Product: Murder by Death (1976)
Rating: 4.0
"Are You NUTS, Pops? Someone's Trying to Kill Us!" "Yes! Should Make For Exciting Weekend."
Mr. Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) has called together the greatest detectives of all time for a weekend of murder at a remote estate. (Naturally, it includes thunder and lightening). These five detectives consist of Milo Perrier (James Coco), Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers), and Dick and Dora Charleston (David Niven and Maggie Smith).The guests arrive to find themselves served by a blind butler (Alex Guinness) and a deaf/mute maid (Nancy Walker). At dinner, their host appears and announces that someone at the table will be killed at midnight. But preventing the murder will be hard since rooms seem to come and go at will. As do bodies. Can these great detectives figure out what is going on?As a mystery lover, I have to love this movie. And I do. The spoofs are spot on, especially Peter Falk's Bogart impression as Sam Diamond. Since Neil Simon wrote the screenplay, the one liners come fast and furious. Both times I've seen this, I've been laughing hysterically multiple times.The movie does have a couple of flaws, however. The first are some rather racist comments and the stereotypical accent by Peter Sellers. Of course, that is part of the spoof, so it mostly works. The other is the ending. The mystery fan in me cries out for something better. But that's a minor complaint. There are parts of the denouncement that are pitch perfect as a spoof.Those who aren't familiar with the classics of the mystery genre might not find it nearly as enjoyable, but mystery fans will eat this up.