Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)

A journalist attempts to uncover the mysterious disappearance of Inspector Clouseau.

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Blake Edwards (story), Frank Waldman (screenplay)

Stars:

Peter Sellers, David Niven, Herbert Lom

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Chief Insp. Jacques Clouseau (archive footage)
David Niven	...	Sir Charles Litton
Herbert Lom	...	Chief Insp. Charles Dreyfus
Richard Mulligan	...	Clouseau's Father
Joanna Lumley	...	Marie Jouvet
Capucine	...	Lady Simone Litton
Robert Loggia	...	Bruno Langois
Harvey Korman	...	Prof. Auguste Balls (archive footage)
Burt Kwouk	...	Cato Fong
Graham Stark	...	Hercule Lajoy
Peter Arne	...	Col. Bufoni
André Maranne	...	Sergeant Francois Duval
Ronald Fraser	...	Dr. Longet
Leonard Rossiter	...	Superintendant Quinlan (archive footage)
Marne Maitland	...	Deputy Commissioner Lasorde

Storyline

The Pink Panther diamond is stolen once again from Lugash and the authorities call in Chief Inspector Clouseau from France. His plane disappears en-route. This time, famous French TV reporter Marie Jouvet sets out to solve the mystery and starts to interview everybody connected to Clouseau. Each interviewee Dreyfus, Sir Charles and Lady Lytton (an ex-wife of Clouseau), George Lytton, Hercule Lajoy (assistant in "A Shot In The Dark"), and Cato tell of their run-ins with Clouseau. She is also kidnapped by mobster Bruno Langlois who doesn't want Clouseau found but she continues and finds Clouseau Sr., Clouseau's father. Is Clouseau alive or is he dead? Each interview has not-yet-seen or famous clips from the previous movies (since Peter Sellers had sadly passed away) as Marie continues to get a honest view or impression of the great French detective.

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Plot Keywords:

interview | reporter | diamond | detective | pink panther | 

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Taglines:

There is only one Inspector Clouseau. His adventure continues...

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 December 1982 (USA)

Also Known As:

La pista de la pantera rosa

Filming Locations:

Valencia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,341,695, 19 December 1982, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$9,056,073

Company Credits

Production Co:

United Artists,Blake Edwards,Titan Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

If Peter Sellers had not passed away, then this film would not allegedly have been made (at least at around this time). The next intended Pink Panther film that was being planned prior to Sellers' passing was entitled Romance of the Pink Panther.

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Goofs

When the animated Pink Panther gives the Inspector two balls he was previously juggling in the opening title sequence, they're yellow and pink. Nonetheless, when a big yellow ball is dropped onto the animated Clouseau the balls that roll out of the shot are pink and that once yellow ball is now baby blue.

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Quotes

Marie Jouvet: So you think determination was the key to his success?
Sir Charles Litton: No question about it. He was a fool, but he epitomized the eleventh commandment.
Marie Jouvet: The eleventh commandment?
Sir Charles Litton: "Thou shalt not give up".
Marie Jouvet: Ha-ha... I like that.
Sir Charles Litton: Ha-ha... I thought you might.

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Alternate Versions

All UK cinema and video versions were cut by 21 secs by the BBFC to remove the nunchaku footage previously edited from . The cuts were fully restored in 2003.

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Connections

Featured in The Pink Panther Story (2003)

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Soundtracks

You Go To My Head
Lyrics by Haven Gillespie
Music by J. Fred Coots

User Reviews

What Ed Wood did with Bela Lugosi's final footage in Plan 9 From Outer Space was more of a movie than this is.

The final surviving footage of Peter Sellers is played, then there's this "Inspector Clouseau has gone missing" thing, which is played out not with a missing persons search but with a TV reporter preparing a special on him, doing some strangely irrelevent interviews with Panther stock characters. Each of these interviews are merely excuses to play clips from past Panther movies.

It starts out as a curiosity - seeing Sellers that one last time. This pleasure is hampered by the fact that Sellers was really struggling - he was close to death, after all. Once he "goes missing," it turns into a labour of love, with past Panther characters serving as the mouthpiece of Blake Edwards, getting very sentimental about Peter Sellers, through discussing the missing Clouseau.

But then it gets decidedly ridiculous, and after a while you feel very cheated - Edwards has booked bums on seats in theatres without giving us any kind of movie at all. Sorry, but stringing clips of actual movies together with some really poor, unfunny and poorly acted linking material does not equal a movie.

1/10. I don't even classify it as a movie.