Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures | Tagged: clue, tim curry

Clue Documentary Pleads To Paramount For Missing Fourth Ending

In the wake of Tim Curry's passing, the people behind the fan-made Clue documentary want Paramount to find the missing fourth ending.

In the wake of actor Tim Curry's passing, fans are making a major plea to Paramount to find one of the holy grails of cult-classic cinema: the missing fourth ending to Clue. If you're not aware of the story, the 1985 whodunit comedy film, based on the then-Parker Bros. board game, came with three different endings. The goal at the time was to put a different ending on the film in different theaters, hoping people would go see all three and make triple the bank. That failed, sending the film into obscurity until it started making the rounds on cable television and through movie rentals, turning it into a beloved cult film that now has a following that, in some ways, rivals The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (It will never overtake it, but it seems Curry was the secret ingredient to a lot of cult films in the 70s and 80s.)

But Here's How It Could Have Happened

One of the now-legendary pieces of lost media is the missing fourth ending to Clue, which would have given Curry a little more screen time. (WARNING: 40-year-old spoilers ahead!) In the fourth one, Wadsworth (Curry) reveals his master plan is to leave with no witnesses, confessing that he poisoned them all with the champagne, and they have three hours to live without an antidote. He rips phone cords out of the walls and is about to leave when the FBI shows up, as they have the previous three endings.

When the cops see all the bodies, they ask who did it, to which the six blackmailed guests point to Wadsworth. He then takes pride in his work, and then appears to start his long monologue again about the events of the evening. But as he talks about his duties, he goes through the front door, locks everyone in, and jumps into the first police car he can. He thinks he's escaped, when suddenly he sniffs a familiar smell, looks back, and sees three police dogs who attack him. Everyone else watches from the windows as the car crashes off-screen.

Clue and Its Many Missing Pieces

The entire sequence was filmed, edited, and turned into a cut to be watched. But director Jonathan Lynn admitted years later he removed it because he didn't find it funny. So theoretically, the footage exists somewhere in Paramount's massive film vault, because they used pieces of it in TV and theater trailers, which is why the fan-made Clue Doc crew, the folks behind the Clue documentary book, and other interested parties are pleading with Paramount to find the footage and release it now that its central focused actor has died.

Sadly, this is nothing new for the film version of Clue. We expressed our disappointment that Paramount didn't take any steps to recover the lost footage for Shout! Factory's 4K Ultra HD Collector's Edition release in early 2024. There are two prominent trailers out there that have jokes and scenes not in the final film, not to mention the original ending to Mrs. Peacock's story, where the FBI agent shoots her (which was also filmed and has never been seen). So there's a lot of missing content that hasn't been included in any digital home release since its first DVD in 2000.

It would be thrilling but also sad if this were the thing that got people to find it among the thousands of reels on the lot. We'll see if anything comes of it.

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