MURDER BY DEATH (1976)
I like Peter Sellers very much, so this one was a must for me. It´s a really cool comedy making fun of all those exaggerated Miss Marple/Hercule Poirot/Columbo-crime-movies.
You know, those movies you try to find the murder by yourself, hoping to be right and - at the end - being absolutely disappointed by a constructed and illogical sollution. Movies like "Murder in the Orient Express" (Sollution: all of the 12 guests have murdered the victim)
This one is great, it is funny and it shows you the senselessness of most of the movies of the old-styled crime genre (ok, I like them, too,but nevertheless this is a must!).
Besides Sellers there are Truman Capote, Peter Falk and Alec Guiness acting in "Murder By Death".
Saw it? Liked it?
I saw it when I was very young...hoping to rent it again some time....remember it well
Love this movie. Used to watch it every time it was on TV when I was a kid. Bought the DVD last year.
Favourite bit has to be Capote giving Wang a hard time because in spite of being a genius detective, he speaks in Pidgin English. Loved the moose head on the wall yelling "say your goddamned pronouns!"
That and the blind butler (Jamessir Bensonmum, hehe) trying to interact with the deaf-mute maid who doesn't understand English.
The biggest surprise on seeing Murder by Death years later was a youngish James Cromwell as Perrier's chauffeur. His career didn't take off until years after I'd last seen the movie.
Dammit Wence! You just ruined Murder On The Orient Express for me. How about putting a spoiler warning in there?
Ah, just kidding Wence.
I used to watch this movie every time it came on TV. I loved it. Very well done movie with an excellent use of the cast.
I liked this film a lot when I saw it. It's worth seeing again. Quite funny. The title of the film say's it all.
(http://www.humboldt.edu/~extended/sp2005/images/murderbydeath.jpg)
I was just going to mention that thing about the pronouns myself. That was my favorite part. Really liked that movie, gotta put it on the DVD wishlist.
I saw it many years ago on TV (it was shown several times, then vanished completely) and loved it. I was starting to develop the taste for off-the-wall films that ultimately led me to this board, and I found it absolutely hilarious. I saw it on other ocassions and thought it was maybe a bit too silly, but again, this is one of those films that depend very heavily on the viewer. I'd like to see it again.
Seen it. Unfortunately, never cared much for it. But, it does have one of those casts that can hardly be beat. Besdies those already mentioned, it also stars David Niven, Maggie Smith, James Coco, Elsa Lanchester, Eileen Brennan, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood.,
They knew how to cast a movie in those days.