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The Pink Panther Strikes Again Comedy

1976 American British comedy film by Blake Edwards

The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Pink panther strikes again movie poster.jpg

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Blake Edwards
Screenplay by Frank Waldman
Blake Edwards
Produced by Blake Edwards
Tony Adams (Associate Producer)
Blitheness:
Richard Williams
Starring Peter Sellers
Herbert Lom
Colin Blakely
Leonard Rossiter
Lesley-Anne Down
Cinematography Harry Waxman
Edited past Alan Jones
Music by Henry Mancini

Production
company

Amjo Productions
Distributed by United Artists

Release dates
  • 15 December 1976 (1976-12-15) (United states)
  • 22 December 1976 (1976-12-22) (United Kingdom)

Running fourth dimension

 103 minutes
Countries Britain
United States
Linguistic communication English language
Budget $six million
Box office $75 million[i]

The Pinkish Panther Strikes Again is a 1976 comedy film. The fifth movie in The Pinkish Panther series, its plot picks upward three years after The Render of the Pink Panther, with former Master Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) about to exist released from a psychiatric infirmary afterward having finally been driven insane by new Main Inspector Jacques Clouseau's (Peter Sellers) unrelenting ineptitude in the previous films. A typically disastrous visit from Clouseau on the day of his release prompts a swift relapse which cancels Dreyfus's scheduled discharge, but he soon escapes anyway, and organizes an elaborate criminal plot to threaten the countries of the world with annihilation by a massive laser weapon if they do not assassinate Clouseau for him.

Unused footage from the film was subsequently included in Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), after Sellers' expiry.

Plot [edit]

After three years in a psychiatric hospital, onetime Principal Inspector of the Sûreté Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), has recovered from his obsession to kill Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and is about to be released; Clouseau, who has since replaced Dreyfus every bit Master Inspector, arrivies unannounced to speak on behalf of his one-time dominate, and within minutes drives Dreyfus insane again. Dreyfus later escapes from the hospital and one time once again tries to kill Clouseau past planting a bomb while the Inspector (by periodic arrangement) duels with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk). The bomb destroys Clouseau'south apartment and injures Cato, merely Clouseau himself is unharmed, being lifted from the room by an inflatable hunchback disguise. Deciding that a more elaborate programme is needed to eliminate Clouseau, Dreyfus enlists an army of career criminals to his cause and kidnaps nuclear physicist Professor Hugo Fassbender (Richard Vernon) and the Professor's daughter Margo (Briony McRoberts), forcing the professor to build a "doomsday weapon" in return for his girl's liberty.

Clouseau travels to the UK to investigate Fassbender's disappearance, where he wrecks their family home and ineptly interrogates Jarvis (Michael Robbins), Fassbender's cross-dressing butler. Although Jarvis is later killed by the kidnappers, to whom he had get a unsafe witness, Clouseau discovers a clue that leads him to the Oktoberfest in Munich, West Deutschland. Meanwhile, Dreyfus, using Fassbender'south invention, disintegrates the United Nations headquarters in New York Urban center and blackmails the leaders of the world, including the President of the U.s.a. and his Secretary of Land (based on Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger), into assassinating Clouseau. Notwithstanding, many of the nations instruct their operatives to kill Clouseau to proceeds Dreyfus'southward favor and perchance the Doomsday Car. Every bit a result of their orders and Clouseau's obliviousness, all of the other assassins end up killing ane another until but the agents of Egypt and Russia remain.

The Egyptian assassinator (Omar Sharif) shoots i of Dreyfus' assassins, mistaking him for Clouseau, just is seduced by the Russian operative Olga Bariosova (Lesley-Anne Downward), who makes the same error. When the real Clouseau arrives, he is perplexed by Olga's angel but learns from her Dreyfus'due south location at a castle in Bavaria. Dreyfus is elated at the erroneous study of Clouseau's demise, just suffers from a painful toothache and sends for a dentist; when Clouseau hears a dentist is needed at the castle, he disguises himself as an elderly German language dentist and finally gains entry to the castle (his earlier attempts at sneaking in the castle had been repeatedly foiled by his full general ineptitude and the castle's drawbridge). Unrecognized by Dreyfus, Clouseau ends up exhilarant both of them with nitrous oxide. When 'the dentist' mistakenly pulls the wrong tooth, Dreyfus immediately figures out it is Clouseau in disguise. Clouseau escapes, and a vengeful and now totally insane Dreyfus prepares to apply the machine to destroy England. Clouseau, eluding Dreyfus's henchmen, unwittingly foils Dreyfus'southward plans when a medieval catapult outside the castle launches him on elevation of the doomsday auto, causing it to malfunction and fire on Dreyfus and the castle itself. As the remaining henchmen, Fassbender and his girl, and eventually Clouseau himself escape the dissolving castle, Dreyfus plays "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on the castle'south pipe organ while he himself disintegrates, until he and the castle vanish.

