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He may be best remembered for his starring role as the cigar-smoking homicide detective on TV’s Columbo, but, in more than five decades in front of the camera, the late Peter Falk brought a number of memorable characters to life on both the small screen and the big screen—like detective Sam Diamond in writer Neil Simon’s 1976 comic mystery, Murder by Death.
Falk is just one part of a remarkable cast that tells the outrageous story of a quirky murder mystery weekend arranged by eccentric millionaire Lionel Twain (Truman Capote) for five legendary detectives.
After receiving invitations for dinner and a murder, the world’s most esteemed detectives arrive at Twain’s creepy old mansion on a stormy night. Dick Charleston (David Niven) arrives from New York with his wife, Dora (Maggie Smith). Sam Diamond (Falk) comes from San Francisco with his assistant, Tess (Eileen Brennan). Milo Perrier (James Coco) arrives from Belgium with butler Marcel (James Cromwell). Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) comes from China with his son, Willie (Richard Narita). And Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester) arrives from England with her beloved nurse (Estelle Winwood).
Once they arrive, the guests are greeted by Twain’s blind butler, Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), and instructed to be ready for dinner at nine o’clock. Then, over a less-than-remarkable meal, Twain offers a million dollars to the guest who can solve the murder that’s about to take place.
With its memorable characters and its oddly mesmerizing whodunit, Murder by Death is a wonderfully zany murder mystery farce, spring-loaded with every style of humor imaginable. There are silly slapstick sight gags and wacky stereotypes (like Falk as the hard-boiled Sam Spade-like gumshoe—or Sellers playing a fortune cookie-quoting Charlie Chan knockoff), mixed in with so many witty one-liners that you’ll be tempted to take notes.
The mystery, meanwhile, is designed to keep you guessing until the end—just like a classic mystery novel. There are diversions and deceptions and red herrings galore. And the twisted ending is guaranteed to leave you scratching your head after it’s all over. But if you’ve ever read an Agatha Christie mystery, you’ll be amused by Simon’s fiendishly clever plotting.
Still, it’s the spectacular all-star cast that makes Murder by Death such a darkly comical treat. Though their characters are basically just thinly-veiled parodies of well-known sleuths, they manage to make the detectives both familiar and fresh—especially Falk, who’s unforgettable as the straight-faced, no-nonsense Sam Diamond.
Murder by Death is definitely a wacky farce of a crime thriller—but if you love both classic mysteries and comical contemporary sleuths like Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum or Sophie Littlefield’s Stella Hardesty, you won’t want to miss this mysterious comedy classic.
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