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The Pink Panther Strikes Again
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Pink Panther Strikes Again | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Blake Edwards |
| Written by | Blake Edwards Frank Waldman |
| Starring | Peter Sellers Herbert Lom Lesley-Anne Down Burt Kwouk |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | Harry Waxman |
| Editing by | Alan Jones |
| Distributed by | United Artists (1976-1981) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1982-present) |
| Release date(s) | December 15, 1976 |
| Running time | 103 min. |
| Country | U.K. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 (estimated) |
| Preceded by | The Return of the Pink Panther |
| Followed by | Revenge of the Pink Panther |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and continues the story after the end of The Return of the Pink Panther. However, it's only the third to include the words "Pink Panther" in its title, despite the fact that the story does not involve the Pink Panther diamond of the previous films. Unused footage from the film was later included in Trail of the Pink Panther.
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The story opens at the sanitarium for the criminally insane, where former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who is largely recovered from the murderous insanity that saw him repeatedly attempt to kill his nemesis, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, is about to be released. Unfortunately, Dreyfus' recovery is shortlived; upon encountering Clouseau (Peter Sellers), who is now Chief Inspector and has arrived with the helpful intention of speaking on Dreyfus' behalf, it takes less than five minutes in Clouseau's company and the in misfortunes this results for Dreyfus to snap and return to his murderous ways.
Soon thereafter, Dreyfus escapes from the asylum, intent on killing Clouseau. His first attempt is unsuccessful; planting a bomb whilst Clouseau destructively duels with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk), who is still under orders to keep Clouseau on his toes by randomly attacking him. The bomb merely destroys Clouseau's apartment whilst Clouseau himself is unharmed, largely due to an inflatable costume and a telephone. Dreyfus sets his sights higher; enlisting the help of an army of the most vicious criminals operating, he kidnaps nuclear physicist Professor Fassbender (Richard Vernon) and his daughter, forcing the professor to build a "doomsday weapon" in return for his daughter's freedom.
Clouseau travels to England to investigate Fassbender's disappearance, with typically chaotic results, as Scotland Yard Superintendent Quinlan (Leonard Rossiter) learns painfully. Meanwhile Dreyfus reveals his elaborate plot; he aims to get rid of Inspector Clouseau by threatening the whole of humanity. Disintegrating the United Nations headquarters in New York City before the disbelieving eyes of the world, he blackmails the leaders of the world - including the President of the United States (a thinly-veiled impersonation of Gerald Ford, advised by a similarly poorly-camouflaged Henry Kissinger) - into assassinating Clouseau.
Forced to take Dreyfus' threat seriously, several nations send murderers to kill Clouseau at the Oktoberfest; however, in typical bumbling fashion, Clouseau manages to evade each assassination attempt just as it is about to happen, and the assassins end up killing each other instead. The assassins of twenty-six nations are killed in the attempt, and the only survivors are the Egyptian (an uncredited cameo by Omar Sharif) and Soviet Russian operatives. The Egyptian assassin, sneaking into Clouseau's hotel room, shoots a man he believes to be Clouseau (who is in fact one of Dreyfus' henchmen, who had taken it upon himself to attempt to assassinate Clouseau); after this, the Russian operative, Olga Bariosova (Lesley-Anne Down), who has also sneaked into Clouseau's room, seduces the Egyptian, similarly mistaking him for Clouseau. His passionate sexuality convinces her not to assassinate him; and when the real Clouseau makes an appearance, he is most surprised to discover a beautiful woman in his bed who confuses him further by declaring her undying passion for him, and a dead man in his bath. A tattoo on the dead man, combined with Olga's dismissively revealed knowledge, reveals to Clouseau Dreyfus' location; a castle in Bavaria.
Dreyfus is elated at Clouseau's apparent demise, but his joy is soured by a bad case of toothache. Clouseau - who has arrived in the village near Dreyfus' castle and has unsuccessfully attempted to breach the castle, thwarted every time by a drawbridge that appears to be mocking him - eventually infiltrates Dreyfus' castle hideout disguised as a dentist, intoxicates Dreyfus with nitrous oxide and pulls one of Dreyfus's good teeth. Realising the deception and laughing hysterically, Dreyfus orders Clouseau killed, but Clouseau escapes.
