Murder by Death

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Murder by Death

PG

1976

1h 34m

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

63%

Tomatometer

24 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Five diverse, infamous private eyes, including Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) and Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), are invited to the mysterious Lionel Twain's castle for a dinner party. There, they are told that Twain plans an unsolvable murder in the house at midnight -- and he will pay $1 million to the one who determines the killer. But when Twain's blind butler, Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), dies long before the deadline, the stakes go up for the trapped sleuths.

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Penelope Gilliatt

The New Yorker

03/04/2024

Never before have been collected in one film such confident wild syntax as Peter Sellers’, such delicate disgust and common sense as Maggie Smith’s, such enthusiasm about makeup for seventy-six-year-olds as Truman Capote’s.

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Variety Staff

Variety

10/03/2007

Murder by Death is a very good silly-funny Neil Simon satirical comedy, with a super all-star cast cavorting as recognizable pulp fiction detectives gathered at the home of Truman Capote, wealthy hedonist fed up with contrived gumshoe plots.

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Dave Kehr

Chicago Reader

10/03/2007

Stunningly unfunny.

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

09/10/2024

1/4

...has a paucity of comic imagination that’s timelessly disheartening.

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Jana Monji

Age of the Geek

08/16/2024

2/5

Yes the writer Neil Simon is a notable American playwright and screenwriter and I love seeing Peter Falk and I enjoy Peter Sellers, but Sellers' yellowface as a Charlie Chan parody is cringey in 2024.

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Steve Warren

The Barb (Atlanta)

05/09/2023

Mystery fans will be disappointed... Simon fans, however, will adore the usual plethora of one-liners, and everyone will admire the acting of a star-studded cast.

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Steve H.

@Sharl74 May 25

Hilarious parody by brilliant writer Neil Simon. The acting is excellent. I saw this when it ran in 1976 and own the DVD, VHS, etc.

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Jeff M.

@jeffw369 May 8

Such a fun movie. Top notch cast with plenty of hilarious one liners. A must see for mystery slueths.

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Jason V

@metalkillerismyfav Jan 20

my dad references this movie ALL THE TIME. the jokes were top tier. absolute cinema

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Kim P

@RT72072914 Nov 22

Such a fun movie, even by today's standards. The movie that "Clue" aspired to be.

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Nick C.

@dmcrra35 Nov 7

Perfect classic mystery comedy with great actors. Loved it.

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Emily T

@RT80509803 12/28/2024

So weird. What actually happened? The Chinaman character was cringe. Sam diamond was annoying. So completely disorienting and strange. Maggie Smith looked good.

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Robert Moore

Director

Peter Falk

Sam Diamond

Peter Sellers

Inspector Sidney Wang

Truman Capote

Lionel Twain

Eileen Brennan

Tess Skeffington

James Coco

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Synopsis

Five diverse, infamous private eyes, including Sam Diamond (Peter Falk), Sidney Wang (Peter Sellers) and Jessica Marbles (Elsa Lanchester), are invited to the mysterious Lionel Twain's castle for a dinner party. There, they are told that Twain plans an unsolvable murder in the house at midnight -- and he will pay $1 million to the one who determines the killer. But when Twain's blind butler, Bensonmum (Alec Guinness), dies long before the deadline, the stakes go up for the trapped sleuths.

Director: Robert Moore
Producer: Ray Stark
Screenwriter: Neil Simon
Production Co: Rastar Pictures, Columbia Pictures Corporation
Rating: PG
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 23, 1976, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 1, 2010
Runtime: 1h 34m

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