Tagged: Christopher Lloyd

The Menswear of Clue

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.

Tim Curry, Lesley Ann Warren, Madeline Kahn, Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, Michael McKean, and Eileen Brennan in Clue (1985)

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). Continue reading →

Back to the Future: Doc Brown’s Snakeskin Robe for a Scientific Breakthrough

Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown in Back to the Future (1985)

Vitals

Emmett “Doc” Brown, eccentric inventor and amateur chronophysicist

Hill Valley, California, November 5, 1955

Film: Back to the Future
Release Date: July 3, 1985
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Costume Designer: Deborah Lynn Scott

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

If my calculations are correct… 70 years ago today was a red-letter date in the history of science: November 5, 1955. For those who haven’t seen Back to the Future, this was the day that Hill Valley’s resident mad scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown slipped from standing on his toilet to hang a clock, hitting his head on the bathroom sink—triggering his concept of the flux capacitor, which would make time travel possible.

Even a freshly bandaged Doc (Christopher Lloyd) seems unaware of that day’s significance when he’s visited by Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox)—not a space man from Pluto but a high school student from 1985 who was flung thirty years into the past by the DeLorean that Doc had transformed into a time machine. Continue reading →