Murder By Death

Neil Simon is a comedy legend. He achieved something that a lot of playwright's have been unable to achieve, becoming a household name. Simon's work is so popular that his name usully appears above the title. He was so big in the late 60's and throughout the 70's and mid 80's that if he wrote a play it was almost guaranteed a film adaptation. For me, Simon has been mostly hit or miss. One of my favorites of his is 1976's Murder By Death.

The world's greatest slueth's have been invited to a dinner/murder party by the mysterious Lionel Twain, Truman Capote, to see who is the greatest detective in the world. All the investigators are based off of popular crime solvers from literature and film. There's Sidney Wang, Peter Sellers, based off of Charlie Chan. Sam Diamond, Peter Falk, based off of Sam Spade. Dick and Dora Charleston, David Niven and Maggie Smith, based off of Nick and Nora Charles. Milo Perrier, James Coco, based off of Hercule Poirot. And Jessica Marbles, Elsa Lanchester, based off of Miss Marple. To solve the murder, the spotlight stealing private eyes must work together before they become the next victims.

If you are a fan of the movie Clue, or the works of Agatha Christie or Dashiell Hammett, you will love this. Everybody in the cast, which also includes Alec Guiness, Nancy Walker, Eileen Brennan, and James Cromwell, is terrific. They all have their moments to shine, especially Falk who does a great Bogart impression. He is so good that he, Simon, and the director Robert Moore would later reteam for the Bogart spoof The Cheap Detective.

This was a big hit when it first came out, but I think it's been forgotten over the years. I recently was reintroduced to it through multiple showings on Get TV and This TV. It's a terrific spoof that deserves to be rediscovered.

I'd also like to give a shout out to my lovely wife Kristan who adores this movie.

It's available on dvd.