Revenge of the Pink Panther
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| Revenge of the Pink Panther | |
|---|---|
 original movie poster |
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Blake Edwards Tony Adams Ken Wales |
| Written by | Blake Edwards Frank Waldman Ron Clark |
| Starring | Peter Sellers Herbert Lom Dyan Cannon Robert Webber |
| Music by | Henry Mancini Leslie Bricusse (songwriter) |
| Cinematography | Ernest Day |
| Editing by | Alan Jones |
| Distributed by | United Artists Jewel Productions LTD. |
| Release date(s) | July 19, 1978 |
| Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | UK / U.S. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | The Pink Panther Strikes Again |
| Followed by | Trail of the Pink Panther |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) is the sixth film in the Pink Panther film series and last with Peter Sellers, though a later film in the series (Trail of the Pink Panther) used Sellers footage compiled from previous Panther movies.
Contents |
[edit] Tagline
- Inspector Clouseau is back...And he's a bigger fool than anyone gives him the credits for.
[edit] Plot
A French businessman/mobster named Philippe Douvier (Robert Webber) is making a deal with a New York Mafia for a multimillion-Franc drug-smuggling operation, whose officers suspect Douvier of growing too old and being no longer strong enough to handle it. Douvier, along with his secretary and paramour, Simone LeGree (Dyan Cannon), attempts to prove his strength by assassinating the most famous person in France, the one believed to be the best: Chief Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers).
Douvier's first two attempts fail; his attempt to blow Clouseau up with a bomb fails, and the subsequent attempt by a Chinese assassin called Mr Chong (an uncredited appearance by Founder of American Kenpo, Ed Parker) is thwarted when Clouseau knocks him out of a window, believing him to be his (Clouseau's) valet Cato, who had orders to keep his employer alert by means of random attacks. That night, Douvier anonymously calls Clouseau and poses as an informant to tell him the whereabouts of a criminal known as the French Connection. Despite being warned by Cato, Clouseau drives toward the location, but his car and clothes are stolen by a transvestite named Claude Rousseau. Rousseau drives into the trap and is killed by Douvier's men. Subsequently, the majority of people believes Clouseau to be dead.
Clouseau's "death" makes several changes. His mad boss, ex-Commissioner Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is deemed sane, and is to be released from the Mental Asylum to try and crack the case, while Douvier's plans continue. [Curiously enough, in the previous movie, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Dreyfus was made to vanish by a doomsday machine whose creation he had ordered; because the producers believed that a Pink Panther movie would be incomplete without him, he was revived without any explanation. Therefore, since all sequels include Dreyfus, this causes a continuity problem. Because most fans refuse to consider the four movies made without Sellers' involvement (Inspector Clouseau, Trail of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther, and Son of the Pink Panther) as canon, some argue Revenge to be a prequel to Strikes Again, although dialogue in either or both films would seem to make this impossible].
In Rousseau's clothes, Clouseau is taken to the mental asylum (a scene featuring a cameo by Andrew Sachs from Fawlty Towers); he escapes into Dreyfus' room. Dreyfus faints at the sight of Clouseau, whom he believed dead (all Clouseau can say is "Peek-a-boo!"), whereupon Clouseau disguises himself as Dreyfus, and is driven home in a car by operative Francois.
At home, Clouseau finds Cato, who (despite having turned Clouseau's apartment into a Chinese-themed brothel) is relieved to see him alive, and the two plan their revenge on whoever ordered the assassination, taking advantage of the belief that Clouseau is dead.
Meanwhile, Dreyfus, thinking that Clouseau was just Rousseau, had returned to the commissioner's office to find out that he was the one to be read the eulogy at Clouseau's unofficial funeral. He refused since he "hated Clouseau intimately" and would rather thank his murderers than track them down. However, the commissioner revealed that the chief's wife had written the speech. Dreyfus would faint yet again into the empty burial pit at Rousseau's funeral (mistaken as Clouseau) when he saw Clouseau secretly reveal himself in the crowd.
