Hilarious Homicide: Neil Simon’s “Murder by Death”

Transcripts are computer generated and are not edited.

Tony Maietta:
Hello. I'm film historian Tony Maietta.

Brad Shreve:
And I'm Brad Shreve who's just a guy who likes movies.

Tony Maietta:
We discuss movies and television from Hollywood's golden age. We go behind the scenes and share our opinions too.

Brad Shreve:
And of course, being the average guy, my opinions are the ones that matter.

Tony Maietta:
As does your self delusion. Welcome to Going Hollywood.

Brad Shreve:
Tony. Tony. Hello. Oh. What are you doing, Tony?

Tony Maietta:
Oh my god. Are we on? Oh, Jesus. I didn't realize. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was in I can't find my are are we recording? Oh, god.

Brad Shreve:
We've been recording for a while, so there's gonna be a lot of dead space we'll have to cut.

Tony Maietta:
Well, I can't find I cannot I've been looking all over the place. I cannot where's my dickie? I can't find my dickie. My dickie. Have you seen my dickie?

Brad Shreve:
I know where my dicky is, but I can't tell you where yours is. I have to guess. Oh, that's tacky.

Tony Maietta:
That's really tacky. Fooled you. Trick or treat. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another one of our Halloween episodes. Yes. For those very astute listeners out there, I was quoting from our movie for today, which is the wonderful fabulous Divine Murder by Death from 1976, Columbia. And I'm so excited to be doing this movie, Brad.

Brad Shreve:
I am too. We had a real horror film scheduled for this week.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
And then we know what happened. I'll let you

Tony Maietta:
Well, yeah. What happened was yeah. We we were scheduled to do another film. And then on September 27th, you know, we all got the very sad news that the incomparable, a one of a kind, and I think one of the greatest actresses ever, and I will fight to the death about that. Dame Maggie Smith left us, and I thought, you know, there's gotta be a way we can pay tribute to her, and but we're in this Halloween mode right now. And then I thought, you know what? Halloween isn't just about horror. Halloween is also about trick or treat. And to me, that's what this movie is.

Tony Maietta:
This movie is a big bowl full of trick or treat candy. And it's got some Snickers bars and some Mars bars. It might have an apple with a razor in it, and we'll get to that person later. But it's a wonderful fun movie. So I think that I think it worked out really, really well.

Brad Shreve:
We even let you take a couple of the Snickers bars. And even though it's not necessarily a horror film, it does have death in the title. So Yeah. That works for me. And, of course, it also has murder, which, you know, works for me totally when it comes to mysteries. So It

Tony Maietta:
has murder and death in the title.

Brad Shreve:
When you said let's change it, I'm like, oh, no problem. No problem at all.

Tony Maietta:
Murder by death. It's so much fun. You know, I I love this. And alongside the brilliant Maggie Smith, you know, we have our other cast of treats. We have Elsa Lanchester. We have the incomparable Eileen Brennan, Peter Falk, David Niven. We have Nancy Walker in this, Brad. We have Ida Morgenstern herself in this.

Tony Maietta:
How wonderful is that?

Brad Shreve:
She has never made me laugh more, and she doesn't say one word in this film. She doesn't.

Tony Maietta:
But she's so great. She does all kinds of little Ida Morgenstern gestures. You're like, what's Ida Morgenstern? We have the wonderful James Coco. We have the bride herself. If I said it already, I'll say it again. Elsa Lanchester, the bride of Frankenstein herself, and, of course, we have the apple with the razor in it. The one and only Truman Capote in his one and only film appearance as a character, not as himself. Yes.

Tony Maietta:
Yes.

Brad Shreve:
He was in a I can't remember. Andy Hall, wasn't it? He was the winner of the Truman Capote look alike contest.

Tony Maietta:
That's right. I forgot about that. So it

Brad Shreve:
was it was very fast.

Tony Maietta:
I forgot about that. You're right. You're that's so funny. Oh, god. But before before we start before we start talking about the film, which we will do, I wanna say first, I just wanna talk a little bit about Maggie Smith, because this is you know, Maggie Smith is the reason that I I really wanted to do this. And, you know, it's I first came to Maggie Smith. I think my awareness came when I saw her in, California Suite, which is from 79, which is a brilliant another Neil Simon script. Brilliant performance.

Tony Maietta:
She won an Oscar for it, but we really couldn't do California Suite this month. And then I thought, oh, Murder by Death. It's perfect. Because she doesn't have a lot to do in Murder by Death. But you know what? It reminds me of what Spencer Tracy used to say. What what Spencer Tracy said about Katharine Hepburn's character in Pat and Mike. And he said, she doesn't have much meat on her, but what's there is choice. And that's how I feel about Maggie Smith and Murder by Death.

Tony Maietta:
She doesn't have a lot to do, but what she does is priceless. And she does it better than anybody else.

Brad Shreve:
I'm sure there's somebody in this world that would argue with you about her being one of the greatest actresses, but I think you'd have to look really far and why define that person.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. I think so too.

Brad Shreve:
Because she's she's wonderful, and I loved her in this role. And, you know, I heard her complain in an interview that even though she's great at doing period pieces, she got stuck Mhmm. There. Because she's great at it. And this movie tells me why she I wish she had done more. Because she's she's great and she's gorgeous.

Tony Maietta:
She's absolutely beautiful. And I mean, she's truly in her prime. It's and it's not the prime of miss Jean Brodie either. She's in her prime. She looks fantastic in that white dress. I mean, god, she's beautiful, curvaceous. And I think the reason that, you know, the reason that so many of the Brits get stuck in period pieces is because of the way they speak. I mean Yes.