Enraged, Dreyfus means to seek vengeance on the world by destroying England; Clouseau, who has been thrown into the castle's barnyard, is literally catapulted onto Dreyfus' doomsday machine. The buffoon's weight redirects the disintegrator so that it hits Dreyfus (causing his feet to disappear) and destroys Dreyfus' castle. As Dreyfus' henchmen, Fassbinder and his daughter and, eventually, Clouseau himself escape the castle (Clouseau nearly thwarted once more by the drawbridge), Dreyfus himself plays the castle's organ, laughing insanely and gradually disintegrating. The castle disappears, apparently making Dreyfus vanish.
Returning to Paris, Clouseau is reunited with Olga, who has dismissed Cato for the evening and intends on completing her seduction of Clouseau; their romantic evening is interrupted firstly by Clouseau's apparent inability to remove any of his clothes without a struggle, and then by Cato, who chooses this time to once more follow his orders and attack Clouseau. The inevitable struggle sees all three hurled by a reclining bed into the Seine.
- Graham Stark, long time friend of Sellers, once again makes a return, albeit a small cameo role, as the owner of a small German motel. Since his role as Hercule LaJoy in A Shot In The Dark, he has since appeared in small roles in every Pink Panther movie.
- The character Dr. Fassbender is a rather blatant nod to one of Seller's earlier films What's New Pussycat? where Sellers played a character named Dr. Fritz Fassbender.
- The film, like its prequel and subsequent sequel, was considered a box office success.
- The role of Olga Bariosova was originally offered to Maud Adams.
- The original cut of the film ran for 124 minutes. However, it was soon trimmed down for release in Cinemas. Some of the deleted footage can be seen in Trail of the Pink Panther.
- Due to Peter Sellers' negative heart condition, he would whenever possible have his stunt double Joe Dunne stand in for him. Due to Blake Edward's preference to shoot as if viewed from a proscenium, this would occur quite frequently.
- Is the only Pink Panther movie which has a storyline that explicitly follows on from the previous film.
- It has been rumored, but not confirmed, that during Graham Stark's scene, his smoking pipe had been filled with marijuana. This caused the shoot to take much longer than usual, as Stark found it difficult to hold his composure.
- This film is generally considered the funniest in the series. However, some fans argue that A Shot In The Dark is a superior film due to its more plausible plot.
- During the title sequence, there are references to Alfred Hitchcock, Batman, King Kong, The Sound of Music, Dracula AD 1972, Singin' in the Rain and Steamboat Bill Jr., putting the Pink Panther character and the animated persona of Inspector Clouseau into recognisable events from said movies. Richard Williams (later of Roger Rabbit fame) did the animated opening & closing sequences for the film instead of DePatie Freleng.
- "For me, the greater the odds, the greater the challenge. And as always, I accept the challenge." (Challenge being pronounced as, "Schall-ahnje.")
- "A bee keeper who has lost his voice, a cook who thinks he's a gardener and a witness to a murder. Oh yes, it's obvious to my trained eye, that there is much more going on here, than meets the ear."
- "Most ingenious. The old closet ploy. I really must congratulate you; if there's one thing I enjoy, it's a good closet ploy."
- "Until we meet again and the case is solv-ed."
- "There is a beautiful woman in my bed and a dead man in my bath."
- Inspector Jacques Clouseau:"Tell me, do you have a rheum?"
German hotelier: "I do not know what a 'rheum' is."
Inspector Clouseau: [Consulting a phrase-book] "Zimmer!"
German hotelier: "Ah! A 'room'!"
Inspector Clouseau:That's what I've been saying, you idiot..."rheum"..."zimmer"...
- Inspector Jacques Clouseau: [Gesturing to the hotel's dog] "Does your dog bite?"
German hotelier: "No."
Clouseau goes to pet the dog; it bites him.
Inspector Clouseau: "I thought you said your dog did not bite!"
German hotelier: "That is not my dog."
The Pink Panther Strikes Again at the Internet Movie Database
| The Pink Panther and Inspector Clouseau |
| The Pink Panther | A Shot in the Dark | Inspector Clouseau Return of the Pink Panther | The Pink Panther Strikes Again | Revenge of the Pink Panther | Trail of the Pink Panther | Curse of the Pink Panther Son of the Pink Panther | The Pink Panther (2006) Romance of the Pink Panther (never produced) | The Pink Panther 2 (2008) (tentative) |
| The Pink Panther cartoon character | The Pink Panther Show | Pink Panther and Sons | The Inspector |