Returning to Paris, Clouseau is finally reunited with Olga. However, their tryst is interrupted start by Clouseau's apparent inability to remove his clothes, and then by Cato's latest surprise assail, which causes all three to be hurled into the river Seine when the reclining bed snaps back upright and crashes through the wall. Immediately thereafter, a cartoon image of Clouseau emerges from the water, which has been tinted pink, and begins swimming, unaware that a gigantic version of the Pink Panther character is waiting beneath him with a abrupt-toothed, open mouth (a reference to the then-recent film Jaws, fabricated farther obvious by the thematic music). The film ends as the animated Clouseau chases the Pink Panther upward the Seine as the credits roll.

Bandage [edit]

  • Peter Sellers as Master Inspector Jacques Clouseau
  • Herbert Lom as Old Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus
  • Leonard Rossiter as Superintendent Quinlan
  • Lesley-Anne Downwardly as Olga Bariosova
  • Colin Blakely as Inspector Alec Drummond
  • Burt Kwouk as Cato Fong
  • André Maranne equally François
  • Michael Robbins as Ainsley Jarvis
  • Richard Vernon as Professor Hugo Fassbender
  • Briony McRoberts as Margo Fassbender
  • Dick Crockett as the President of the Usa (Gerald Ford)
  • Byron Kane equally the United states Secretary of State (Henry Kissinger)
  • Paul Maxwell as CIA Director
  • Gordon Rollings equally Inmate
  • Dudley Sutton equally Inspector Mclaren
  • John Clive equally Chuck
  • Damaris Hayman as Fiona
  • Deep Roy equally Diminutive Assassin

Cast notes [edit]

  • Attributable to Peter Sellers's heart condition, whenever possible he would have his stunt double Joe Dunne stand in for him. Because of the often concrete nature of the one-act, this would occur quite frequently.
  • Julie Andrews provided the singing voice for the female-impersonator "Ainsley Jarvis".[ii] The scene in the nightclub when Jarvis sings is in many ways like to scenes in Edwards's later film Victor Victoria (1982), in which Andrews plays a adult female pretending to be a man who is a female impersonator.
  • Graham Stark, a longtime friend of Sellers, once again fabricated an advent in the series, albeit in a small role as the desk clerk of a modest German hotel. Since his role equally Hercule LaJoy in A Shot in the Dark, he has appeared in small roles in every Pink Panther sequel except Inspector Clouseau, in which Sellers did not play Clouseau.
  • Scenes featuring Harvey Korman as Professor Auguste Assurance and Marne Maitland equally Deputy Commissioner Lasorde were deleted from the moving-picture show, but were later seen in full in Trail of the Pink Panther in 1982. Graham Stark would assume the office of Professor Balls in the side by side film, Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).
  • Omar Sharif appeared, uncredited, as the Egyptian assassin.
  • Tom Jones sang the Oscar-nominated song "Come to Me".
  • The role of Olga Bariosova was originally played by Maud Adams, who was replaced afterwards filming a few scenes. Blake Edwards then intended to cast Nicola Pagett after seeing her in Upstairs, Downstairs but instead ended up casting Pagett'due south castmate Lesley-Anne Down in the role.
  • Though the character of the President of the The states (portrayed by Dick Crockett) is unnamed in the moving picture, information technology is obviously based on then current US President Gerald Ford; Crockett bore more than a passing resemblance to the President and Ford'southward somewhat exaggerated reputation for clumsiness as depicted in the movie was a national joke at the time. The President'due south unnamed somber Secretarial assistant of State (portrayed by Byron Kane) is obviously based on so electric current Secretary Henry Kissinger.
  • Blake Edwards made a cameo appearance in the groundwork of the nightclub scene.

Production [edit]

The Pinkish Panther Strikes Over again was rushed into production owing to the success of The Render of the Pink Panther.[3] Blake Edwards had adapted i of ii scripts that he and Frank Waldman had written for a proposed "Pinkish Panther" TV series as the basis for that film, and he adjusted the other every bit the starting indicate for Strikes Over again. As a result, information technology is the only Pink Panther sequel which has a storyline (Dreyfus in the insane asylum) that explicitly follows from the previous film. Oddly, the plot has nothing to practise with the famous "Pinkish Panther diamond" of previous films, simply comes off more similar a parody of James Bail movies.

The motion-picture show was in product from December 1975 to September 1976, with primary photography taking place between February and June 1976.[4] The strained human relationship between Sellers and Blake Edwards had further deteriorated by the time production of Strikes Once again was underway. Sellers was bilious both mentally and physically, and Edwards later commented on the actor's mental land during product of the flick: "If you went to an asylum and you described the first inmate you saw, that's what Peter had become. He was certifiable."[iii]

The original cut of the film ran for around 180 minutes, but was drastically trimmed down to 103 minutes for theatrical release. Edwards originally conceived Strikes Again equally an epic, zany chase flick, similar to Edwards' before The Not bad Race, but UA vetoed this long version and the moving-picture show was edited down to a more conventional length. Some of the excised footage was later used in Trail of the Pink Panther. Strikes Again was marketed with the tagline Why are the earth's chief assassins later Inspector Clouseau? Why non? Everybody else is. Like its predecessor and subsequent sequel, the film was a box office success.

