Film: Clue
Release Date: December 13, 1985
Director: Jonathan Lynn
Costume Designer: Michael Kaplan

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Today marks the 40th anniversary since the release of Clue, which overcame an underwhelming initial release to become perhaps the most successful cinematic adaptation of a board game. The Parker Brothers classic formed the foundation for John Landis and Jonathan Lynn’s zany murder mystery, framed against the backdrop of the post-World War II “Red Scare” though, ultimately, communism was just a red herring.

Clue was released with three separate endings (a fourth was dropped during production), intended to be varied at each showing. In addition to reflecting the spirit of the original game, Landis had hoped that multiple endings would bring audiences back for multiple showings, but the gimmick unfortunately backfired as the public. It wasn’t until Clue was released to home video with all three endings presented sequentially that it gained a cult following.

The movie is set over a rainy New England night in June 1954, as the game’s six colorfully named suspects—Mr. Green (Michael McKean), Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull), Mrs. Peacock (Eileen Brennan), Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd), Miss Scarlet (Lesley Ann Warren), and Mrs. White (Madeline Kahn)—are summoned to dinner at the foreboding Hill House mansion, where each are greeted by the butler Wadsworth (Tim Curry). Awaiting their mysterious host, the six discover that they’re all all tangentially related to covert government work in Washington, D.C., delicately prestigious positions that put each in a position to be blackmailed by the sinister Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving), who believes that all six are “thoroughly un-American,” according to Wadsworth.

The dinner party turns deadly when Mr. Boddy turns up dead—twice—followed by the cook and a passing motorist. When the power to the mansion is shut off for a few minutes, yet another trio is slain with the weapons that Mr. Boddy had distributed before his death.

Wadsworth: Three murders!
Mr. Green: Six, altogether.
Wadsworth: This is getting serious.

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What’d They Wear?

Costume designer Michael Kaplan followed Jonathan Lynn’s direction to avoid the obvious route of dressing each character exactly in their respective color (saving that for their lesser-seen cars’ exterior paint jobs), though their color is often still reflected somewhere in their appearance—whether that’s the peahen feathers in Mrs. Peacock’s hairpiece, Mrs. White’s pearls and satin coat lining, or Miss Scarlet’s reddish hair.

Rather than dressing each man in standard 1950s suits and ties, Kaplan allowed the context of each gentleman’s personality and profession to inform his respective costume, resulting in a diverse array of menswear among only a handful of characters. Proceeding alphabetically…

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Mr. Boddy (Lee Ving)

Mr. Boddy arrives both late and underdressed, improper for a 1950s dinner party guest… but this sinister blackmailer cares little for propriety, as demonstrated by his villainously sporty style of all black clothing—save for the white vamps on his two-toned loafers. These spectator shoes are the perfect footwear for Boddy, as they were also known as “co-respondent shoes” for their sleazy association with third-party co-respondents in early 20th century divorce cases.

The entire costume is rich with period and character-informed detail, from the jacket’s white-on-black “atomic fleck” fabric to the flashy blazer-style buttons shining up his shirt’s front placket.

• Black (with white “atomic fleck”) single-breasted 3-button sport jacket with low-gorge notch lapels, welted breast pocket, patch hip pockets, 2-button cuffs, and short single vent
• Black-on-black tonal horizontal dobby-striped long-sleeved sports shirt with loop collar, nickel shank buttons up the front placket, and ribbed cuffs
• Black flat-front trousers with belt loops, on-seam side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black-and-white calfskin leather loafers
• Ivory socks with black square-on-gray side stripes

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Mr. Green (Michael McKean)

I didn’t do it!

Curiously, the bumbling State Department employee Mr. Green is the only man who doesn’t visibly wear any of his assigned color… perhaps subtly indicating that he’s not the man he says he is—at least if the third (and canonical) ending is to be believed.

As opposed to the sporty Mr. Boddy, Mr. Green is the most conservative dresser among the male guests in his navy three-piece suit that would have lined the closets of any ’50s gent from bankers and lawyers to G-men. The white shirt, striped repp tie, and black brogues complete a very trad look, appropriate for a man aiming to fit in—whether that’s to conceal his sexuality or his actual profession.

