A drunken Sherlock Holmes is really just a cover for the real detective, Dr. Watson.
Sextuplets star Marlon Wayans takes cues from Eddie Murphy and Richard Pryor to transform into an entire fictional family.
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Title: Without a Clue (1988)
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1 win & 1 nomination.
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Edit
Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Michael Caine | ... | Reginald Kincaid / Sherlock Holmes | |
| Ben Kingsley | ... | Dr. Watson | |
| Jeffrey Jones | ... | Inspector Lestrade | |
| Lysette Anthony | ... | Leslie Giles | |
| Paul Freeman | ... | Prof. James Moriarty | |
| Nigel Davenport | ... | Lord Smithwick | |
 |
Pat Keen | ... | Mrs. Hudson |
| Peter Cook | ... | Greenhough | |
|
|
Tim Killick | ... | Sebastian |
|
|
Matthew Savage | ... | Wiggins |
|
|
John Warner | ... | Peter Giles |
| Matthew Sim | ... | Real Lesley | |
| Harold Innocent | ... | Mayor Johnson | |
| George Sweeney | ... | John Clay | |
|
|
Murray Ewan | ... | Archie |
Edit
Plot Summary
|
Plot Synopsis
See All (32) »
Storyline
This is a Sherlock Holmes story with a difference. Here, Dr. Watson is the ace detective and has been using an actor to play the part Holmes. Holmes is a drunken actor and gets on Watson's nerves. When Watson tries to go it alone, he doesn't have much success, so he is forced to let Holmes take all the credit once more. Written by Rob Hartill
Plot Keywords:
spoof | private detective | drunkenness | knocked unconscious | attempted suicide |Taglines:
"Without a Clue" is a joyful, rip-roaring, hilarious role-reversal adventure. See more »Parents Guide:
View content advisory »
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See more on IMDbPro »
See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
UKLanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
21 October 1988 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Sherlock and Me See more »Edit
Box Office
Opening Weekend USA:
$1,246,772, 23 October 1988Gross USA:
$8,539,181Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
DolbyColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
1.66 : 1
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See more »
(uncredited)
Music by Thomas Hastings and lyrics by Augustus Montague Toplady
Sung by Mrs Hudson (Pat Keen) at the theatre
See more »
Did You Know?
Trivia
In real-life, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tired of his Sherlock Holmes character and killed him off, but later retconned it as a fake death to appease readers who had objected. This movie's story reflects those events in two ways. 1) Dr. John Watson (Sir Ben Kingsley) has tired of his Sherlock Holmes actor and fires him, but later rehires him due to demand. 2) In both this movie and the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story, the nemesis Professor James Moriarty effects the apparent death of a genius detective. In neither case can a corpse be found, though, because the scene of the slaying is a large body of water. Thus, in both, the detective character would return later having only seemed to die. See more »Goofs
One comedic scene has a character introduce herself as Leslie Giles. She faints at the news (boorishly broken) that her father is presumed dead, and she gets carried to safety by Doctor Watson. She's later exposed as an imposter who knows almost nothing about the father. It's never addressed why she would faint, or how she might have faked it well enough to fool a brilliant medical man. See more »Quotes
Holmes: Very creative, Watson. Something that would never have occurred to the likes of me. Imagine! A Sherlock Holmes adventure in which Lestrade solves the bloody case!See more »
Crazy Credits
With apologies to the late Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson See more »Soundtracks
Rock of Ages(uncredited)
Music by Thomas Hastings and lyrics by Augustus Montague Toplady
Sung by Mrs Hudson (Pat Keen) at the theatre
See more »
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I was a theater manager in 1988. I got this movie called 'Without a Clue', and that describes what I knew about it. I never saw a preview, I had no one sheet (poster) for it......Nothing! When I put the thing together, and saw the beginning, I thought oh, no! Not another Sherlock Holmes movie! (I think they made too many as it is!) But when Watson yelled at Holmes "You idiot!", that blew me away! I sat and watched it and laughed my butt off! Unfortunately, nobody else knew about this movie either! My theater was in a small town, and everybody knew me, and I told people if you want to see a funny movie that has no sex, really bad words, you have to see this movie! On Friday, when it opened, the theater was nowhere near full, on Thursday, the night it closed, we had a good crowd, some seeing it two, or three times (our admission price was $1.00 at the time). Granted, the teen-agers didn't care for it, but the adults loved it! In fact, one lady said to me, why don't they make more like that anymore! This movie IS an overlooked gem of a comedy!