Tony Maietta:
Language. Maggie Smith language in Maggie Smith's hands was unlike any other actress in the world. Maggie Smith could ring a laugh out of 1 syllable, 2 syllables. We all remember the famous, what is a weekend Mhmm. From Downton Abbey. You know, I saw her on Broadway in Lettuce and Lovage, and she said, and the way she said, I mean, it brought the house down. So she had a command of the language, which was so perfect. And she could say she could just have these toss-off lines, which were so funny because she was so adept at caressing the words and giving them the humor and just wringing every single laugh out of every single one of them.

Brad Shreve:
And that's exactly what you said. She doesn't have a lot to do, but when she she speaks, you notice her.

Tony Maietta:
No. Absolutely. Absolutely. But this this movie's full of of wonderful, wonderful actors. And I think before you give us a list of exactly who's in this movie, I think we need to say that for people who aren't familiar with Murder by Death, it's a spoof. Now we're really used to spoof well, we are really used to spoofs today. I mean, we've got the airplane movies, Naked Gun, Austin Powers. But other than Mel Brooks, this was really one of the very first spoofs.

Tony Maietta:
And it's a spoof is a takeoff on the the great detective stories of the forties fifties, particularly, the Agatha Christie novels, because this movie is basically a spoof of the very famous Agatha Christie book, 10 Little Indians, also known as And Then There Were None. And what happens in this movie is that instead of 10 strangers who don't know each other but are somehow connected to the man who invited them all coming together, these are all takeoffs on famous fictional detectives.

Brad Shreve:
They are famous fictional detectives that are based on real famous fictional detectives from classic movies. And each has their sidekicks.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. They do. They all have their sidekicks. I love that. I love that. So we have David Niven and Dame Maggie playing Dick and Dora Charleston, who are based on Nick and Nora Charles from the Thin Man films.

Brad Shreve:
Then we also have Peter Falk who plays Sam Diamond, who is based on Sam Spade, which he is excellent at, and his sidekick when it's his secretary who he abuses right and left, the wonderful Eileen Brennan as Tess Skeffington.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. And he's not only I mean, the thing about Sam Diamond is Sam Diamond based on Sam Spade played by Humphrey Bogart. So basically, we have 90 minutes of Peter Fox Peerless Humphrey Bogart impression. So Peerless, in fact, that Neil Simon wrote a second film for him in the same character called the chief detective, which we will get to after we talk about this. This is kind of a sequel to to Murder by Death.

Brad Shreve:
Sam Spade is one of the most beloved unlikable characters, and Peter Falk takes it to another level.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. Exactly. Exactly. He does. He does. We also have James Coco playing Milo Perrier, and it's not too hard to figure out that is Hercule Perrault in his strangely sexy chauffeur played by the wonderful James Cromwell. I I found him I I found their relationship so very funny, so obviously homoerotic. How about that neck how about those underwear he wore in bed near the end? I'm, like, is that a negligee he's got on? He's in bed with him, and I'm, like, it looks that's I've never seen an undershirt and underpants drawers like that before.

Brad Shreve:
And James Cromwell was pretty new to Hollywood at this time, and this is his first big screen role.

Tony Maietta:
It was. It was. He was also in the chief detective too. And you can really see. I mean, think about it. He's he's holding his own with Dave Maggie Smith, with David Niven, with the incomparable Peter Sellers. Peter Sellers in this movie who plays Sydney Wang, who is a takeoff on Charlie Chan, and his son played by Richard Norita plays the character of Willie Wang. And they're in Wang's wing, darling.

Tony Maietta:
David Evans says, oh, darling, we're in Wang's wing. Wang's wing.

Brad Shreve:
I have to say something about Peter Sellers in this role. Yeah. My first reaction was, wait a minute. This is over a decade from Breakfast at Tiffany's, and here we have a white man again playing an Asian man. Mhmm. Well, I'm not familiar with the Charlie Chan movies. So I thought, you know what? I bet the original Charlie Chan was a white guy. So I looked it up, and the old Charlie Chan movie starred Warner Olin, who was a Swedish actor.

Tony Maietta:
Swedish?

Brad Shreve:
Yes. 16 films, he played Charlie Chan. So I I wasn't upset. I'm like, okay. That was the right thing to do.

Tony Maietta:
No. You know what? And I knew that was going to be a a I knew it was gonna be a point of contention possibly about this. Because is this yellow face? Is this not? And and as as I've read and as I've looked into this, most people agree, it's not yellow face because it's actually a parody Yes. Of yellow face.

Brad Shreve:
That's the way I felt. I'm not I cringed when I saw I mean, I was cringey when I saw it. And then when it was over, I'm like, you know what? I bet. And I was right.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. And by the way, unlike Mickey Rooney, he's so damn funny Yes. In it. He's so good. So yeah. So that's how you can that's how you can if you want to justify it. I don't think it needs to be justified. I think what they're doing is it's like all in the family.

Tony Maietta:
They're making fun of a bigot. Here, they're making fun of these actors who did yellowface, who were actually Swedish playing this Asian American character. So I think I think you have to look at it like that.

Brad Shreve:
And he also You know? He also is sidekicked with his adopted son who he abuses just as much as Tess Skevington was. Yeah. And he plays it's Richard Narita who plays Willie Wang.

Tony Maietta:
He's in Wang's wing. Darling Wing Wang. We also have the we talked about the wonderful Nancy Walker playing the maid. She does not have a line. She is deaf and she's mute. And she comes to work for the blind Butler played by none other than Alec Guinness. And his character's name is Benson mum. Not not Benson sir.

Tony Maietta:
Not even just Benson. Benson mum.

Brad Shreve:
Not I'm Benson mum. It's Benson mum.

Tony Maietta:
Benson mum. It's one word. And then we finally have the wonderful the bride herself. We just talked about her in the last episode, bride of Frankenstein herself. Elsa Lanchester playing Jessica Marbles, who was based on Agatha Christie's famous character, miss Marbles. So Jessica Marbles, miss Marple, and her ancient nurse played by 94 year old Estelle Wynwood. And it's kind of funny. When she first arrives, they think that Estelle Wynwood is Jessica Marbles, and it's not.