During the film's title sequence, there are references to television's Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Batman, as well the films Male monarch Kong, The Sound of Music (which starred Blake Edwards'south married woman, Julie Andrews), Dracula A.D. 1972, Singin' in the Rain, Steamboat Beak, Jr. and Sweetness Charity, putting the Pink Panther grapheme and the animated persona of Inspector Clouseau into recognizable events from said movies. At that place is also a reference to Jaws in the ending credits sequence. The scene in which Clouseau impersonates a dentist and the employ of laughing gas and pulling the wrong tooth are clearly inspired past Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948).[5]

Richard Williams (later on of Roger Rabbit fame) supervised the animation of the opening and closing sequences for the second and final time; original animators DePatie-Freleng Enterprises would return on the next pic, but with decidedly Williamesque influences.

Sellers was unhappy with the terminal cut of the film and publicly criticized Blake Edwards for misusing his talents. Their tense human relationship is noted in the next Pink Panther pic's opening credits (Revenge of the Pink Panther) listing information technology as a "Sellers-Edwards" production.

French comic book writer René Goscinny of Asterix fame was reportedly trying to sue Blake Edwards for plagiarism at the time of his death in 1977 after noticing potent similarities to a script titled "Le Maître du Monde" (The Primary of the World) which he had sent Peter Sellers in 1975.[half-dozen]

Reception [edit]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two and a half stars out of four and wrote, "If I'grand less than totally enthusiastic most The Pink Panther Strikes Again, perhaps it was because I've been over this ground with Clouseau many times before," stating that a time would have to come "when inspiration gives manner to habit, and I recollect the Pinkish Panther serial is but about at that point. That's not to say this motion picture isn't funny—it has moments as skillful equally anything Sellers and Edwards have ever done—but that information technology's fourth dimension for them to motion on. They worked together in one case on the funniest movie either one has e'er done, The Party. Now it'south time to try something new once more."[vii]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the characters of Clouseau and Dreyfus "were made for each other," and further stated, "I'thou not certain why Mr. Sellers and Mr. Lom are such a hilarious team, though it may be because each is a fine comic actor with a special talent for portraying the sort of all-consuming, epic self-absorption that makes slapstick farce initially acceptable—instead of alarming—and finally and then funny." Canby also enjoyed Clouseau's French accent, and wrote, "Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Edwards please in erstwhile gags, and role of the joy of The Pink Panther Strikes Again is watching the way they spin out what is essentially a single routine".[8]

The film earned theatrical rentals of $19.5 million in the United States and Canada[9] from a gross of $33.eight million.[10] Internationally, it earned rentals of $ten.v million for a worldwide total of $30 million.[9] Past March 1978, the film had grossed $75 million worldwide and was hoping to earn another $eight million by the end of the yr.[1]

Awards [edit]

  • The screenwriters, Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman received a 1977 Writers Guild of America Honor for "Best One-act Adapted from Another Medium". The film also won a 1978 Evening Standard British Film Laurels for "Best Comedy".
  • "Come to Me", written by Henry Mancini (music) and Don Blackness (lyrics), received an Academy Honour nomination for "All-time Song" at the 49th Academy Awards.
  • The film was nominated for a 1977 Gilt Globe Award for "All-time Motion Picture", and Peter Sellers was nominated for "Best Film Actor – Musical/One-act".[11]
American Film Establish Lists
  • AFI'south 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated[12]
  • AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
    • "Does your domestic dog bite?" – Nominated[13]

References [edit]

  1. ^ a b "New 'Pink Panther,' Prepare For July Bow, Tops $7-Mil in Bullheaded Bids". Diverseness. 22 March 1978. p. 39.
  2. ^ Allmovie Cast
  3. ^ a b Thames, Stephanie "The Pink Panther Strikes Over again" (TCM article)
  4. ^ IMDB Business organisation Information
  5. ^ Starks, Michael (October 1982). Cocaine fiends and Reefer madness: an illustrated history of drugs in the movies. Cornwall Books. p. 190. ISBN978-0-8453-4504-7.
  6. ^ (in French) Pascal Ory, Goscinny (1926–wall): la Liberté d'en rire, Paris: Perrin, 2007, ISBN 978-ii-262-02506-ix, p. 221.
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger (20 Dec 1976). "The Pink Panther Strikes Again Review (1976)". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved 2 June 2017.
  8. ^ Canby, Vincent (xvi December 1976). "Pinkish Panther Team Unflappable In Fourth Loftier-Spirited Caper". The New York Times . Retrieved two June 2017.
  9. ^ a b "UA Film Rental Highlights of 1977". Variety. 11 January 1978. p. iii.
  10. ^ "The Pinkish Panther Strikes Again, Box Office Data". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  11. ^ IMDB Awards
  12. ^ AFI'southward 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
  13. ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Moving-picture show Quotes Nominees

External links [edit]

  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again at IMDb
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again at the TCM Picture show Database
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Once again at AllMovie
  • The Pink Panther Strikes Again at the American Pic Constitute Catalog

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pink_Panther_Strikes_Again