A movie that
pretty much makes fun of all the movies I love, and I love it. It is a spoof of detective stories. It is written by Neil Simon, so there are
some pretty large groaners of jokes. The
deaf/ mute maid (Nancy Walker), bad puns and fart jokes, but that is a minor
annoyance. Murder by Death is a send up
of detective genres. And, as you know if
you have been following this week, love detective movies.
.
The plot is
that a mysterious stranger (Truman Capote in a role he was born to play as
mysterious weirdo) calls together the greatest detectives in the world to solve
a murder. David Niven and Maggie Smith
play Dick and Dora Charleston, instead of Nick and Nora Charles, from the Thin
Man see what I mean about the bad puns.
I mean maybe they had to change the names for legal reasons, but I shall
avoid the semi-names from now on.
Anyway, they are the debonair detective couple in love with a
intermittently appearing Fox Terrier.
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| David Niven, Mryon & Maggie Smith |
Elsa
Lanchester plays Miss Marple in her frumpy best. Peter Faulk, does his Colombo / Sam Spade
impersonation and Eileen Brennan is his well-traveled secretary. Peter Sellers does Charlie Chan – which might
seem racist, but Charlie Chan was always played by a Caucasian, and so I take
this as a commentary. Plus it was 1976
and people didn’t complain then like they do now. And
James Coco was Hercule Poirot.
Funny aside, everyone has a sidekick in the movie but neither Miss
Marple or Hersule Poirot had one in most movies, so they kind of made one
up. With minimal billing, James Coco’s
side kick was James Cromwell – with a horrible French accent.
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| The full slate of detectives |
The movie is
funny, but the more familiar you are with the original characters the funnier
the movie is. These are actors having a blast at the top of their game. In some ways, it is like Hudson Hawk, in that
they are all having fun. It is unlike
Hudson Hawk in that they follow the script and stay in character.
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| Always Amazing Eileen Brennan |
I love this
movie for a few reasons. First, it is a
great send up. Second I love Maggie
Smith and Eileen Brennan in almost anything.
And finally, if you can’t stand James Coco – this is the movie that will
change your mind. Plus a Fox Terrier is
always a plus in a movie.