Tony Maietta:
That's her nurse. She's now taking care of her because she's so old.

Brad Shreve:
And when I saw Estelle Wynwood, who I'm not real familiar with, I know she's done a lot of acting off and on throughout the years, I'm like, is that an actress playing somebody older than herself? And then I looked it up, and she died 4 years after this film, and I saw her age. And I'm like, oh my god. No. She was doing great. Yeah. No. 94 years old.

Tony Maietta:
She held her own, and she has some of she has some of the funniest lines in the film Yes. By the way. She has my she has my 2 laugh out loud funny lines in the movie, which we can talk about later on. But yeah. So Elsa Lanchester plays plays Jessica Marbles, who is based on miss Jane Marple. So as I said, this all they're this is based on the premise of And Then There Were None, 10 Little Indians. These famous detectives are all invited to this mysterious mansion, this isolated mansion in the middle of nowhere for dinner and a murder, which is what it says on the invitation. Come to dinner and a murder.

Tony Maietta:
And that's how it starts.

Brad Shreve:
Just like 10 Little Indians.

Tony Maietta:
The example except they're not told they're coming for dinner and a murder in 10 Little Indians. And No. You are correct. Yes. So do you wanna give a little bit of a breakdown of the plot of of Murder by Death so we can tell people exactly what happens and we can talk about some of our favorite moments in it?

Brad Shreve:
Oh, yes. So, absolutely, as we said, it's Murder by Death, a 1976 film. It's a mystery comedy, but do not expect this to be a whodunit. You will never in a 1000000 years figure it out, which would normally frustrate me, but it's the whole point of the film, and we'll get into that later.

Tony Maietta:
Makes no sense. No. It makes no sense.

Brad Shreve:
It's just like Yeah. Exactly. How in the so, yeah. If this was a book, I would have thrown it through the window. I'm really big on making sure mysteries work well. It's written by Neil Simon, who we know as a playwright and screenwriter. I'm just gonna give you a list of the few plays that a few of the plays that made it into film. Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, The Goodbye Girl, California Sweet, Brighton Beach Memoirs, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Tony Maietta:
The most prolific. Yeah. The most prolific playwright ever in theater. Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
Absolutely. Then we have it's directed by Robert Moore, who is an actor and director. He mostly did stage acting and directing, worked with Neil Simon for a number of years. Mhmm. He's really most known for TV shows, most notably, Rota.

Tony Maietta:
Right. He directed Rota, but he was also on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Who did he play in The Mary Tyler Moore Show? I don't know. You don't remember that? We talked about it. He was Phyllis' brother, Ben.

Brad Shreve:
Ah. Yes.

Tony Maietta:
As an actor, he was Phyllis' gay brother, Ben. The very first nonjudgmental, you know, decent, kind dealing of, a presentation of a gay character, I think, in TV. But he also we also talked to him before because he was the director of the off Broadway production of Boys in the Band. He was passed over for William Friedkin to direct the film, but he was the original director of Boys in the Band. So he only directed 3 films. He directed this film. He directed the sequel, The Cheap Detective, and he directed Neil Simon's Chapter 2. And he had a he had a long and and very fruitful career with Neil Simon on stage, and he directed these 3 films.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. He didn't come to film or television until 1970. He came as an actor.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
So this is just a few few years after that, and he's directing this film. And, you mentioned Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda, one of the other trifectas of that time period comedies. He was also on the Newhart Show, the Bob Newhart Show.

Tony Maietta:
Mhmm. Yeah. He yeah. He unfortunately, he's one of the many people involved in the Boys in the Band who died of AIDS. But his contribution to theater and even just being just directing this wonderful film, I think, is is is incredible.

Brad Shreve:
So let's get into the story. Yes. Now these famous detectives, they're all invited to dinner at an eccentric millionaire's castle, which is Lionel Twain played by Truman Capote. He tells them there will be a murder at midnight, and the person who can solve the crime will earn a $1,000,000. Now the twist is he says the victim will be someone that is sitting at that table for dinner and he was not one of those sitting at the table. So we have all the detectives and all their sidekicks who is gonna be the one that gets murdered at midnight. Now the reason he does this, and I can't remember, Tony, if this was at the beginning or the end, but Lionel Twain says to these detectives, you've tricked and fooled our readers for years. Mhmm.

Brad Shreve:
You've tortured us all with surprise endings that made no sense. Mhmm. You've introduced characters in the last 5 pages that were never in the book before. You've withheld clues and information that made it impossible for us to guess who did it. But now the tables are turned. Millions of angry mister readers are now getting their revenge. When the world learns I've outsmarted you, they'll be selling your dollar 95 books for 12¢.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. That's at the end when he tells them all off, because they've all they all have a different identity of the murderer, and then he trumps them at the very end, and that's when he gives that speech about which is basically Neil Simon's feelings. Neil Simon grew up watching Sam Spade, watching these great films from the forties fifties, also the Agatha Christie, 10 Little Indians, and Then There Were None. And he that that's how he felt about it. He's like, you introduce characters, you know, at the last minute who suddenly become So, yes, this was Neil Simon kind of venting Mhmm. His frustrations in a very funny way in a very funny way.

Brad Shreve:
And I agree with every one of these. They they drive me insane. If I find these in a book, I literally will well, I don't literally because I don't wanna break my window, but I will want to toss it out the window. And I'm gonna give an example, and this is gonna make some people shutter. I loved Sherlock Holmes as a kid, but I read them now. I'm I can't read it because Sherlock Holmes is one of those, there's mud on the shoe, and he says to to, Watson, that is the only kind of mud that you will find on Sherwood Hill. And it's like, how the hell would we know that, Holmes?

