Unlike the previous instalments in the film series, Blake Edwards was not the director, nor did Henry Mancini write the film's score, and the title role was not portrayed by Peter Sellers. All three were involved at that time with the film The Party. Nonetheless, The Mirisch Company wanted to proceed with this project, so when Sellers and Edwards declined to participate, Mirisch decided to proceed without them. The film languished in obscurity and although it has been released to home video on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray, it was not included in 2004's Pink Panther Collection but was later added to the Ultimate collection released in 2008.
The film received mostly negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.[citation needed]
Plot
In London, Sir Charles Braithwaite, Commissioner for Scotland Yard, struggles to solve an organized crime case involving a gang which has been performing robberies across Europe. England's Prime Minister decides to request outside help to solve the case, which the press view as an insult. French Inspector Jacques Clouseau is the one sent to assist. Sir Charles briefs Clouseau on the case. Three suspects were in custody, but two, Frenchie LeBec and Steven Frey escaped. The only suspect still in custody is Addison Steele.
Sir Charles warns Clouseau not to trust anyone, even those in the Yard, as he is suspicious that there is a mole among their ranks. Meanwhile, Steele works as the prison's barber. When Clouseau arrives, Steele is cutting the hair of the warden's son, Clyde Hargreaves. Once Clyde is finished, Steele tells Clouseau that he does not know who the leader of the gang is, but only knows him by the name of "Johnny Rainbow." Clouseau is then tricked into a shave by Steele. During the hot towel treatment, Steele uses chloroform to subdue Clouseau and escape custody.
At Scotland Yard, Superintendent Weaver gives Clouseau experimental disguised weapons to help with his investigation. Frenchie later attempts to assassinate Clouseau, who accidentally kills him with one of Weaver's weapons. Sir Charles is annoyed that Clouseau killed Frenchie, as they were unable to interrogate him. After realizing his own food has been poisoned, Clouseau finds a matchbook from a nearby inn called Tudor Arms on Frenchie's body. At the inn, Clouseau searches for more leads and is seduced by two women that subdue and kidnap him. They pour rubber on Clouseau's face, which they use to make a mold of his likeness.
Clouseau accidentally kills the owner of the inn by crushing him with a bed and realizes that he has a Johnny Rainbow tattoo. Clouseau goes to Frenchie's funeral in France to look for more leads and is attacked by the gang. Weaver's maid, Lisa Morell, arrives and rescues him. She is actually an agent for Interpol who has been sent to help him. Clouseau does not believe Lisa's story and arrests her. However, his superior, Préfet de Police Geffrion, confirms she is telling the truth.
At the gang's hideout, Johnny Rainbow is revealed to be Clyde Hargreaves. He has used the rubber mold to create several masks that resemble Clouseau's face. Rainbow's plan is for the gang to rob thirteen Swiss banks simultaneously, while Clouseau takes the fall for the crime. Clouseau learns of the plan and goes to the hideout to investigate. Two of Rainbow's men, Bomber LeBec and Stockton follow Clouseau and attempt to kidnap him, but Weaver arrives and foils this. Weaver, who is actually the mole, slips a train ticket from Le Havre, France to Zurich, Switzerland in Clouseau’s pocket and walks away.
On the train, Weaver attempts to kill Clouseau and later poses as him in Zurich. Lisa warns him about Weaver, not realizing she is really speaking to Weaver in disguise. Lisa is kidnapped by the gang, and Rainbow puts on the disguise as Clouseau. Weaver and Rainbow feed the Swiss authorities false information about the robberies and order the bank presidents to put all their funds into the waiting armored cars outside for "safekeeping." The money is then switched into fake Lindt & Sprüngli vans. They take the money to one of Lindt’s chocolate factories and package the stolen money like chocolate bars and then put them into a ship on the Limmat River.
The real Clouseau is arrested for the robberies and cannot convince the authorities of the truth. Weaver attempts to escape by disguising himself as Clouseau, but is killed in a fight with the real Clouseau. This proves that Clouseau is innocent. He goes to rescue Lisa, chases after Steele and is eventually captured by Rainbow's men. Clouseau escaped using one of Weaver's weapons and sinks the ship. The heist is foiled, but Rainbow and his men escape. Clouseau returns to France after saying goodbye to a grateful Sir Charles.
