Clue is a remarkable movie. It managed to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of turning a simple board game into a richly dark comedy. The brilliance of the filmmakers is that they realized this isn’t an Agatha Christie whodunnit where there is just one murderer with a clear motive. In this case, everyone has a motive and opportunity to murder. And since this is a board game put to screen, the bad guy is a matter of pure chance.

That’s certainly true of the source material. Whenever you pick the murderer, weapon, and location of the murder at the start of a game, it changes. So there’s no way to know the who, what, or where that is involved until you untangle all the clues.

Everybody’s Guilty

In both the game and the movie, every character can be revealed to be the killer. The final film ending demonstrates that. In addition, the fact that the first two endings work equally well showcases how successfully the movie has managed to create enough mystery to make a single character responsible for all the murders.

It makes sense that Mrs. White killed Yvette. But it is equally as likely that Ms. Scarlet and Mrs. Peacock did the deed. Ms. Scarlet also had a bloodlust for the police officer as much as Mrs. Peacock. Colonel Mustard had every reason to kill the motorist. Professor Plum definitely wanted Mr. Boddy dead as much as Yvette did. And the singing-telegram girl was just a victim of circumstance.

Mr. Green was the only one with clean hands, though he, too, had a secret he was keeping from the others.

Not Your Average Murder Mystery

If anyone ever wonders why there are three endings to this film and there’s so much left open to interpretation, I hope this clears it up. It’s not a murder mystery, but several turns of a board game we’re watching unfold on screen. That is the real hidden genius of Clue.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

The images are the copyright of their owner.