Tony Maietta:
Well, that and that's what this movie does. One of Lionel Lionel Twain's most frustrating things, you know. Lionel Twain will pop up as the voice of, antelope on the ceiling when he keeps he keeps yelling at, Peter Sellers' character, because he doesn't use his pronouns and he doesn't use I mean, again, this is not yellowface. This is a parody of yellowface. What is the problem? The use your goddamn pronouns. But it's everybody's frustration with these characters that we've had over the years as they solve these impossible mysteries and make it look so simple. And, of course, they're also they're also, you know, stuck on themselves. They're also full of themselves.

Tony Maietta:
That makes the parody even doubly funny. They are totally in as as in a farce, this is a spoof, very similar to a farce. They're in their own worlds. You know what I mean? Everything makes total sense to them because they're in their own reality, and that's what makes a spoof of farce work. Otherwise, it wouldn't work because somebody's eventually gonna say, wait a minute. That makes no sense. But they say that, but then they continue on with the with the story. So it's all part of a spoof.

Tony Maietta:
It's all part of a farce, which is makes which makes this movie so delicious.

Brad Shreve:
An additional thing that doesn't make sense is they're playing detectives that are famous detectives for solving all these crimes, and that's the characters they play. But the end when Lionel Twain is talking to them, he said, when the world learns I've outsmarted you, they'll be selling your books for 12¢. It's like, wait a minute. Are they detectives or are they mister writers? Exactly. Which are they? It makes no sense, but that's the way it's supposed to be.

Tony Maietta:
That's the way it's supposed to be. And we're used to that now. We're used to that with the airplane movies, you know, with the, you know, stop me the whole Shirley thing with with the airplane movies. We're we're used to that kind of strange reality meta thing, and this was kind of unusual. I mean, Mel Brooks did it, but but this really pushed it to the next level. And then in The Chief Detective, which is the sequel to this, in which Peter Falk plays this character through an entire film, same kind of thing. Same kind of insane, crazy, commitment. These actors are also committed.

Tony Maietta:
These characters are also committed to their own realities and that's what makes

Brad Shreve:
it so

Tony Maietta:
funny. Come

Brad Shreve:
on. Yeah. Jesus h Christ. Tony, you and I get excited when we get messages and emails and texts from listeners that tell us how much they enjoy the show.

Tony Maietta:
We do.

Brad Shreve:
But, you know, I think we should push it a little bit and ask them to go a little bit further.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, challenge.

Brad Shreve:
If you enjoy this show, let others know. Five stars are great. Whatever you wanna give except 1 star. If if you have 1 star, say, you know, that show is not for me and move on.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. You don't need to don't give us 1 star. Be kind just say, no. Not for me. Just skip it. Or tell your friends. That's the best way too. Right? Tell your friends, hey.

Tony Maietta:
I have this great fun podcast with these 2 kooky guys who talk about movies and TV. We run the gamut. We have everything.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. We're all over the place.

Tony Maietta:
We're all over the place is a better way to put it.

Brad Shreve:
But in a good way. So do it right now before you forget.

Tony Maietta:
I'm gonna talk a little bit about some of my favorite scenes in this film and why I think they're so funny. First of all, you know, half the movie most of the movie is just the people getting to the house, and that's what's so funny about this movie. The the the section that takes place, when they're trying to figure out who's someone's gonna be murdered is is the middle section, but a large part of the movie is all of them arriving. And they're just they're in their characters completely and fully. I think probably my very favorite arrival is that of Dick and Dora Charleston, played by Maggie Smith

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
And David Niven, because they're having some trouble at the side of the road. And David Niven is on a call box for help, and he has a full martini in his hand. It sounds like someone snipped the wire. What did it sound like, Dickie? Snip.

Brad Shreve:
No. Nobody answered the phone. He's calling, and we see the scissors cut the telephone. He goes, it sound like somebody cut the wire. What the hell did somebody cut the wire?

Tony Maietta:
Snip. So yeah. So, I mean, that's probably that's probably my one of my very favorite items. And, of course, James Coco as Milo Perrier, you know, the the thing about about, Hercule Perrot is his obsession with food. And James Coco is eating a Hershey bar in the car, and he's getting Hershey all over his face. And, of course, he's talking he's he's he's arguing with his chauffeur slash lover because, I mean, come on. The homo the homoerotic situation there is just too much about he says the, James Cromwell says, I can feel it in my buns. And James and James Coco goes, you got buns? Where are the buns? He goes, no.

Tony Maietta:
My buns, not the bun. He's obsessed with food. So they're did they just take these characteristics from these detectives to the nth degree?

Brad Shreve:
And it was also funny because Perrault, he liked to eat a lot, but he was very much into top cuisine and gourmet food. And here we have James Coco notching on a Hershey bar all over his face.

Tony Maietta:
And did you notice they did the they did the Nestle joke twice? No. I didn't. Perrier says, nespa? And now she goes, no, Coco. I mean, they do the Nestle thing. They do it they do it twice. It's very Oh, yeah. It's very funny. It's it's just it's this kind of crazy out there humor, which just works so well with these actors, with these incredibly dedicated actors.

Tony Maietta:
The I don't know if any other actors would have made this Because they're so believable, but because they're so invested, it makes it all the funnier. And, of course, you know, you have Sam Diamond and Tess Keffington driving, and then it's just so and even you have the music. You even have the sultry kind of film noir music playing behind them. And he's and as a good secretary slash Girl Friday, Tess Skeffington has done all this research on Lionel Twain finding out he has no pinky. The guy only has 4 fingers. No. He's got 5 fingers, but no pinky. And Peter Falk says to says to her, good work, Angel.

Tony Maietta:
How'd you come up with all that information? And she goes, no. I wrote to Twain and asked him. It's just so funny because they're so committed to it. It's so believable. I love it.