In addition to the title role, Arkin also played the members of the gang whenever they were disguised as Clouseau, with the other actors' voices dubbed onto the soundtrack.
Production
Although the two previous Pink Panther films (The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark), both directed by Blake Edwards and starring Peter Sellers were successful, Sellers and Edwards clashed during production and vowed never to work together again.[citation needed] Producer Walter Mirisch was interested in making a third Pink Panther film, but Sellers repeatedly refused the role. Following Alan Arkin's success in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, Mirisch cast Arkin in the role of Clouseau. Blake Edwards turned down the director's chores so Mirisch hired Bud Yorkin. Just prior to the beginning of production, Sellers contacted Mirisch stating that only he could play Clouseau and would appear in the film if he was given script approval. Mirisch turned him down.[2]
The film was produced by Lewis J. Rachmil as one of Mirisch Films United Kingdom's film company qualifying for Eady Levy funds. Location scenes for Inspector Clouseau were shot in Europe.[3]
The animated opening credits were created and designed by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and animated by London-based TVC, using DePatie-Freleng`s character design of The Inspector from the series of cartoon shorts under that title. (DePatie Freleng also animated the Pink Panther cartoon shorts, as well as the opening credit sequences for most of the Edwards-Sellers Clouseau films).
Reception
Renata Adler of The New York Times was negative, calling the film "one of those episodic, all-purpose arbitrary comedies in which anything goes—and nothing works."[4]Variety praised the film as "a lively, entertaining and episodic story of bank robbers. Good scripting, better acting and topnotch direction get the most out of the material."[5]Roger Ebert gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, writing that "Arkin provides some funny scenes," but that they "are the exception and not the rule, however. For most of the time, events move pretty slowly, and the camera lingers on Arkin, waiting for moments of inspiration that never come."[6]Time magazine wrote, "Arkin follows meticulously in his predecessor's flatfootsteps, but the result is only a parody of a parody," adding, "Bud Yorkin's slovenly direction makes the film look as if every expense had been spared, trapping Arkin in a farce of habit that will probably retire Clouseau to oblivion — one picture too late."[7]Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a dull comedy ... that deflates faster than a leaky balloon. Not that it's the highly gifted Arkin's fault. He tries and tries (and occasionally succeeds) but the uninspired script is hopeless from the start."[8] Leo Sullivan of The Washington Post called it "a mirthless failure."[9]Penelope Gilliatt of The New Yorker called it "an incredibly bad film, but Alan Arkin is sometimes very funny in it, especially when he doesn't try to be."[10]The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote, "Though it moves at a fast enough pace and is more inventively directed than A Shot in the Dark (Bud Yorkin makes good use of his elaborate sets and expensive gadgetry), this third film in the Clouseau series finally demonstrates that the joke has run out of steam. That it works at all is largely due to Alan Arkin's performance as Clouseau, which emerges as a hilarious blend of Keaton and Sellers."[11]
Notes
↑ "Inspector Clouseau (Advertisement)". Los Angeles Times. May 26, 1968. Calendar, p. 18.
↑ pp.167-168 Mirisch, Walter I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History Univ of Wisconsin Press, 2008
Inspector Jacques Clouseau, later granted the rank of Chief Inspector, is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' farcical The Pink Panther series. He is portrayed by Peter Sellers in the original series, and also by Alan Arkin in the 1968 film Inspector Clouseau and, in a cameo, by Roger Moore in the 1983 film Curse of the Pink Panther. In the 2006 reboot and its 2009 sequel, Clouseau is portrayed by Steve Martin. Clouseau's likeness also appears in the Pink Panther animated cartoon shorts and segments, where he is known as simply "the Inspector". More recent animated depictions from the 1970s onward were redesigned to more closely resemble Sellers, and later Martin.
The Pink Panther is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the film The Pink Panther in 1963. The role of Clouseau was originated by and is most closely associated with Peter Sellers. Most of the films were written and directed by Blake Edwards, with theme music composed by Henry Mancini. Elements and characters inspired by the films were adapted into other media, including books, comic books, video games and animated series.
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises was an American animation studio founded by former Warner Bros. Cartoons employees in May 1963, before dissolving in 1981. Based in Burbank, California, DFE produced animation for film and television.
The Party is a 1968 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, and starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents. Based on a fish-out-of-water premise, the film is about a bungling actor from India, Hrundi V. Bakshi, who accidentally gets invited to a lavish Hollywood dinner party and "makes terrible mistakes based upon ignorance of Western ways".
