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It’s safe to say that there is nothing like 1976’s Murder by Death on the 2026 movie schedule, and frankly, that’s a good thing. The star-studded murder mystery comedy that I finally watched after years of it being on my must-see list was a total disappointment. I watched the movie as the first film I’ll be watching this year in honor of all the great movies that came out 50 years ago, in that magical year of cinema that was 1976. It can only get better from here.
I Was Really Excited To Watch This Movie
Murder by Death, which I watched with the one subscription I would never give up, YouTube, is often compared to 1986’s Clue, and I get the comparisons. Hearing those comparisons is what made it jump to the top of the list of 1976 movies to watch in 2026. Like Clue, the movie has a monster cast, including Peter Sellers, Eileen Brennan (who plays Mrs. Peacock in Clue), Dame Maggie Smith, Alec Guinness, Peter Falk, David Niven, Elsa Lanchester, and James Coco. Plus one of my favorite character actors, James Cromwell, in his first film role, and Truman Capote, of all people. Similar to Clue, it’s about the murder of the butler (Guinness), in a spooky old house.
Each star plays a character loosely based on a classic literary detective, like Falk as a Sam Spade-like character, and Coco as a detective like Hercule Poirot. I love classic detective novels like those of Agathe Christie and Dashiell Hammett. The screenplay was written by the great Neil Simon, whose work I love, too. This movie has so many ingredients to make it great, and yet, from the moment it started, I didn’t like it, and it never came around.
Sellers Is One Of My Favorites. This Was Not My Favorite Role Of His
I’m a huge fan of the great Peter Sellers. The Pink Panther movies were big in my house when I was growing up, and Dr. Strangelove is one of the best dark comedies of all time. However, here, where Sellers plays a character based on Charlie Chan, the performance is, at best, uncomfortable, and at worst, really offensive. He’s playing the character in what is essentially “yellow-face,” complete with a stereotypical Chinese accent and very questionable (read: offensive) costume and makeup choices.
I try not to judge old movies on modern standards, but there’s just no way to sugarcoat what Sellers does in this movie. If we are going to rightfully lambast Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, we need to apply the same standard here. While Sellers isn’t quite as offensive as Rooney is, the performance is what it is, and we would never see it on the big screen today, and with good reason.
The Rest Of The Movie Isn’t Any Better
While I think it’s fair to compare Murder by Death to Clue in terms of plot, setting, and cast, that’s where it needs to end. Murder by Death is not nearly as quotable or charming as Clue. It’s honestly not even close. The latter has so many wonderful moments, and the former has almost nothing memorable, except in how ridiculous some of it is. That starts with the bizarre addition of Truman Capote as the mysterious owner of the house and host of the party. Every time he appeared on screen, which is thankfully very little, or I heard his distinctive voice, it pulled me out of the movie.
Of all the characters, the only one who provides any laughs at all is Guinness as the blind butler Jamessir Bensonmum. The rest of the all-star cast just isn’t funny here. While Clue gives each character at least one great moment and tons of quotable lines. Murder by Death tries to do this, but every single one of them falls flat. The twist at the end of Murder is predictable, and the “double twist” made no sense to me; it just felt pointless and annoying.
No, It’s Not Because It’s ‘Old’
It’s not just Sellers’ character, or that the film is 50 years old, either. Another comedy on my list to watch this year is 1976’s The Bad News Bears, and we all know how offensive that movie is, but I’m still excited for my rewatch. In the end, Murder by Death, even without Sellers playing a Chinese detective, just isn’t a funny movie. It’s a miss. Even the biggest stars of the day and one of the best playwrights of the 20th century couldn’t save it.
More than any other genre, comedy tastes change, as does what is considered acceptable. Those aren’t the problems here. Well, those are problems, but they aren’t the fatal problem (pun intended). It’s simply not funny in any era. I wouldn’t have thought this was funny 50 years ago, just as I don’t think it’s funny today.
I Haven’t Been This Let Down By A Movie In A Long Time
Maybe my expectations were too high. Maybe I’d built Murder by Death up in my head more than it deserved, but after watching, I was frustrated by how let down I was by this movie. As I said, there were so many great pieces to this production that I thought there was no way I would hate it, and yet I did. At a minimum, I thought it would be a fun romp for a couple of hours, but instead, I was pretty much hate-watching it almost from the start.
I wasn’t even trying to find things to like about it. Instead, I was formulating this article as a way to talk about how mad I was after probably 15 minutes. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Usually, I would blame this on my expectations, but no, this just isn’t a good movie, and I’m actually glad that it’s not talked about more. It’s no Clue.