Brad Shreve:
And she looks like the perfect dame from a Sam Spade film.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, god. Yeah. She's just she's so brilliant. She's so brilliant.

Brad Shreve:
Even physically, she does. Well, yeah. She's got and

Tony Maietta:
she looks great too, by the way. We should also say that Helena Brown looks wonderful too in those kinda cheap forties outfits, and they all exist in a different what's also very funny about this movie is they all exist in their own realities, but they're individual realities. You know, I mean, Nick and Nora Charles are right out of the thirties. I keep saying Nick and Nora Charles because I keep thinking of them. Dick and Dora Charleston are right out of the thirties, which is when the Thin Man series was. You have, you have Sam Diamond and Tess Skevington who were right out of the forties out of a film noir, and they all come together, and it's not confusing to them at all. Jessica Marbles. I mean, miss Marple is and she knows Sam Diamond too.

Tony Maietta:
That's another thing too. Jesse, baby. I mean, it's just the the insanity of it is so funny. The film makes no sense. I think we should say that right off the bat because, yes, Truman Capote as Lionel Twain makes this grand entrance and has this whole speech about someone at this table will be murdered and he makes this grand exit and Maggie Smith says, I hope he knows how to stop that thing, because he's in the chair that flies backwards. And, as it turns out, none of them are murdered. Alec Guinness' character is murdered, but is he murdered? Or is he a real person? I mean, it's just insanity. It's one ridiculous part after another, and that's not the point.

Tony Maietta:
The point is to watch these brilliant actors do these incredibly funny spoofs of these funny, funny, well known characters, and basically languaging everything we always think about when we watch these movies or read these books. And and just speaking for us as I spoke for Neil Simon.

Brad Shreve:
One thing that would really interested me was the fact that there are hardly any sets in this film.

Tony Maietta:
No. One one one set. It could actually be a play because it's one you could do it on that one dining room set, which moves

Brad Shreve:
Yes. You could if Silently. Which moves. Yeah.

Tony Maietta:
Which moves silently.

Brad Shreve:
And, yeah, that never is explained because it makes no sense whatsoever. Who who moves? The people in the room that don't feel it moving or the person who went down the hall that didn't feel it moving? But they go down the hall and they come back and nobody's in the room. It's because it's a different dining room than the one that was there originally. It's it makes no sense whatsoever.

Tony Maietta:
And also It makes no sense, but it makes so much sense.

Brad Shreve:
And, of course, 10 little Indians, they were, on an island, and they couldn't get away. I believe it was.

Tony Maietta:
Right.

Brad Shreve:
In this story, he pushes a button and you have the very cliche, all the bars come down, the windows and the doors locked, and nobody can get out of the castle. Just just absurd.

Tony Maietta:
Mhmm.

Brad Shreve:
This guy has a lot of money for all this stuff he built around this house, the the moving room and the

Tony Maietta:
Yes. Well, it's

Brad Shreve:
bars and that sort of thing. And his and his and his chair that goes 90 miles an hour.

Tony Maietta:
It's fantastic. I like all those movies. Let's talk for a minute about Truman Capote in in in this film. I don't know. Did you watch Feud

Brad Shreve:
No. I did.

Tony Maietta:
When it was on Capote versus

Brad Shreve:
the

Brad Shreve:
Swans? So anyway, Truman Capote, obviously, you know, quite a character. We've had many different iterations of Truman Capote from Philip Seymour Hoffman to this this latest, incarnation that was on the Ryan Murphy show. And Neil Simon said that he spent most of the movie trying to get Truman Capote out of the movie because he's just on the cusp of being so bad he's good. He's not quite there, So he's just so bad. And, apparently, Capote was at the height of his drugging and his drinking when they were filming this. This was like something that something you wouldn't think the, author of In Cold Blood would end up doing a Hollywood movie, but that was Truman Capote. And it was a very difficult time for him, and he he caused a lot of grief on the set. And that's probably why it's his only movie.

Tony Maietta:
But interestingly, he was the only actor performer in this film that got nominated for anything. He got nominated for a Golden Globe. Isn't that hysterical? Did you know that?

Brad Shreve:
I knew there were very few awards. I they were nominated for no Academy Awards.

Tony Maietta:
None. Well, no. No. He was nominated for Golden Globe for best acting debut male. Now leave it to the Golden Globes to keep the taste level up there. But yes. And he actually lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger that year. Oh, dear.

Tony Maietta:
So, yes. So he did so I think Capote had the last laugh, although it was a Golden Globe nomination, you know, who cares? But, he he got the last laugh of it because everybody was denigrating his performance and how awful he was in it, And yet, he he walked away with the only acting nomination out of this entire cast of stellar actors, which is kind of just like this movie. Crazy.

Brad Shreve:
It is crazy. I think Peter Fox should have been nominated. And I'm kinda wondering if he didn't because people felt it was too much like Columbo, and it really was not Columbo in any way. It was just another comedic detective.

Tony Maietta:
It's very similar.

Brad Shreve:
I wonder if people made that connection and said Sure. Yeah, there is some similarity, but not not at the same time.

Tony Maietta:
It is very similar, but he's so clearly doing Bogart too. And I think that's what's brilliant, and I think that's what Peter Falk walked away with most of the praise for this film. That's why Neil Simon fashioned a sequel, The Cheap Detective, for him, you know, which has which is as as I said, is basically it's a spoof. It's basically the same thing, but it's a spoof of film noir. And you have these wonderful characters in, The Cheap Detective. Madeline Kahn is in Chief Detective. Eileen Brennan, again, is in is in Chief Detective. Anne Margaret.

