Murder, He Says

I've seen Murder He Says many times and it's a pretty funny film. Fred MacMurray had never done that kind of belly laugh comedy before and I'm sure that Walt Disney must have screened this film and that he was certainly capable of it when he made him Disney's number one male star starting with The Shaggy Dog.

But every time I watch it, I keep thinking this was a property developed for Bob Hope. All of the mixed up adventures with this rube Fliegle family are pure Hope. Imagine Hope instead of Fred MacMurray in the lead and I'm sure you'll agree with me.

My guess is that Hope was busy entertaining the troops and Paramount had this thing ready to go and prevailed upon another of their contract players to step in.

As a pinch hitter though, Fred MacMurray batted in a big old home run with this one.

By the way that tune that is the key to where the buried treasure is will be rattling around in your brain for weeks.

So silly that's it's actually hilarious. Holds it's own thru the years. Fred McMurray is totally incredulous thru it all and Helen Walker is his beautiful counterpart. The mystery is good. And of course the topping on the cake is Marjorie Main with that whip! BTW Let's not forget Peter Whitney playing both twins. Super job. The whole cast deserves a good round of applause.

Wonderful comedy, tops my list of movies that deserve to be better known. Funny from start to finish, well written, well directed, very well cast, with veteran character actors like Marjorie Main and Porter Hall nailing all the laughs and then some, plus Peter Whitney as the identical twins Mert & Bert (which one has the crick in his back? I forget) and excellent performances from the cast in general.

Fred MacMurray is at the top of his game (only a year after Double Indemnity), and the pacing is exhilarating, lots of great gags and surreal comedy, and a nutty, over-the-top ending that pays off the whole thing.

I always come away from this movie feeling happy. Only not often enough -- since it's rarely on TV, not on DVD, and in and out of availability on VHS.

This movie deserves much better. It should have a first-class DVD release, and be in the rotation at TCM. Please!

And then there's the music, which mysteriously is note for note the theme to "All Things Considered" on NPR, only 30 years earlier.... "On horse flies is, in comb bees is..."

Fred MacMurray gives his funniest performance as a pollster who gets tangled up in the plots of maniacal hayseeds in search of stolen money.

The plot is beyond description with so many twists and turns it keeps you guessing. The pacing is brisk and the film is filled with slapstick, in-jokes, puns, and references to other films. This is a very modern, very black comedy, and it's totally hilarious.

MacMurray was always a smooth comedy leading man but here he's outright funny and loose. Helen Walker is also very good as one of the Bonnies. Marjorie Main is hysterical as she prowls around with her whip. Peter Whitney is excellent as the twins. Jean Heather has her best role. Porter Hall is always a treat. And Mabel Paige positively GLOWS as Grandma.

A must see film! And remember: honors flysis, income beezis!!

I'm 52, and, along with my younger sister and brother, saw this movie, when I was a kid. It remains one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and I've seen an awful lot of movies. After seeing it the first time, and literally screaming and crying with laughter at much of it, my siblings and I would search the TV Guide as soon as the magazine arrived at our house hoping to find Murder He Says among the listings for the coming week. Once or twice a year, we would be beside ourselves with glee to find it. It was an absolute treat for us.

Many of its scenes are indelibly etched in my memory: Fred MacMurray with Grandma; the scene at the large, lazy-susan dinner table, with everyone trying to move the table one way or another to get the poisoned food away from them; the scenes in the basement toward the end of the movie, and, especially, the scene when Fred MacMurray is caught in the basement coal bin by Bonnie Fleagle (unquestionably, one of the funniest scenes in movie history.

It's a movie that is both frightening and extremely funny. Directed by George Marshall, who also directed several other favorites of mine: Destry Rides Again (Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich; a 1939 classic); Fancy Pants (Bob Hope) and The Mating Game (Tony Randall, Debbie Reynolds).

Yes, it's improbable and, I'll grant you, silly. It is also, IMHO (in my humble opinion) a great movie. Yes, great...so there!!