Week 41: Clue

Dear Avid Reader,

Movies are fun. I hope you have been watching these flicks along with me.

Otherwise you suck.

Communism Is Just A Red Herring

The thing with Clue is that it employs a certain kind of humor. It's very similar to His Girl Friday or The Marx Brothers. The funny is in the words and the speed. It's precise. And precision is hard work. Especially when making a movie with three endings.

And that's the toughest thing to do in movies isn't it? To make a great ending? I never saw Clue in the theatres, so the film has always had three endings. I guess the best ending is the one with Wadsworth ultimately being the blackmailer. I hope I didn't just spoil one of the movies for anyone just then.

In Fact The Double Negative Has Led To Proof Positive

In a way Clue has cheated. I can't really decide if the movie ends well, because when I try to think about it, the ending gets mixed in with all the others. In a way, Clue has solved the problem of having to end it's movie by ending it three times. The finale(s) then gets absorbed into the rest of the fast comedy and washes away. In essence, it ends, but not really.
And I know the intention of the movie makers was that they would have the gimmick of audiences having different experiences and perhaps repeat visits. But now the film is consumed usually with all three being shown. But I think showing three is better than just one. And i'll tell you why.

But Look What Happened To The Cook

I think Clue comes closer to abstract art than any other film. Even more than films like Enter The Void or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Those movies end in an open ended manner and allow the viewer to add their own interpretation as to what the "meaning" is. But they end in a finite way. In 2001, there IS an old man, there IS a big black box, and there IS a floating emryo. It's crazy, but there is an ending.

Clue offers three distinct possibilities. None of the three could happen in a world where the others exisist. And by offering three plausible conclusions, the true ending is fully up for grabs. There are no indisputable facts. There are no old men or embryos to make assumptions about. We will never know who really killed those people. So in this way, Clue is only movie where you can offer your interpretaiton of how it ends and be fully right and fully wrong in an objective sense. Artistic context and intention have no bearing here. The viewer is left on his own. When Wadsworth flips the light off, the audience is fully in control when the lights come back on.

Husbands Should Be Like Kleenex: Soft, Strong And Disposable

Usually when someone tries to cram three endings it turns out like an 80's movie. Or The Lord of the Rings. But Clue works in this weird and cool way, and I like it. You should too.

Otherwise you suck.

Until Next I Blog,

James