Tony Maietta:
James Cromwell's in it also. So it it he obviously there was obviously an impact made, because this film was a hit. It was a hit. It wasn't a huge hit, but it was a hit. And so the fact that Peter Falk made such a splash in this and then they were able to then translate that to another movie, which was also a hit, not as big a hit as Murder by Death, but still a hit. You know, it says something about that performance. He's a really he was a very, very gifted actor who doesn't get enough credit. Everybody thinks of his Columbo, But he was also a big stage actress.

Tony Maietta:
You know, Neil Simon worked with him in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and that's why he wanted him in this film because he knew how very funny and how very exasperating and how very funny in his exasperation Peter Falk could be. And he is. He's a genius in this movie.

Brad Shreve:
The first time I knew him as a comedian was the first time I watched It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. He was a

Brad Shreve:
cab driver in that film.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. But he's not doing Columbo.

Brad Shreve:
No. He's not Columbo.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. But I can see where people get the Columbo references because Columbo has become so iconic.

Brad Shreve:
Yes.

Tony Maietta:
You know? But he's he's he's also every inch, Sam Spade.

Brad Shreve:
Now I'm curious

Tony Maietta:
Sam Diamond.

Brad Shreve:
I'm curious because something really jumped out at me with this film. You know, it was written by Neil Simon, and I can't think of that many slapsticky plays or films that Neil Simon wrote. There's this one. There's The Cheap Detective as you mentioned. There is California Suite, which is a little, but not really. It's silly, but it's not not to this level.

Tony Maietta:
Well, it's just that scene with it's just the scene with Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby. And, PS, that was not in the play. That was written specifically for the film. And I Can you think of another one? That was slapsticky funny that Neil Simon wrote? Like this one. Neil Simon well, no. Neil Simon was became more and more serious as the as as the years went on. He didn't write on Broadway, you're talking about he didn't write spoofs. He wrote he basically wrote and this is not a bad word.

Tony Maietta:
I don't know why people could think it's a bad word bad words. He basically wrote situation comedies. You know, Barefoot in the Park is a situation comedy. The Odd Couple is a situation comedy. They were made into situation comedies, by the way, p s, and very you know, at least for The Odd Couple, a very successful one. And then as Neil Simon got older and he began to, he began to write more autobiographical plays, they were all kind of autobiographical. I mean, there was always a link to his real life. Barefoot in the Park is based on his, his honeymoon experience with his first wife, Joan.

Brad Shreve:
Love that film.

Tony Maietta:
And the Odd Couple is based the Odd Couple is based on his brother. So there was always a tinge of autobiography, but then he really got into it with chapter 2, and then he delved into it brilliantly in in the Brighton Beach trilogy, Brighton Beach memoir, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound. And then Lost in Yonkers won the Pulitzer Prize. So, I mean, this was this was a man who was so accomplished. I don't understand why people denigrate Neil Simon.

Brad Shreve:
I don't understand it either.

Tony Maietta:
Nobody could write dialogue like Neil Simon. No one could write funnier, more incisive dialogue. And if Maggie Smith's gonna say, oh, that's tacky. That's really tacky. And get such a great I mean, that's it's genius stuff, and these people loved working with him. So there you go. Maggie Smith did Shakespeare and she did Simon. So warning, Ananda.

Brad Shreve:
I'm curious about something. You mentioned that Neil Simon, as he got older, wrote more serious things. I remembered Goodbye Girl as a comedy. And the last time I watched it, which was a while ago, it was more drama than I had remembered. It was still humor. Mhmm. It was more drama than I remembered and more drama certainly than Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple. Was that like a transition period for him?

Tony Maietta:
Definitely. I think Definitely.

Brad Shreve:
Okay.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. It was also his Marsha Mason period. I mean, he was married to Marsha Mason, and Marsha Mason was basically his muse for all those films. But, you know, he started out his first play, Come Blow Your Horn, was very much a sixties, sticky play. You know, not a lot of substance there. Star Spangled Girl, another one. Not a lot of substance there. But as he went like Woody Allen, as he got older, he began to take more and more chances and bring more and more truth into his plays.

Tony Maietta:
Broadway Bound, which is probably my favorite play of his, has a very moving monologue that his mother, Linda who was played by Linda Lavin, she won a Tony Award, based on his real life the real life breakup of his parents' marriage. So there were definite this the the comedies got more and more serious, but they were still funny. And I think what made them even funnier is the reality of them, the drama in them, which this movie is not at all. This movie is just bonkers crazy, which I'll take as well.

Brad Shreve:
Oh, definitely. Definitely. You know, I love Airplane. Is it Oscar material? Oh, hell no. I don't know how they could watch that and not laugh hysterically.

Tony Maietta:
So should we talk about the ending of this movie and see if we could try to make sense of it out of who exactly was murdered and who exactly was the murderer?

Brad Shreve:
1st, I wanna talk about the opening.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, okay.

Brad Shreve:
The opening credits.

Tony Maietta:
The opening credits.

Tony Maietta:
Because when it started out, the opening was boring to me because they did the opening credits at the beginning, which they do a lot less these days. And the music wasn't thrilling me. But the only thing that really jumped out at me was the artwork of Charles Adams. And for those that don't know Charles Adams, he's most known for doing macabre cartoons for the New Yorker. And if you know the Adams family, it's based on a lot of his cartoons, and I love those. In fact, if you watched the first Addams Family film where they're on top of their house, dumping hot oil under the children below doing trick or treat, that is actually from the New Yorker, one of his most famous clips. So that I loved. And then they showed him again at the end.

Brad Shreve:
Otherwise, I was kinda bored. I was like, oh, no. This is this is not gonna be good. Mhmm. But then it picked up.

Tony Maietta:
Well, yeah. No. It does. I think I I love the Charles Addams opening. I think the I think it's kinda wonderful. It kinda sets the scene. It it ends it it gives this movie an air of sophistication, I think. And that was kinda Neil Simon's point.