Meanwhile, after his wife threatens him with a divorce, Douvier, needing her respectability and her silence pertaining to his crimes, tells Simone that their courtship must end. Angry, Simone storms out of Douvier's office, giving an impression that she may blackmail Douvier. Douvier gives orders to have Simone killed at Le Club Phut that very night.
That same night, after he is told by an informant of the possibility of trouble at the nightclub, Clouseau and Cato go to investigate, and accidentally save Simone from being murdered by Douvier's assassins. Clouseau and Cato are separated, because Simone has not noticed Cato and is eager to take Clouseau (whom she considers her savior) home. At Simone's flat, Clouseau tells Simone that he is the supposedly dead Chief Inspector; although Simone denies it- both of them being more than slightly drunk- he eventually convinces her of the truth, prompting her to reveal that Douvier is the man responsible for the assassination attempt. As the assassins enter, having tracked them down, Clouseau and Simone escape into the flat below, in which lives Dreyfus. Dreyfus faints again while the two depart, but not before he overhears Simone telling Clouseau of Douvier's plans.
Simone tells Clouseau of Douvier's plans to meet with the New York Mafia Godfather, Julio Scallini, in Hong Kong; Clouseau sees this as a chance for his revenge. Clouseau, Cato, and Simone travel from Paris to Hong Kong on a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar flight courtesy of Cathay Pacific Airlines. Disguised as an archaic Chinese- under the name "Mr. Lue Key"- Clouseau, Cato, and Simone tail Douvier to Hong Kong, unaware that Dreyfus is also after Douvier.
Clouseau disguises himself as Scallini while Simone stalls the real Scallini, so that Clouseau can uncover Douvier's plans. He succeeds; however, the plan goes terribly wrong when Clouseau's disguise is exposed. A car chase begins.
Eventually, everyone crashes; a shoot-out (provoked by a crazed Dreyfus, who has recognized his rival) in a firework warehouse leads to the arrests of Douvier and Scallini. Clouseau is awarded for bringing down the mobsters. Thereafter he and Simone spend the evening together, talking about their histories. This is the third sexual affair of which Clouseau has been part since the absconsion of his wife. His two previous partners were Maria Gambrelli in A Shot in the Dark and Olga the assassin in The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Curiously enough, dialogue in the first film implies that Madame Clouseau, like her third successor, was named Simone.
[edit] The Pink Panther theme
The theme, and much of the soundtrack from this entry in the series, draw heavily from the "disco" trends of the late 1970s. The theme itself was reworked to include a more dancy bassline, electric piano, and guitar solo.
[edit] Opening animation
The opening animated titles in the film were designed by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, who had been involved with the series since the animated titles of the original 1963 film, The Pink Panther. They later went on to produce the animated television series The All-New Pink Panther Show.
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- Was the last Panther movie to be a box office success until the MGM reboot in 2006 starring Steve Martin as Jacques Clouseau. The sequels made without Sellers were derided by fans and critics, who believed the series should have stopped after Sellers died.
- In this film we get a glimpse of Clouseau's special car, the "Silver Hornet". The name of the car is a reference to the 'Green Hornet' character/TV show, much like Cato's name. It is obvious that the car is in fact a Citroën 2CV with some added features such as plastic wings on each side. The "Silver Hornet" is quite useless as it breaks down whenever it is used.
- This is the third Pink Panther movie that has nothing to do with the Pink Panther jewel.
- Actress Sue Lloyd, who plays Claude Rousseau, was in effect a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. Blake Edwards would later direct a whole film based around this concept.
- In the trailer the narrator calls Clouseau Inspector André Clouseau rather than Jacques Clouseau.
- Hercule LaJoy from A Shot in the Dark makes a small four second appearance as the Commissioner's secretary but was not played by Graham Stark, who portrayed costume artist Prof. Auguste Balls.
[edit] Romance of the Pink Panther
Romance of the Pink Panther is a Pink Panther film Sellers was working on, and willing to make without Edwards, before Sellers' fatal heart attack. It was documented in the book Peter Sellers - A Celebration.
[edit] External links
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