The Pink Phink is a 1964 American animated short comedy film directed by Friz Freleng. It is the first animated short starring the Pink Panther. The short won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short at the 37th Academy Awards.
The Inspector is an American series of 34 theatrical cartoon shorts produced between 1965 and 1969 by DePatie–Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The cartoons are dedicated to an animated version of Inspector Clouseau comically battling against a rogues' gallery of internationally styled villains.
A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards in Panavision. It is the second installment in The Pink Panther film series, with Peter Sellers reprising his role as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté.
Trail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and starring Peter Sellers. It is the seventh film in The Pink Panther series, the first film in the series following Sellers's death and also the last in which he appeared as Inspector Clouseau. Sellers died 18 months before production began; his performance consists entirely of scenes from previous films. The newly shot material in the film stars Joanna Lumley as journalist Marie Jouvet searching for the missing Clouseau – and running afoul of the inspector's enemies who do not wish to see him return.
Pink Panther and Sons is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Mirisch-Geoffrey-DePatie-Freleng. The series was originally broadcast on NBC from 1984 to 1985 and moved to ABC in 1986. Friz Freleng served as creative producer for the series as his and David H. DePatie's production company, DePatie–Freleng Enterprises, existed as an in-name-only enterprise by this time, as its operations were absorbed by Marvel Productions in 1981. The show is based on the Pink Panther, a character created in 1963.
The Pink Panther Strikes Again is a 1976 comedy film. The fifth film in The Pink Panther series, its plot begins three years after the conclusion of The Return of the Pink Panther. Unused footage from the film was later included in Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), released after Peter Sellers's death.
The Return of the Pink Panther is a 1975 comedy film and the fourth film in The Pink Panther series. The film stars Peter Sellers returning to the role of Inspector Clouseau for the first time since A Shot in the Dark (1964), after having declined to reprise the role in Inspector Clouseau (1968). The film was a commercial hit and revived the previously dormant series and with it Peter Sellers' career.
The Pink Panther is a series of films featuring the fictional Inspector Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers, that began in 1963.
Curse of the Pink Panther is a 1983 comedy film and a continuation of The Pink Panther series of films created by Blake Edwards in the early 1960s. The film was one of two produced concurrently following the death of the series' star Peter Sellers. Whereas the previous film Trail of the Pink Panther made use of unused footage of Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and starred Joanna Lumley as journalist Marie Jouvet, Curse attempted to relaunch the series with a new lead, Ted Wass, as inept American detective Clifton Sleigh, assigned to find the missing Inspector Clouseau.
Son of the Pink Panther is a 1993 comedy film. It is the ninth and final installment of the original The Pink Panther film series starting from the 1963 film. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son. Also in this film are Panther regulars Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark and a star of the original 1963 film, Claudia Cardinale. It was the final film in the original Pink Panther film series, as well as the final film for both director Blake Edwards and composer Henry Mancini; Mancini died on June 14, 1994, and Edwards retired from film-making two years later in 1995.
The Pink Panther is a 1963 American comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and distributed by United Artists. It was written by Maurice Richlin and Blake Edwards. It is the first installment in The Pink Panther franchise. Its story follows inspector Jacques Clouseau as he travels from Rome to Cortina d'Ampezzo to catch a notorious jewel thief known as "The Phantom" before he is able to steal a priceless diamond known as "The Pink Panther". The film stars David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine and Claudia Cardinale.
The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures Inc., Mirisch Films, and The Mirisch Corporation.
Revenge of the Pink Panther is a 1978 comedy film. It is the sixth film in The Pink Panther comedy film series. Released in 1978, it is the final on-set performance of Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It was also the last installment in the series that was distributed solely by United Artists; the company was absorbed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer three years after the film's release.
The Pink Panther is a fictional animated character who appears in the opening and/or closing credit sequences of every film in The Pink Panther series except for A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau. In the storyline of the original film, the "Pink Panther" is the name of a valuable pink diamond named for a flaw that shows a "figure of a springing panther" when held up to the light in a certain way; in the credits this was translated to an animated pink panther. Only the first Pink Panther film and the second sequel, The Return of the Pink Panther, featured the diamond.
Frank Waldman was an American screenwriter who frequently worked with Blake Edwards and his brother Tom Waldman.
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