Tony Maietta:
Neil Simon in his mind was kind of right was writing no coward, but he was also giving it a common touch. You know? So I think and I think he succeeded brilliantly. I really do. So at the end of this crazy evening, everybody decides they better go to their own rooms and lock their doors so they can survive because they don't know what the hell is going on. The butler's dead, then he's then his body disappears, and then his clothes disappear, and he's naked in the kitchen. It's just you gotta watch the movie to get it, because I'm not gonna go through the plot points. Watch it. You'll be glad you did.

Tony Maietta:
And they all go back to their rooms, and there's an attempt to kill every single one of them. I believe Elsa Lanchester and, Estelle Wynwood, it's gas. Right? Yeah. And that's one of the funniest lines when when Jessica Mabaugh goes, I smell gas. And this dead woman goes, I can't help it. I'm old. Not that kind of gas. So they get they they almost get gassed.

Tony Maietta:
James Cromwell and and James Coco. James Cromwell gets out of bed, and he's in this crazy bed I don't know what he's wearing. What is he wearing? It's like a t shirt and shorts, but it's it's black lace. Did you think that was odd? That's where I was like, this is

Brad Shreve:
It was see through. He looked like a a dancer at a gay strip club.

Tony Maietta:
First of all, he's in bed with James Coco. He's a chauffeur, and he ends up in bed with Jim. There's nowhere else to sleep.

Brad Shreve:
It's a castle, but I guess there's not another room.

Tony Maietta:
Not another room. So, again, with the homoerotic thing between the

Brad Shreve:
And the other the other thing is James Coco and Cromwell are their ceiling is coming down to crush them.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. That's how their their murder is their attempted murder is the ceiling starts to

Brad Shreve:
come down. Scrawny, scrawny James Cromwell is pushing up, and you later learn that that's how they survived. He stopped it from crushing him. And Well, he's one of the Coco mentions how he's so remarkably strong.

Tony Maietta:
He's one of the 10 strongest men in the world. I know he doesn't look it, does he? He doesn't look

Brad Shreve:
it. Bodes.

Tony Maietta:
So yeah. So they're made they're made out of they're almost made in the goose liver pate as James Coco, notices. Now my favorite, of course, is Dick and Dora Charleston in bed as the scorpion is climb there's a poison scorpion put on their bed. They're so nonchalant. It's a dangerous scorpion. Oh, is that what that is? Oh, and she's sitting there doing putting lotion on her hands and lotion on, And they're so nonchalant about it. It's like, oh, well, here we go.

Brad Shreve:
And what drove me crazy with that one that I was screaming at the screen at them is they're in bed. And on top of the bedspread is a scorpion coming at them. You could have very easily flipped up the bedspread and set the scorpions I mean, I have scorpions at my house. I live in the desert. They are not deadly in this area. They hurt, but they're not deadly. There it's very easy to get rid of the scorpions, and they're just sitting in bed saying, no. There's a deadly scorpion coming at us and doing nothing about it.

Tony Maietta:
And it actually bites Dora. So when they're leaving at the very end, she's like, Dickie, let's go. We don't have much time. Well, she doesn't have much time because she's about 15 minutes to live. But he's too busy explaining his theory of what happened in the house. And then, of course, there's a snake with Peter Sellers and his son, which, at the very last minute, wake me when it gets to Peter Sellers is so funny. Peter Sellers shoots the snake, and that's how the how that snake is dispatched. Did we forget anybody?

Brad Shreve:
A bomb. Oh oh oh, of course.

Tony Maietta:
And and and Tess Skeffington and Sam Diamond have a bomb in their in their room, which Tess Skeffington throws down the toilet just in the nick of time. Of course, she still got her her dress is still torn, but they survived. So they all confront who they think is Benson mom as the murderer, but he's not Benson mom. He's Ervin Goldman. No. No. Wait. He's not Ervin Goldman.

Tony Maietta:
He was Marvin Metzner. No. Wait a minute. He's not Marvin Metzner. He's Eileen Twain. And what is Eileen Twain, Lionel Twain's daughter, what is what does she prefer to be called? Do you remember that? No. I thought it was so funny. Rita.

Tony Maietta:
He says, call me Rita.

Brad Shreve:
But at

Tony Maietta:
the end, of course, they're all wrong. It's not Benson mom or any of these other people. He rips the mask off, and it is indeed Truman Capote who put puts them all to shame in his little monologue that Brad just did. And then they all leave. And they all leave. But there's a piece de resistance. And what's that, Brad?

Brad Shreve:
The mask is ripped off, and it is not Truman Capote's character, but instead the deaf and mute maid played by Nancy Walker in the only sound she makes in this film because she cackles at the end, and that's that's how the finale goes.

Tony Maietta:
So it's Nancy Walker who's ultimately the mastermind behind this entire weekend. It just makes absolutely no sense, and that's what makes it so much fun.

Brad Shreve:
We we

Tony Maietta:
didn't talk really knows what happened.

Brad Shreve:
We didn't talk about what made Nancy Walker's character so damn funny.

Tony Maietta:
Right. Go ahead.

Brad Shreve:
Well, she shows up as the maid. She's well, she's also actually as the cook. She's supposed to cook dinner.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
And because she can't speak or hear, she has everything that she wants to communicate written on pieces of paper. Mhmm. Well, Benzema is blind, so he doesn't understand why she shows so shy and won't speak to him. And he's not responding to her. So most of what she does in this film is sit in a chair wondering what the hell she's supposed to do, but not really doing anything about it. Just kinda looking around, like

Tony Maietta:
But what's oblivious. But what's really funny is she has all these prewritten notes that she hands people. So when people ask her a question, she pulls out the note, and their answer's on the note. And it says Yeah. Acme note company. Oh, it's so

Brad Shreve:
And it doesn't matter what you asked. She has a note for it.

