Clue (1985)

Most box office duds fade to obscurity once their underperforming theatrical runs have concluded, but a lucky handful stumble into positive reappraisal and a lengthy post-release afterlife. The most prominent example is arguably Frank Capra's 1946 Christmas perennial It's A Wonderful Life, but a number of other films earned enduring cult status once the advent of cable television spurred numerous stations to pad their programming blocks with then-unpopular films whose broadcast rights were cheap to acquire. This phenomenon was especially generous to 1980's cheese like Beastmaster (1982), Dragnet (1987), and several films directed by John Carpenter. The subject for this episode is 1985's Clue, a broad spoof of the locked-room murder mystery modeled after the board game of the same name. Ryan is joined by McKenzie as they talk about Clue's talented ensemble cast, its scene-stealing performances from Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, its fancy costumes, and its lush mise-en-scène. Thematic motifs under discussion include the film's references to the communist witch hunts of Joseph McCarthy, its subtextual digs at mid-20th century sexual stigmas, and its playful riffs upon the tropes of Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr. Ryan and McKenzie also compare Clue to the much more successful Knives Out (2019).