The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Charles Dreyfus threatens to destroy the world with a doomsday device if Inspector Clouseau is not killed. Naturally, this is far harder than it sounds.

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Frank Waldman (screenplay), Blake Edwards (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Chief Inspector Clouseau
Herbert Lom	...	Dreyfus
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Olga
Burt Kwouk	...	Cato Fong
Colin Blakely	...	Drummond
Leonard Rossiter	...	Quinlan
André Maranne	...	Francois (as Andre Maranne)
Byron Kane	...	Secretary of State
Howard K. Smith	...	Himself (scenes deleted)
Dick Crockett	...	The President
Richard Vernon	...	Fassbender
Briony McRoberts	...	Margo Fassbender
Dudley Sutton	...	McClaren
Murray Kash	...	Dr. Zelmo Flek (scenes deleted)
Hal Galili	...	Danny Salvo

Storyline

Charles Dreyfus escapes from the mental asylum and tries to kill Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau. He doesn't succeed at first, so he takes on another strategy, namely to build a Doomsday machine and demand that someone else kills Jacques Clouseau, or Dreyfus will use the machine to wipe out whole cities and even whole countries... With about 22 assassins from all over the globe on his tail, Clouseau decides to find Dreyfus alone and put him back in the mental asylum.

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Plot Keywords:

clouseau | escape | mental hospital | moat | swan | 

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Taglines:

The all-new adventures of the world's most bumbling detective

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 December 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Inspector Clouseau Strikes Back

Filming Locations:

Bavaria, Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amjo Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title of this film is misleading, as the "Pink Panther" - the large diamond featured in the first Clouseau Pink Panther movies, The Pink Panther and The Return of the Pink Panther - is not featured (or even mentioned) in this film. By the 1970s, the name "Pink Panther" had become so synonymous with Inspector Clouseau - and the animated panther featured in the opening credits - that all future Clouseau films would include "Pink Panther" in the title.

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Goofs

Clouseau hits himself with the vase and stumbles, causing one of the guns in the rack to fire. The sound of a bullet ricocheting is heard, but it is buckshot that the doctor takes out of Quinlan's behind.

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Quotes

Clouseau: Does your dog bite?
Hotel Clerk: No.
Clouseau: [bowing down to pet the dog] Nice doggie.
[Dog barks and bites Clouseau in the hand]
Clouseau: I thought you said your dog did not bite!
Hotel Clerk: That is not my dog.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits begin with an animated Inspector Clouseau entering a cinema hall to watch a film. He is constantly beleaguered by the Pink Panther, however, and when the Panther appears on the screen impersonating various features (Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Batman, King Kong, The Sound of Music, Dracula, Singin' in the Rain, and a silent film), the Inspector finally loses his temper and climbs into the screen to get him... ending up trapped inside.

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Connections

Featured in De wereld draait door: Episode #7.157 (2012)

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Soundtracks

"Tip-Toe thru' the Tulips with Me"
(uncredited)
Music by Joseph Burke
Lyrics by Al Dubin

User Reviews

The Genius Of Peter Sellers

The inimitable Peter Sellers strikes again as Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, in this fourth installment of the classic `Pink Panther' series, `The Pink Panther Strikes Again,' directed by Blake Edwards. Given the fact that the assessment of comedy is intrinsically subjective, this film is arguably laugh for laugh and sight gag for sight gag the funniest of the five (followed closely by the second of the series, the hilarious farce, `A Shot In The Dark). In this one, former Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is about to be released from the mental hospital-- in which he has resided since being driven crazy by Clouseau-- when on the very afternoon of his hearing he is visited by none other than Clouseau himself, who has come to speak on behalf of his former boss. Suffice to say that by the time Clouseau is through `helping,' he is driven from the premises by the relapsed, raving madman, Dreyfus. And it's only the beginning of the inept French Inspector's antics that, before it is over, will include a trip to the Ocktoberfest, encounters with a dozen hit-men from around the world, a beautiful Russian spy named Olga (Lesley-Anne Down), a surprise Egyptian spy (who will remain nameless) and a one-man assault on a castle. As Laurel and Hardy proved so many times before, for every action there is a reaction; a theorem of which proof is unequivocally provided here by the relationship between Sellers and Lom. This was the film in which Edwards and his stars not only further devised, but honed to perfection, their foolproof formula for laughs: After the `first wave' of hilarity provided by Sellers, it is followed up-- in just enough instances to be totally effective-- by Lom's reaction to 1.) Sellers directly (as in the first, classic scene at the mental hospital), or 2.) Lom's reaction to Seller's antics as they are related to him by a third party. It's a one-two punch that never fails and which, in effect, derives twice the fun from a single gag. And it's brilliant. But at the end of the day, it must be noted that there is one element above all else that accounts for the success of this film, and that, of course, is the Man himself, Peter Sellers. Sellers must be regarded as-- if not `the,' then at least one of the-- funniest actors ever to grace the silver screen. There was no end to the ways he could make you laugh; from the subtlest expression-- an eye averted or perhaps the slight raising of an eyebrow-- to the broadest slapstick, it was all within his personal domain, and he was the Master. Physically, practically all he had to do to get a laugh was show up; consider the scene in which he arrives at the hospital to visit Dreyfus: As he saunters across the lawn of the vast grounds surrounding the buildings, a croquet mallet and ball lying to one side catches his eye; there is just the slightest hesitation in his step, the subtlest change of expression in his eyes and the merest inclination of the head. And there, in that briefest of moments upon the screen, you know-- beyond the shadow of a doubt-- what is about to transpire. And you're right; a moment later Clouseau has the mallet in his hand and his foot on the ball, and even as it's happening-- just as you knew it would in that split second before it did-- he has you on the floor laughing. That was the gift-- and the genius-- of Peter Sellers. Was every film he made a classic? A great film? Of course not; but you would be hard put to find a single performance of his, even in a bad film (Like 1970's `There's A Girl In My Soup'), that did not embody that unique spark that defined him. It was certainly alive in his portrayal of Clouseau (possibly the definitive Seller's character), and in retrospect, what a shame it seems that there were only five `Panther' movies ever made. But so it is, and shall ever be. The supporting cast includes Burt Kwouk (as the ever faithful and attacking manservant, Cato), Andre Maranne (Francois), Colin Blakely (Alec Drummond), Leonard Rossiter (Inspector Quinlan), Richard Vernon (Dr. Fassbender), Briony McRoberts (Margo) and Michael Robbins (Jarvis). A funny movie that showcases one of Cinema's truly unique and funny actors, `The Pink Panther Strikes Again' is a side-splitting, fun movie you can watch over and over and never grow tired of. The best of the series, it stands as a glowing tribute to the comedic genius of Peter Sellers. I rate this one 10/10.