Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)

This one is hilarious. It is one of the best ones. Peter Sellers is in it. All the criticisms of the first review on the list of reviews are unfounded. This one is good.

Incorrectly pronounced dead after his car crashes and explodes, Inspector Clouseau goes undercover to investigate whether an attempt was made on his life in this fifth Blake Edwards 'Pink Panther' film. As with the previous entries, everything is buoyed up by Peter Sellers perfectly playing a bumbling fool completely oblivious to his own incompetence. Sellers has a deliciously absurd array of disguises this time too, including a pirate get-up with inflatable shoulder parrot, and Burt Kwuok nicely has a chance to add dimension to Cato, who helps Sellers in his investigation this time, rather than just randomly attacking him. Promising as the film may sound, it sags more often than its predecessors with lags between jokes. Herbert Lom also has too little screen time, not appearing at all for over half an hour, despite second billing; his looks of disbelief, wondering if he has gone mad as he keeps seeing the supposedly dead Sellers alive, make for an excellent running gag that is not used often enough. The film is also let down by its most effects-driven scene in a fireworks factory paling by comparison to a very similar bit in 'Thoroughly Modern Millie'. With Sellers solid as ever, another lot of great animated opening credits (Dyan Cannon's name appears on a cannon here!) and Lom and Kwuok giving it their all in their all when on screen, 'Revenge' is still a worthwhile film, especially for fans of the series. Sure, the formula begins to wear thin this time, but 'begin' is the operative word as this entry is really not as far below par as one might expect from its reputation.

once again the Pink Panther strikes.. this time Closeau is believe to be dead bringing our Police Comissioner out of the looney bin thinking that he is perfectly safe now from the bumbling idiot. apparently our master detective got to close for comfort for our criminals and they decided to make an attempt on the poor inspector's life,, of course he isn't dead,, once he get's on the screen, he's back to his usual self trying on disguises and being his usual self. this movie has a lot of laughs and will keep you guessing for awhile.. Dyan Cannon also does well in this picture,, this isn't quite as good as some of the earlier Pink Panther movies. but all in all it's definitely got it's moments of comedic genius.

Everything is special about these films, all of them even the postmortem one. The plot is not interesting. It is as empty as empty can be since it is not a thriller but a comedy and it does not pretend to be a thriller. As comedies these films are all of them absolutely superb. The gags, the antics, the absurd funny events are all just as laughable as you may both imagine and hope. And yet these films are a lot more than just comedies. They are in a way very dramatic, but on the side. Chief Inspector Clouzeau is by far one of the best characters I have ever seen in that line and consistent enough to last four films plus a post mortem. The character is so illogical in his logic that you cannot but laugh and laugh and laugh again: he is pathetic. He is an anti-Sherlock-Holmes with the simple logic of doing exactly the reverse of what standard logic would tell you should do. He is an anti-Hercule-Poirot since he is in no way calm and collected. He is looking for trouble, he is creating trouble because trouble brings the wolf out of the wood and then he gets what he wants, the wolf itself generally in an overkill or cosmic catastrophe. In fact Hercule is his assistant. You could think of Colombo and his very special trench coat and sloppiness, but even Colombo is short when compared with Inspector Clouzeau. There used to be a female private eye on TV with a black panther. But she can't compare since our panther is pink, like the famous elephants. Amos Burke is no equal to our hero because Amos was born with a golden spoon in his mouth. Murphy is no catch either because that one is beyond the line of standard police work and has to do with plotting and networking and the gangsterism of the next generation that only aims at killing and certainly not at making their bystanders laugh. He can in no way be compared to Miss Marple or whatever other famous private dilettante detective. He is his own and no one else's. But the films without Peter Sellers would not be even worth watching. Peter Sellers himself in his faces, in his antics, in his way of speaking a type of Frenglish that even the characters in "Allo Allo" did not match in spite of all their efforts, in every single element of his acting and behaving he is funny and hilarious, and at the same time touching and sensitive. He has a heart, in spite of all. The music is a marvel and a miracle of film music. It is so perfect that they could not even try to get away from it. The animated credits with the real Pink Panther are in their own style masterpieces. There is no deeper analysis you can do because these films are not deep, and yet. Why is our society so thrilled by such funny comedies making fun of the French policeman, of the French gendarme, of the French detective and inspector? Because I guess in France making fun of their national Chickens has become a national Olympic sport, even in advertising. They have been compared to all kinds of animals and what's more every Frenchy finds that funny, except maybe the Minister of Interior who is responsible for security. But the day when the French Froggies are not able to laugh, or croak, at their cops or coppers, the world will really be finished, incinerated and disposed of. Let's never dream of such a bad ending to the present thriller our lives are.Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Créteil, CEGID