Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)

Journalist Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) attempts to uncover the mysterious disappearance of Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers).

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 Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) from France. His plane disappears en-route. This time, famous French television reporter Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) sets out to solve the mystery and starts to interview everybody connected to Clouseau. Each interviewee: Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), Sir Charles Litton (David Niven) and Lady Simone Litton (Capucine) (an ex-wife of Clouseau), George Lytton (Robert Wagner), Hercule Lajoy (Graham Stark), and Cato Fong (Burt Kwouk) tell of their run-ins with Clouseau. She is also kidnapped by mobster Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia), who doesn't want Clouseau found, but she continues and finds Clouseau, Sr. (Richard Mulligan), 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 died) as Marie continues to get a honest view or impression of the great French ...

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Plot Keywords:

jewel thief | false nose | wig | wastebasket | sprinkler | 

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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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Blake Edwards had originally hoped to construct a Citizen Kane-esque narrative, with Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau having gone missing at the beginning of the story, while the memories of the supporting characters would showcase the deleted or unused content as the shooting scripts for Return, Strikes Again, and Revenge demonstrated a great amount of comedic material that was left on the cutting room floor. Unfortunately, MGM/UA was unwilling to pay ITC the fee they were asking for the Return outtakes, and Edwards fell behind schedule on Trail and Curse (MGM/UA also ended up reducing both movies' budgets considerably), with the result being that this movie failed to live up to its potential.

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Goofs

The amount of cigarette ashes on Clouseau's car dash appears to have more than in a previous shot.

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Quotes

Deputy Comissioner Lasorde: Read this most carefully and give me your opinion.
Insp. Jacques Clouseau: I will read my opinion and give you yours most carefully.

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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

Referenced in Zarazhenie 2 (2016)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

One of the weirdest movies ever made

Trail Of the Pink Panther is one of the strangest motion pictures ever made. Few movies (Game Of Death II and Plan 9 From Outer Space are perhaps the only other examples) have the dubious honour of featuring a star who died before shooting even BEGAN. As a tribute to the late great Peter Sellers, Trail is something of a failure...as an

exercise in creative editing, it is however a masterwork. Trail is a game of two halves...the Sellers half and the awful half. As is well-known, deleted scenes from the three previous Pink Panther movies (Return, Strikes Back, Revenge) were cobbled together to fake a new appearance by Sellers in this flick. To be honest, this snow job is executed with considerable skill...one could almost believe that Sellers had died midway through production. [In fact, this was almost the case; Sellers died mere weeks before shooting was due to begin on Romance Of The Pink Panther. To be made without the involvement of Blake Edwards in any manner, Romance would almost certainly have turned out to be an even bigger disaster than Trail eventually became.] I said you could almost believe it; because when the outtakes run dry, the movie loses any point or direction and wanders aimlessly for 40-odd minutes. Joanna Lumley, sporting a French accent even more hideous than Sellers', travels from place to place interviewing those who knew Clouseau. All pretence at the ostensible plot (the latest theft of the Pink Panther Diamond) goes out the window, in place of flashback clips and extremely dull comedy sequences. While Herbert Lom gives it his usual best (his attempts to conceal his joy at Clouseau's demise are as always sublimely hilarious) and the odd new scene raises a slight smile at best, the words SELLERS IS GONE, YOU MAY AS WELL SWITCH THE DVD OFF seem to flash before our eyes and cannot be ignored. Richard Mulligan's cameo as Clouseau's father is either amusing or painful, depending on your tolerance level for blatant and witless Sellers aping. But, while Peter IS there, there's plenty to enjoy. Highlights include a disastrous series of errors at an English hotel, Clouseau's fiery car lighter blunder, a painful visit to an aircraft toilet (all excised from Strikes Back) and an alternate take of the famous August Balls Costume Shop scene. Harvey Korman, who was replaced by Graham Stark as Balls in the take used, reprises his role here in new footage. David Niven, who played 'The Phantom' in the very first Panther movie, appears again alongside screen wife Capucine. Niven was dying at the time his scenes were shot, and over the violent protests of his family his lines were dubbed by impressionist Rich Little. Niven has very little to do here; he has a slightly larger part (his very last) in the follow-up, Curse Of The Pink Panther. Trail and Curse were filmed back-to-back, and in the main feature the same cast. Curse, while having a complete plot, lacks even Seller's posthumous presence to elevate the tired sight gags and double entendres Blake Edwards puts Sellers replacement Ted Wass

through. If United Artists hoped that this 'new' Sellers Panther movie would recoup some of the gigantic losses suffered as a result of Heaven's Gate, they were to be sorely disappointed. Both Trail and Curse bombed, and only Trail's curiosity value has saved it from complete oblivion. As it is, this is a weird and curiously compelling last bow from a true master of comedy. Goodbye, Peter, you crazy diamond.

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 December 1982 (UK)

Also Known As:

À la recherche de la panthère rose

Filming Locations:

Valencia, Spain

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,341,695, 19 December 1982

Gross USA:

$9,056,073

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$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