Murder by Death

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Murder by Death: Trailer 1

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Cast & Crew

Peter Falk
Sam Diamond

Peter Sellers
Inspector Sidney Wang

Truman Capote
Lionel Twain

Eileen Brennan
Tess Skeffington

James Coco
Inspector Milo Perrier

Alec Guinness
Jamesir Bensonmum

Elsa Lanchester
Miss Jessica Marbles

David Niven
Dick Charleston

Maggie Smith
Mrs. Dora Charleston

Nancy Walker
Yetta

Estelle Winwood
Miss Withers

James Cromwell
Marcel

Richard Narita
Willie Wang

Robert Moore
Director

Ray Stark
Producer

Neil Simon
Screenwriter

Dave Grusin
Original Music

David M. Walsh
Cinematographer

John F. Burnett
Film Editing

Jennifer Shull
Casting

Stephen B. Grimes
Production Design

Harry Kemm
Art Director

Marvin March
Set Decoration

Ann Roth
Costume Design

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Audience Reviews for Murder by Death

• Aug 01, 2022

  I do kind of appreciate the call outs against the bad mystery writing that pervaded a lot of supposedly "classic" characters of the genre. That said, it all gets a little one note.
  

  Alec B Super Reviewer
• Apr 10, 2019

  With the obvious exception of Truman Capote (who is terrible as an actor), this is a hilarious spoof of detective stories that relies on an astonishing collection of high-class thespians and has an impressive amount of great jokes, even if some of them do miss the mark here and there.
  Carlos M Super Reviewer
• Nov 11, 2012

  If you know the historical touchstones from early 20th century crime fiction, this is a fantasticly funny film. Any how can you not LOVE Truman Capote?! Q: How do you stay looking so young? Answer: "A pure vegitable diet, 10 hours of sleep at night, and LOTS and LOTS of makeup."
  Christian C Super Reviewer
• Dec 28, 2011

  Sidney Wang: No pulse, no heartbeat. If condition does not change, this man is dead.  "You are cordially invited to dinner... and a murder!" I really loved this stupid spoof of the murder mystery genre. Murder by Death is hilarious film that is pure fun from start to finish. All of the characters were funny, but the two I loved the most were Wang and Diamond. Wang is an Asian played by Peter Sellers. How is that not going to be hilarious? Diamond is played by Columbo himself, Peter Falk. Both of these actors and a great supporting cast featuring Maggie Smith, Truman Capote and James Cromwell make for one hell of an entertaining comedy.  The five best detectives are invited to a mansion where the owner, Lionel Twain promises them dinner and a murder. Each detective and their second are greeted by someone trying to kill them by making a piece of the building fall. Then they are shown to their rooms by a blind butler. And their meal will be cooked by a woman who can't speak or hear, and the butler doesn't know this because he can't see he note cards saying she can't speak. This is the type of humor you should be expecting throughout the whole film. Murder by Death is perfectly paced and also has a perfect runtime. It knows, like all the good spoofs do, not to overstay its welcome. Comedy like this can only be funny for so long, and when Murder by Death ends it is still funny. This film combines slapstick humor and stereotype humor into the murder mystery plot with great results. There is very little that the characters say that isn't at least mildly amusing, and a great deal of the time, hilarious.  This is kind of a forgotten and under appreciated comedy from the 1970's. I would give it a recommendation on Seller's alone, but everything else about it is great too. The ending wasn't as funny as it should have been or as funny as Neil Simon probably thought it was, but overall I can't say enough about the film. Sidney Wang: And you Mr. Charleston, did not approve of Mrs. Charleston dying her hair blonde? Dick Charleston: What do you mean?  Sidney Wang: Mrs. Charleston's hair red. You have blond hairs on shoulder. This means she has dyed red hair blonde, then back again to red, or else you have been... So sorry, Wang is wrong. 
  Melvin W Super Reviewer