colonel Mustard is in yellow. Scarlet is in scarlet. Like, yeah,
they were, I think you're right in that the women
were much more memorable than the men. And they had better,
(21:59):
I thought they had better line deliveries. And just in general,
they had more presence. And it was interesting to me
because that, I mean, Clue, the game, is very much
playing to tropes. And this movie, like, heightened it it
was like oh you think here's your sexy french maid
(22:19):
and all of this but they were doing it very
comedically but while also saying like yeah miss scarlet is
not going to stand for your nonsense miss white might
kill you they i love how they gave like every
character a very this is what I love about a
good mystery, a very plausible, like, I can see her
(22:41):
doing it. I can see it being her.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Yes. I mean, they definitely do a great job in
giving each character their own backstory without even having too
much of a backstory.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
At the beginning. You're seeing them as they're presented and
you're like, okay, you know who this is. You know
who this is. Yeah. And again, the men are not
as memorable.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
No. They really aren't.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Mm-mm. Mm-mm.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
I thought about how many games, board games that have
been turned into movies. Like we've seen many video games,
which sometimes they don't work. The number one was Last
of Us, if you needed to know. That was the best.
Clue is always in the top five. It's not number
one for the board game editions or renditions. And the
top five with that is Jumanji. Hello, Ouija. Which, by
the way, Jumanji is not a real game. So it's
(23:38):
kind of like one of those things like based on
board game, but it's not a real game.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
It didn't exist before. But it came out after.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Exactly. That's what I'm saying. It wasn't the original game. Ouija,
it does have a lot of horror, obviously, behind that.
And then they said Dungeons & Dragons, and I'm like,
is that.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Really a board game? Tabletop game, I would say.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Okay, but not a board game. But you know what?
Speaker 1 (23:59):
I'll allow it.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
I'll allow it. So it did bring that in, but
they did have one of the best adaptations to that.
And I think because maybe there's not a lot of games.
I don't know how you turn life into a movie.
Speaker 1 (24:14):
Well, there's plenty of them that I'm like, I'm not sure...
What's the new one that Margot Robbie's going to be in?
And I was like, huh.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Oh, I just know Weathering Heights, but that's a book.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
No, it's a board game adaption. I can't remember what
it is. But I was like, huh. All right.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Someone tell them.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Like, sorry. Yeah, it's not sorry, but, you know, I
would be surprised.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
But yeah, so it is interesting to see that. But
I also wondered about like the murder mystery concept, because
I feel like this is kind of in tune with
all that. The whodunits and we got to figure it out.
We can't leave this house until we find the killer
type of conversation. And many attribute the murder mystery dinner
shows to be from the 1940s, 1950s. But then it
(24:58):
evolved in the 80s, involving audience members. Have you ever
done one of.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
Those, Amy? I played a game. I've never gone to
an event space and done it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah, I haven't either. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I have a friend who did, and it sounded like
it went disastrously. I don't think that reflects.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, you get control what the audience is going to do. Yeah.
Which seems kind of like.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
It's a roll of the dice.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Yeah. I know I've seen people do it at home
with their friends so they know them well enough and
give them character display, right? That's a thing. So you've
done that?
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Yes, I have. I have one. it is like a,
it's a masquerade that went wrong. And it's on a train,
of course, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
On the train. Like, obviously, The Office has an infamous episode. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I do declare.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
I do declare. Yeah. I didn't do it. I do
not have that accent. Anyway, but I do think like
when we talk about like movies like Knives Out and
those types of movies, like it kind of is reminiscent
to Clue as well. The board game versus also like
these movies that have some iconic moments. Again, the one
(26:09):
thing that the Knives Out was more serious. And also
they left the house.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
Yeah. I mean, but that is a thing about a
lot of these murdered people. mystery stories is they usually
have one space where they're generally confined i would say
in knives out they were confined by the will so
even if they could leave the house the second one
the second one they were confined on the island but
the murder happened outside of yes and then they come
(26:37):
back and then was there more murder Murder. There was
attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
Murder. That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (26:46):
Right. And I really thought that was interesting. And we
could talk about murder mystery concepts in general because of that. Like,
also Shakespeare in the Tavern type of thing. Like, this
level of conversation. But that's, again. But, of course, we
couldn't go beyond this without the politics of Clue. Like,
they really wanted to have that Red Scare, the McCarthy
era type of conversation in here. And they actually portray...
(27:07):
I couldn't tell. You can't tell what they're saying necessarily.
And this was done in the 80s once again. So
right outside of still Cold War times. level of what's
going down, you know? So it was interesting to see
when they talked about, like, she was a socialist. And
then it came down to, you're a communist. She's like, no,
I'm the purest form of capitalism, which is, I feel
(27:29):
like a conversation today of, like, the mixture. You're like, no,
we're leaning to communism, but you think that it's, like,
also our capitalist is turning into communism, and you're not
realizing what's happening, and you think communism is just socialism,
and that's not what's happening. We're having a dictatorship in communism. Back. Okay.
But all of that to say is they have that
(27:50):
conversation in here. I will say there are so many
jokes in there that I did not understand as a 10, 12-year-old.
Was it like, red herring? What does that mean? I
had to look that up not too long ago, to
be honest.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I knew about that because of another mystery book, and
it was a clue, and I was like, ah, red herring.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
It's just a red herring but it was interesting to
see them bring that as a part of that conversation
which you don't have obviously in the game there's no
real reason yeah there's no back there's no plot to
it you just get murdered and you have to get like.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Right well and you know that would be an interesting
exercise me and my friends used to do this where
we would try to describe why they did it.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
Or really you would go that far Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Yeah. Sometimes. Especially if you get, again, like, I have, like,
a What We Do in the Shadows one. You know.
