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:

The Newest and Funniest 'Panther' of them all.

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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

Before Peter Sellers' untimely death, two drafts had been written for for another Pink Panther picture called "Romance of the Pink Panther". When Sellers passed-away, the project was canceled.

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Goofs

The Pink Panther has been stolen again. Clouseau is looking at the newspaper "Le Figaro" where everything is written in French, except the top of the article is titled in English.

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Quotes

Insp. Jacques Clouseau: [singing] I'm dancing in the rice, just dancing in the rice, what a wonderful feeling. I'm... I'm happy in the rice, Always happy... oh, allow me.
[his pants get stuck in the door and tear]

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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 Pink Panther Strikes Again. The cuts were fully restored in 2003.

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Connections

Edited from Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

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Soundtracks

I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair
Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Music by Richard Rodgers
Performed by Herbert Lom

User Reviews

A Travesty

Blake Edwards was not interested in doing a "tribute" to the late Peter Sellers with this movie. What he wanted to do was find a way to milk more money out of the property by first setting us up with a "Clouseau disappears" movie to squeeze the last nickel out of Sellers posthumously and then hope audiences would come back for the dreadful follow-up with Ted Wass and he could then get some more movies out of it. For the first half, we have half a plot by using old Sellers outtakes and then when he runs out it turns into a "tribute" by spotlighting old clips. What I remember so vividly when I saw this movie in the theaters was how after the outtakes ended, absolutely no one in the theater laughed for the last half of the movie.

If Edwards wanted to do a proper "tribute" he would have taken these Sellers outtakes (which are funny) and put them back into longer directors cut versions of the Panther films they were originally intended for (one outtake finally clears up why Clouseau keeps referring to Colin Blakely as "Sergeant Yard" in "Pink Panther Strikes Again"). The end result would have pleased everyone as a proper tribute to Sellers' genius and when Edwards used to know how to make a funny movie. Unfortunately Edwards wasn't bright enough to think of a sensible idea like that.