• Navy wool serge three-piece suit:
  • Single-breasted 3/2-roll jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Single-breasted 5-button waistcoat
  • Flat-front trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets, turn-ups/cuffs
• White cotton shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Silver squared cuff links
• Burgundy repp tie with double white “downhill” stripe sets
• Black leather belt with squared silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Black leather semi-brogue cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Tortoiseshell eyeglasses
• Gold signet ring
• Stainless watch on black leather strap
• White linen folded pocket square
• Gray felt trilby with black grosgrain band and self-edged brim
• Gray wool single-breasted 3-button overcoat with notch lapels, vertical-entry hand pockets, and ventless back
• Black wool scarf

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Colonel Mustard (Martin Mull)

Mrs. Peacock: Everything all right?
Col. Mustard: Yep. Two corpses. Everything’s fine.

Certainly an Army colonel as his alias implies, Colonel Mustard’s exclusive brown-forward earth tones echo his pseudonym and the contemporary U.S. Army service uniform during World War II, though the softly napped fabric of his brown suiting aligns with the upscale budget of a war profiteer.

When buttoned during his arrival, the double-breasted jacket of Colonel Mustard’s brown two-piece suit effects the solid presentation one would expect of a senior officer… but he loses his nerve once the bodies start dropping, reflected in his dramatically loosened tie and removing the jacket to reveal his blood- and sweat-stained shirt and sagging trousers only barely held up by suspenders.

• Tobacco-brown napped wool suit:
  • Double-breasted 6×2-button jacket with peak lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and ventless back
  • Double reverse-pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, jetted back pockets (w/ button through back-right pocket), turn-ups/cuffs
• White tonal satin-striped shirt with semi-spread collar, front placket, breast pocket, and double/French cuffs
  • Gold cuff links
• Beige silk tie, with fields of brown four-square diamonds overlaid with tan-shadowed sets of 10 brown “uphill” stripes
  • Gold textured tie bar
• Navy-and-slate striped cloth suspenders with tan leather hooks
• Brown leather cap-toe 5- or 6-eyelet oxford shoes
• Brown patterned socks
• Brown felt fedora with with brown grosgrain band
• Camelhair single-breasted overcoat with notch lapels
• Brown with cream, red, and slate paisley silk scarf
• Pocket square
• Gold class ring
• Gold round-cased watch with cream dial on dark leather strap

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Professor Plum (Christopher Lloyd)

Wadsworth: Professor Plum, you were once a professor of psychiatry specializing in helping paranoid and homicidal lunatics suffering from delusions of grandeur.
Professor Plum: Yes, but now I work for the United Nations.
Wadsworth: So your work has not changed.

Professor Plum indeed looks professorial in his textured suit, cardigan, and bow tie (which is revealed to be a clip-on).

Though it suits his somewhat scattered personality, the pipe-smoking professor likely tailored this look (à la Bing Crosby or Fred MacMurray on My Three Sons) to soften his image into something less threatening than the sexual predator that had his medical license taken away.

• Charcoal-on-gray boucle-checked wool suit:
  • Single-breasted 2-button (or possibly 3/2-roll) jacket with notch lapels, welted breast pocket, straight jetted hip pockets, wide-padded shoulders, 4-button cuffs, and single vent
  • Pleated trousers with belt loops, side pockets, and turn-ups/cuffs
• White (with navy-and-burgundy mini-graph check) cotton shirt with spread collar, front placket, and double/French cuffs
  • Silver cuff links
• Gray straight-ended bow tie with black “downhill” stripes, flanked with white and beige static print
• Burgundy sleeveless cardigan with five matte nickel buttons and small patch pockets over hips
• Black leather belt with silver-toned single-prong buckle
• Dark burgundy leather cap-toe derby shoes
• Gray socks
• White linen pocket square with muted alternating blue-and-red geometric square print
• Tortoise-rimmed glasses
• Gray felt fedora with black grosgrain band and self-edged brim
• Black-and-gray mixed Donegal tweed single-breasted topcoat with ulster collar, raglan sleeves with single-button tab cuffs, and single vent
• Burgundy woolen scarf

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Wadsworth (Tim Curry)

Wadsworth: I’m merely the humble butler.
Col. Mustard: What exactly do you do?
Wadsworth: I butle, sir.