You know these characters, so you can try to describe, like,
why in the world would they have done this?
Speaker 2 (28:56):
Well, now I needed you to play Star Wars to
see the backstory.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Oh, my gosh. I would.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Because you're supposed to know... Who gets murdered in that one?
Speaker 1 (29:06):
I'm not sure if anyone gets murdered. So... Some of
the newer ones do this thing where, like, in what
we do in the shadows one, the cursed hat goes missing. Oh.
I feel like in the Star Wars one, it was
something like that, too. It wasn't murder, but.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Oh, look.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Oh, now I've got a good excuse to.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
You have to look it up for me. Yeah. Now
that I think about it, I remember I also had
a 3D clue and it was a museum. And I
think they were finding certain artwork. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah. it's been a long time i have to say
you know i hate to bring it up but and
i had the harry potter clue and that one it
was murder and i always thought that was kind of
pretty dark for.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Uh wait was it like harry potter murdered somebody.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
It was like a bunch of Death Eaters. But one
time I played it when Jenny got murdered. And I
was like, holy heck. This is really dark.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
Oh, my stars.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
Poor Jenny. So maybe they moved on. Maybe they're trying
to make ones now that are less about murder.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
I don't know. I would love to see what a
remake of this would look like today.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
It would be interesting. Because again, it is... They're trying
to make you think like everybody could have done it.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Right.
Speaker 1 (30:30):
And at the time, you know, you have this like
the Red Scare and communism. You have this character who's
gay and is like, and then not gay. But they
were trying to be like, it's him. So it would
be interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:42):
It was one of those funny moments where I was like,
but I'm not ashamed of that. But I don't want
to be fired, which could be still very much today.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I know.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
I was thinking about that. Like, it would not be
that hard because communism is still a threat. Supposedly. Socialism
is a threat.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Yeah. It would be interesting. I'm sure there's probably been
talks about remaking it. Oh, there is, actually.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
So I just pulled it up. So in 2024, there
was a conversation of Sony taking it. But it would
be not like the film.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
It would be more like the game.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
Again.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
And they've been trying, it says.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I could see it being like a four-episode Netflix series
or something. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
So apparently Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman tried to get
onto it with The Muppets. That's not what I was expecting.
I don't know if I read that right. Okay, y'all
tell me because I'm like, wait, what? But yeah, it
would be interesting. So there was a conversation about how
(32:01):
when they had some interviews in between, like for anniversaries
of Clue, Tim Curry had had a stroke and was
not able to participate, but was able to come back
later to participate and talk about his memories of it,
which I was really glad was able to happen. Because
that would have made me sad. Because Tim Curry was
pretty iconic in this whole era. I feel like he
(32:22):
was 80s, 70s champion, to be honest. Between that, Rocky Horror,
for me, Legend, and so much more.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
He's pretty iconic in most of his roles.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Oh, and by the way, that's what it was. I
saw someone cross... Crossing Rocky Horror with Legend in their cosplay.
It was beautiful. It was like Tim Curry for both
of those as one.
Speaker 1 (32:46):
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (32:48):
It was an amazing one. I forgot about that until
just now because I was like, oh my God, I
get that.
Speaker 1 (32:53):
I get that.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
I don't think many people would because they don't remember Legend.
Speaker 1 (32:58):
You'd be surprised. A Dragon Con, I don't know. A
couple of years ago, me and a whole group of
friends tried to just go as a bunch of different
Tim Currys. Really? It didn't work out, but I still
think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Somebody goes as a butler, somebody goes as... And then
he was a horrible character in Criminal Minds. Oh, no.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
I feel like I'd want to go as the Muppet
Treasure Island one. It? Oh, gosh, you're right.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
I'm just saying.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
There's a lot of options.
Speaker 2 (33:30):
There's a lot of options. But, okay. Yeah, so that
was Clue. What would you grade this movie, Annie, this
cult classic that I love so much? Hmm.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
How do I grade it? Like a home run with
the candlestick in the library? I don't know. It was fun.
I enjoyed it.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
You tried. You tried to add that all together. Yes,
I hope you did. This is definitely one of those
that I don't watch often, but every time I watch it,
I just giggle each time. Each time. And I love this. So, yeah, listeners,
let us know what you think about this movie. Have
you loved this movie? Is this something that you think
is a cult classic? If you did, tell me why.
If you haven't, tell me why.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, and hopefully, I mean, we're well outside the window
of spoilers, but if you haven't seen it, Go watch it.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Should I spoil it? It's 40 years.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
No, we're well outside the window.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
Hopefully, if somebody really wanted to watch it, they would
have stopped.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
They would have not.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
Yeah. But I mean, even if you know the ending,
it kind of goes in a wild way.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
It does. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:43):
I think you'll still be surprised.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Go watch it.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
Yeah. Yes. Okay. Well, email us all of your thought
listeners at hello at stuffonevertoldyou.com. You can also find us
on BlueSky at MomStuffPodcast or on Instagram and TikTok at
Stuff I Never Told You. We're also on YouTube. We
have merchandise at Cotton Bureau. And we have a book
you can get wherever you get your books. Thanks, as always,
to our super producer, Christina, our executive producer, Maya, and
(35:06):
our contributor, Joey.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
And thanks to you for listening. Stuff I Never Told
You is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
you can check out the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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