My sister and I religiously watched the 1976 detective spoof Murder by Death as we grew from pre-adolescents into teenagers, and to this day my sister can quote Peter Sellers’ and Peter Falk’s lines verbatim. In Murder by Death, Sellers plays the pseudo-Chinese detective Sidney Wang, who’s invited to a spooky mansion, Clue-style, to participate in a murder mystery game with other kooky detectives. The deathly game is hosted by Lionel Twain (Truman Capote), a man with no pinkies, who becomes increasingly aggravated by Wang’s neglect of verbs and articles in his sentences. Falk plays the skuzzy private dick, Sam Diamond. When his secretary/girlfriend (Eileen Brennan) hassles him about spending time in a gay bar, a flustered Diamond defends himself. “I was working on a case. I was in disguise. I never kissed nobody. I never did anything to a man that I wouldn’t do to a woman.” For confusion and laughs, attend Great Basin Film Society’s showing of the film, 7 p.m. Jan. 24-25 in room 153 of the Church Fine Arts Complex on University of Nevada, Reno, campus. Admission is $4. Call 337-9111 or visit www.gbfs.org.
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