Rather than choosing one of the six suspects to serve as a leading role, Clue invents the butler Wadsworth—played to perfection by Tim Curry, who has cited this as one of his favorites from his own filmography.

Alongside his fellow household staff, Wadsworth’s position as the butler informs his costume: traditional black lounge with a straight black tie, wing collar, striped trousers, and a black bowler hat that he discards upon entering the mansion. also a waistcoat where he stashes keys in the right-hand pocket. He naturally wears black oxfords, which are unfortunately the first casualty of the night after he steps into one of the Doberman’s indiscreetly positioned droppings.

• Black wool single-breasted 2-button cutaway tailcoat with peak lapels, 4-button cuffs, and decorative 2-button back
• White cotton shirt with detachable wing collar, studs up the plain front, squared single cuffs
  • Gold cuff links
• Black silk tie
• Black single-breasted waistcoat with square-bottomed shawl collar flanking a low V-shaped opening, closely spaced 3-button front, lower pockets, and notched bottom
• Charcoal-and-gray cashmere-striped wool flat-front trousers with side pockets, tapered leg, and plain-hemmed bottoms
• Black leather cap-toe oxford shoes
• Black socks
• Gold dress watch with rectangular gold dial on black leather strap
• Black felt bowler hat with black grosgrain band

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The Gun

After Wadsworth reveals him as the blackmailer, Mr. Boddy distributes wrapped packages to each of the six guests—the contents corresponding to the canonical weapons found in the board game: Miss Scarlet receives a candlestick, Mrs. White unveils a rope, Mr. Green finds a lead pipe, Colonel Mustard unwraps a rusty wrench, Mrs. Peacock gets a dagger, and Professor Plum unwraps a revolver—specifically a Harrington & Richardson Model 733.

Harrington & Richardson is one of the oldest firearms manufacturers in the United States. It was founded in Massachusetts in 1871 by Daniel B. Wesson’s brother Frank Wesson and his previous business partner’s nephew Gilbert Henderson Harrington, though the company outlasted the brief partnership as Harrington bought out Wesson three years later. The following year, fellow Smith & Wesson employee William Augustus Richardson defected to Harrington’s firm, resulting in its new name.

H&R specialized in sporting firearms like the .22-caliber U.S.R.A. Model 195 Single-Shot Match Target Pistol, as well as a variety of solid-frame revolvers which require the base pin to be manually pulled out to remove the cylinder for loading, unloading, and maintenance. These typically fired smaller calibers in .22, .32, and .38; the nickel-plated Model 733 featured in Clue fired .32 S&W Long ammunition from a six-round cylinder—a capacity that often has the characters arguing  over how many shots had already been fired from it:

Even if you were right, that would be one plus one plus two plus one, not one plus two plus one plus one…

Though Mr. Boddy gives the revolver to Professor Plum, it passes through the hands of most of the major characters like Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Wadsworth, and even the maid Yvette (Colleen Camp), who uses it to shoot open a door lock when Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet are trapped inside the lounge with the dead motorist. H&R launched the blued Model 732 and nickel Model 733 in the late 1950s, making this model slightly anachronistic for Clue‘s 1954 setting, but it still looks like a revolver that could have existed during this setting.

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What to Imbibe

Yvette greets the guests in the library with crystal flutes of Moët & Chandon Impérial Brut champagne. This iconic non-vintage champagne was first created in 1869, designed to express Moët’s signature balance of freshness, richness, and elegance from a blend of Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier, and Chardonnay grapes, with a portion of reserve wines.

After dinner, Wadsworth invites the guests into the study “for coffee and brandy”, which appears to be the Martell Medallion VSOP from the side table served by Yvette—who then retreats to the billiard room with her own glass while listening to the blackmail confessions. Medallion is a classic expression from the Martell house, blending eaux-de-vie aged well beyond the VSOP minimum to create a smooth, balanced cognac with notes of dried fruit, vanilla, toasted oak, and gentle spice.

When Mr. Boddy mysteriously dies after drinking the Martell, the group briefly suspects the brandy may have been poisoned (sending Mrs. Peacock and Yvette into respective panics), prompting Wadsworth to later warn the visiting policeman: “Help yourself to a drink, if you’d like… not the cognac, just in case.”

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Do Yourself a Favor and…

Check out the movie. Would anyone care for fruit or dessert?