MovieChat Forums > Clue (1985) Discussion > Ending A is the only one that makes sens...

Ending A is the only one that makes sense *SPOILERS*


Mostly because the other two endings don't make any sense.

Ending B where Mrs. Peacock "murdered them all" was by far the weakest of the 3 endings, and I feel sorry for anyone whose theater had this ending back in 1985. There were no flashbacks that showed how a frail old woman was able to overpower and kill Yvette and Mr. Boddy. No explanations on how she was able to lift the obese cook up and put her into the freezer (how did she even know that her cook was working in the kitchen, anyway? Nobody saw the cook upon entering the house) No explanation on how she was aware of the secret passages. She would have been one of the slowest in the group due to her age, so how did she manage to sneak upstairs and downstairs several times without being seen by anybody? With this ending, Wadsworth simply says "Mrs. Peacock did it all", and it's mostly based off the monkey's brain soup that she said was her favorite. She makes no threats to expose anyone who talks, and lets everybody go as she leaves the house to a chorus of "She's a jolly good fellow". She is then quickly apprehended by the police.

Ending C also has major problems (although at least it's an entertaining ending). How did everybody know about the secret passages? Why did Mr. Boddy (who is actually not Mr. Boddy, but Mr. Boddy's butler in this ending), volunteer to assume the identity of Mr. Boddy, who would immediately become a target of everybody in the house? Why would he give everybody a weapon when he would have almost certainly knew that he would be the target, not Wadsworth? Why did he want to kill Wadsworth if he was going along with Wadsworth's plan? How did Mrs. Peacock sneak into the kitchen to kill the cook with nobody noticing her? Yvette was facing the open doorway the entire time. How did Mrs. Peacock lift the obese cook into the freezer? How did Mrs. White sneak downstairs to kill Yvette when she could clearly be heard screaming upstairs next to Wadsworth/Mr. Boddy? How did Wadsworth/Mr. Boddy know that each one of these people would be capable and willing to commit murder? What would have happened if even a couple of them refused?

Ending A the Miss Scarlet ending is by far the most believable. It makes sense for her and Yvette to be working together, as they have ties with each other going way back. The cook being killed by Yvette makes sense, as she could have easily gone down the hallway with nobody noticing her, and make it back in time to start screaming about the cognac. It also makes sense that she is the one to kill Mr. Boddy by staying behind in the study while they all go to check on the cook. The rest of the murders make sense as well, as Yvette would have told Scarlet about the secret passages. This is the only ending that attempts to explain that one.

Thoughts?

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I thought ending C made the most sense but after reading your post, you do have some good points.

All the endings have holes in them though. In the end I think its the journey and not the destination we should concentrate on with regard to this movie.

Its a lot of fun but thinking about it too much could drive you batty.

Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

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Well, White was sneaking around with the Butler... who during the chaos ends up turning on the shower on himself... it could be during this time Ms White ran down and dealt with her death. The shower being on could have prevented Wadsworth from hearing her running down... just an idea... but I noticed that slip the last time I watched it too... Still overall I love the execution of the movie and how well it matches with the board game and has multiple deaths in the 'true' ending when the lights go out.


"I... am... a singing telegram!" BANG!

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Ending A has its holes too:

How did Yvette know that Mrs. Peacock would be standing by the door and drop the knife there? And the exact moment when to open the door to grab it without anyone noticing. Or even that Mrs. Peacock would start screaming at all. Then she not only sneaks up on and kills the cook, but then picks up her lifeless corpse and drags it into the freezer, and returns back to the billiard room to start screaming in less than a minute. All 3 endings have the plot hole of 1 woman dragging the dead cook into the freezer, when later on we see 3 women and a man have a hard time moving her.

Likewise, she has to not only sneak up on Mr. Boddy in the hall, but kill him without anyone hearing anything, and drag him to the bathroom, hide the candlestick on top the door frame, and rejoin the group in time to help carry the cook back to the study.

They never explain how Scarlet got the key to the weapons. Then after she and Mustard separated in the ball room, she has to go all the way back to the study, which if you use the board game as a floor plan (the movie does stay true to that) means she goes from the very back of the house to the front. There she destroys all the evidence and unlocks the weapons, also why get the wrench when you could just use the candlestick that was already out and had already been used? Then she goes to the conservatory (back of the house again) and goes thru the secret passage to the lounge (front of the house), sneaks up the motorist who she didn't know would have his back to the fireplace that just opened, and kills him. Then she has to return to conservatory (back of the house) and rejoins Mustard. And what was Mustard doing this whole time??? Either his partner was killed in the ball room, or she's taking a long time to look at nothing. And he doesn't see her move back and forth across the main floor. And if you don't count the hall or bathroom, there are 8 rooms, with stranger locked in the lounge. So that leaves 7 rooms for them to check. He left her in the ball room, and there isn't much to check in the dining room, billiard room (which they already checked) study (why they spent most of the evening), or the library. And they went to the conservatory once they reunited. Was he just sitting in the kitchen the whole time??

Then for the purge, she has to separate from Mustard again, get to the power, get the rope and lead pipe, hope Yvette comes down stairs and bait her to the billiard room to strangle her, without Mustard hearing or walking by. Likewise she has to get into the library without the cop noticing the door opening, or Mustard walking by. And when the doorbell rings, she goes out to hall, gets the gun and shots the singing tell-a-gram without Mustard, or anyone else coming to the door. Then she leaves the body there on the front doorstep, knowing that the cops are arriving any minute.

Finally, the biggest flaw of all; Scarlet wouldn't have committed murder because she wouldn't have paid the blackmail in the first place. She would have had multiple cops on her payroll, or guys would come in for free samples in exchange for her protection. If this cop tried to inform on her, the others would help her. And when Mr. Boddy tried to blackmail her, she would laugh in his face. Just like Mr. Green said, the whole time would be implicated if she were exposed. Even if Boddy turned her in and she was arrested, she makes one phone call, and that police station is flooded with calls from politicians, and maybe even higher ups in the police force demanding that the charges be dropped.

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"All the endings have holes in them though. In the end I think its the journey and not the destination we should concentrate on with regard to this movie."

JohnMcCock thought that even the journey was poorly written.

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Huge flaw in your theory: If you go back and watch the scene of everyone running to check on Yevette in the billiard room because of her screams you can actually see Mrs. Peacock sneak past the door. She's the only one one not in the room meaning she's the only one who could have murdered the cook making the last ending the only possible ending.

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I noticed that myself. Mrs. Peacock is not present in that scene. Also Colonel Mustard leaving Miss Scarlet in the ballroom which means he could have killed the guy in the lounge. An inconsistancy in the 3rd ending is that right before Yvette is murdered, Mrs. White is seen in a room screaming at a giant jack in the box (Who would even want one of those?).

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