Forty Years of Clue’s Cold War Critique
Released on December 13, 1985, Clue is celebrating its fortieth birthday this year. The film was released as a comedy/thriller based on the board game of the same name. It has the same premise as the board game, a who-done-it murder mystery where the recognizable color-coded characters rush to try and find an answer before the police arrive.
Although this film might be thought of as a cult classic forty years after its release, at the time it was not widely well received, grossing 15 million dollars from a budget of 15 million. There are three separate endings to the film; when it was playing in theaters, it was random which ending the audience would receive. It was thought of as gimmicky and boring despite the many established comedy actors playing roles in the film. But if the humor does not work for the viewer, there is an underrated and often not recognized aspect of the film: its Cold War commentary. It is set in a McCarthyist 1954 and was released under strict anti-communist Ronald Reagan’s presidency.
For basic context, the film starts out with the guests, all of whom are involved in the government somehow, receiving invitations by a Mr. Boddy; they are greeted by the butler, Wadsworth, and the maid, Yvette, and Boddy. Boddy informs them that they were brought together because they are being blackmailed over something. Wadsworth reveals that the police are on their way to arrest Boddy, but Boddy hands out to the guests the typical Clue weapons and explains that Wadsworth knows their secrets, but if one of the guests kills him, they can protect their secrets. The lights go out and a gunshot goes off; when the lights come back on, Boddy is dead on the floor, starting the mystery’s investigation, which leads to more and more deaths while the main characters continue to try and solve who the murderer is.
Later on in the film, Wadsworth reveals why Boddy had been blackmailing the guests: “He believed you were all thoroughly un-American.” Wadsworth also tells them that his wife was driven to suicide by Boddy’s blackmailing; she had friends who were (gasps from the characters) socialists. This reflects the McCarthyist ideas of the time and the growing suspicion that everyone is at risk of being “un-American” or a communist. Everyone was investigated, and no one was safe; even those who were guilty themselves pointed the blame at each other.
When a cop arrives at the house concerned about an empty car on the side of the road, Wadsworth and the guests lock him in the study to make a phone call, anxious about the cop finding the dead bodies in the mansion. Before the cop can call his station, another call comes in from a J. Edgar Hoover. When the cop asks Wadsworth why the director of the CIA is calling their phone, he replies, “He’s on everyone else’s; why shouldn’t he be on mine?” This was a reference to the real-life paranoia of phones being tapped and the increase of distrust and alarm about possible communist infiltration in the United States.
In the first of the three possible endings, it is Mrs. Scarlet who is exposed as the murderer. In the beginning of the film, when all of the guests tell the others about their work and what they were being blackmailed for, Scarlet explains that she runs a gentlemen’s phone service, but after she gets caught, she says that her real business is “secrets.” The joke is made that communism was just a “red herring,” and that she’s a true capitalist, exploiting others’ secrets for her own personal gain.
Even though Clue might not have been fully appreciated when it was released, it was underrated for its commentary on the 1950s era of Cold War McCarthyism and paranoia in the United States. It was not a coincidence that it was written and released during Reagan’s presidency, and the writers and producers were inspired by the friends they had that were previously blacklisted from the industry because of alleged communist alliances. The film has more to say than a movie based on a board game might seem.
Clue is currently available to watch on YouTube and Amazon Prime Video through subscriptions.