Tony Maietta:
Now do you know about the scene that was cut from,

Brad Shreve:
the Sherlock Holmes scene?

Tony Maietta:
Yes. Yes. Yes. As they're all driving away as they're all driving away at the end of the movie, what happens?

Brad Shreve:
I don't know the details. I only know they come across Sherlock Holmes. On his way there?

Tony Maietta:
Right. They're all driving away. They're all leaving. Willie Wang says to his father says to, Peter Sell's character, so there was no murder. And he says, not true. Kill Good Weekend. I'm sorry for the bad dialect. He says, not true.

Tony Maietta:
Killed Good Weekend. And they drive away, and they come upon this old, Model T, and who's in it, but Sherlock Holmes and Watson looking for the house. And, Peter Sellers' character says, let them go find it for themselves, because he said, aren't you gonna warn them about it? Let them go figure it out for themselves. But that scene was cut, and I'm glad it was because it really wasn't needed. I love the way this movie ends. It ends so quickly. You know, next thing you know, they're in their cars and they're gone and they're going off into their own little fictitious worlds again, and you just realize it's over. And it's just a fun, very fast, 90 minutes of absolute insanity.

Brad Shreve:
I can't find the budget anywhere. I have looked and looked and looked. I can't find it. I found the gross that it made different numbers in different locations, but the most common number I found was 32,000,000.

Tony Maietta:
Yes. That's what I saw too.

Brad Shreve:
Rotten Tomatoes, the critic score was only 63%. However, the audience score was 82%.

Tony Maietta:
I think that yeah. I think that I think this film is a lot more popular with audiences than it was with critics. I mean, it got mixed. You know, it definitely got mixed notices, but I think the audience has really loved it. I mean, $32,000,000 in 1976 wasn't bad. Nothing to sneeze at. I guarantee this film is on one set. You know, they actually built that castle on one sound stage at Columbia.

Tony Maietta:
So I couldn't find the figures for the budget either, but you can't I can't it could not have been more than 5 or $6,000,000. So if it made 30 Yeah.

Brad Shreve:
The salary the salaries were the probably the biggest budget.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. So, I mean, even if it was made at $10,000,000, which I doubt it was even that much, $32,000,000, it's not a bad not a bad payoff. That's why they made the sequel. That's why they made the Chief Detective because it was a successful film. But mostly, it gives us Maggie Smith in an unusual role, but damn, she's sexy in this movie and just some of her, you know, my my favorite line of hers of all is, as I said before, is, what happens is is they find the naked body of the butler, of Alec Guinness, and then it's disappeared. They someone takes it and she goes, who would why would someone take a naked body? And and David Niven leans down and whispers in her ear, and she says, oh, that's tacky. That's really tacky. It's just.

Brad Shreve:
With a smile on her face.

Tony Maietta:
With a smile on her face because she gets it. I like her. I really like her.

Brad Shreve:
So before we go, I have to tell you my thoughts on this film.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, please do.

Brad Shreve:
I don't know. I don't know. When at the end, when Wang says, we killed a good weekend, my thought was Mhmm. Damn it. I just killed a good hour and 34 minutes. But I don't know that's true. I had laughed through this whole movie. And as I'm laughing, I'm thinking, this is a terrible film.

Tony Maietta:
Were you really thinking that?

Brad Shreve:
I remembered. I watched it. I remember watching it years ago and thinking it was a terrible film. So what was it? The Uh-huh. Funny Farm. I think I told you that when I saw the movie Funny Farm at the movie theater, I hated the film. But then every time I've watched it again, I was laughing and laughing and laughing. This movie, I watched, and I laughed through the whole thing.

Brad Shreve:
And when it was over, I'm like, god. That was terrible.

Tony Maietta:
What are you what are you judging movies on? What's your criteria here? I don't know. I You laughed through the whole thing, but you hate it.

Brad Shreve:
Yeah. I just I don't know. I can't tell you. I I I have very mixed feelings about this, but I will admit I had a good time.

Tony Maietta:
Yeah. Well, I think to me that's that you can't ask for anything more from a movie, to have a good time. I have no mixed feelings about this movie. I love it. I'm so happy that we that we did it and that we are talking about it because I think, just for these performances alone, it's so much fun. And if you you know, it's and it's Halloween. It's it's our trick or treat movie. So if you don't feel like watching a horror film, if you don't god knows if you wanna watch a slasher movie, I certainly don't, then put this on and just have a really fun, fun time with these gifted, skilled actors just skewing these fictional characters so brilliantly and, of course, for the one and only Dame Maggie Smith.

Brad Shreve:
And you mentioned last week that you don't like horror films or you're not a big fan of horror films. Right. And I'm gonna I hate slasher films. Slasher films are easy as hell to write. Easy as hell. Mhmm. Give me a good horror film, though, a good quality horror, which there aren't a lot of them, just like sci fi. People don't think Mhmm.

Brad Shreve:
They like sci fi is because 95% of sci fi movies suck. But get a good one, and it's a good one. The next 2 weeks, we have a couple good films for this month.

Tony Maietta:
Oh, gosh. Yes.

Brad Shreve:
And I can tell you they are not slasher films.

Tony Maietta:
They are not slasher films. Well, they're classic. They're classic films. They are probably one of them is one of my favorite movies ever. And another one, I think, is one of the scariest films ever. And, we'll just leave it at that. And that will be your little teaser for next time. So

Brad Shreve:
Stay tuned.

Tony Maietta:
This has been a lot of fun, Brad. So, you know, I don't I don't really wanna say goodbye. So let's not say goodbye. Let's just say.

Brad Shreve:
No. Let's say goodbye.

Tony Maietta:
That's tacky. That's really tacky.

Brad Shreve:
Goodbye, everybody.

Tony Maietta:
That's all, folks.