The Pink Panther

The following post is not important. I dedicate it to my dad. I do not mean that to say that my dad is unimportant. It is also a long post, so if you don't have time, scroll down and watch the second-to-last video that I've posted. It's hilarious. You will not regret it.

Recently, I have finished watching all of the movies in the original Pink Panther Series (sort of). I got the urge to watch them one day out of nostalgia because my dad loves those movies, so I grew up on them. Anyway, I wanted to share my reflections on the series. I told you this post is not important.

First thing's first. As a kid, I was always confused about who the Pink Panther was. I had seen the cartoon (which is a spin off of the opening credits of the movie), and I didn't understand why the movies were called the Pink Panther if there wasn't a panther in them (except in the opening credits). As it turns out, the Pink Panther is a fictitious diamond. It is called the Pink Panther diamond because it has a small pink flaw in its center that has the appearance of a panther. The Pink Panther is not the detective in the movie. His name is Inspector Clouseau. The first movie in the series was called The Pink Panther because it was about the theft of the diamond.

With that out of the way, here are the movies in order:

The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and Revenge of the Pink Panther. There was also a movie called Inspector Clouseau that was made between A Shot in the Dark and The Return of the Pink Panther, but it doesn't really count because it wasn't directed by Blake Edwards, it didn't feature Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau, and Henry Mancini didn't do the music for it. Apparently, they were busy with another project, and the studio didn't want to wait. It tanked at the box office. There are also other films that came out after Revenge of the Pink Panther, but they don't really count either because Peter Sellers died after Revenge of the Pink Panther. The first one (Trail of the Pink Panther) still featured Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau by using unused footage from the previous films. The next two (Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther) follow different detectives, and they're both pretty bad.

And here are my observations:

The first film, The Pink Panther, didn't seem to me like it was meant to be a comedy. It was more of an extremely lighthearted crime thriller with some humorous moments. In fact, Inspector Clouseau isn't even the main character, and he's not as stupid in this one.

A Shot in the Dark is more Pink Panther than The Pink Panther. That is, A Shot in the Dark introduced characters (such as Clouseau's boss, chief Inspector Dreyfus and Clouseau's servant Cato) and motifs (such as making fun of Clouseau's accent and long fights with Cato) into the series that remained in the rest of the films but were absent from The Pink Panther. It also featured Inspector Clouseau as the main character.

The Return of the Pink Panther is where the series really becomes The Pink Panther. You see, A Shot in the Dark wasn't about the Pink Panther diamond, so it lacked the name. It also lacked the recognizable Pink Panther theme by Henry Mancini. The Return of the Pink Panther, on the other hand, is about another attempt to steal the jewel, so the name came back and so did the theme music. From then on, "Pink Panther" appears in every title, and the same theme music is used, even though the next two movies in the series have nothing to do with the diamond. But more than that, the feeling of the series is really solidified in this one. For one thing, Inspector Clouseau really becomes Inspector Clouseau. In The Pink Panther, he isn't even an idiot, he's just oblivious, and while he is slightly more stupid in A Shot in the Dark, he's still not as bad as in the rest of the series. It's not until The Return of the Pink Panther that he becomes a complete imbecile. It's also in The Return of the Pink Panther that his accent becomes ridiculous. I mean, it had been funny before, but it got really bad in the Return. Also, Inspector Dreyfus dislikes Clouseau in A Shot in the Dark, and he tries to kill Clouseau, but only because he wants Clouseau off the case that he's working on, and for political reasons, the only way that that will happen is if he's dead. But in The Return of the Pink Panther, as in the rest of the movies, Dreyfus truly hates Clouseau. Also, the fight scenes between Inspector Clouseau and Cato become more epic, etc.

Note: The Return of the Pink Panther is the one where Inspector Dreyfus shoots the end of his nose off with what he thinks is a cigarette lighter. This is very important because my dad thinks that this is the funniest moment (which I disagree with, but it's still pretty good), so he always wanted to watch this one. The problem is that he could never remember which one it was, and we always ended up guessing wrong.

The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the funniest one in the series, in my opinion. This is the one where Inspector Dreyfus breaks out of the insane asylum (where he had ended up after The Return of the Pink Panther), kidnaps a scientist, sets up a lair in a castle where he forces the scientist to make a death ray, and holds the whole world hostage. His one demand is the death of Inspector Clouseau, so the nations of the world send out their best assassins to try and kill him, but of course, Clouseau's clumsiness and stupidity keep him safe from attack. In the end, Clouseau breaks into the castle, disguised as a dentist, to arrest Inspector Dreyfus. By far the most ridiculous of the series, but again, the best in my opinion.

And finally, Revenge of the Pink Panther. In my opinion, this is the second-best one. My favorite scene from this one is when he dresses up as a Swedish sailor. Good stuff!

So there you have it. If I had to rank the movies from best to worst, here's how it would go: The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther (not very funny, but entertaining), and A Shot in the Dark (which is oddly the one that usually gets the highest rating).

If you want to watch any of them, I would say to start with the best one! Don't worry about continuity of story lines because the plots aren't hard to follow, and a lot of times they're not consistent anyway. The comedy is more slapstick and "who's on first" than most comedies today (but without being as annoying as the Three Stooges), and that's something that I enjoy.

Some highlights (sorry Dad, I couldn't find a clip of the scene where Dreyfus shoots his nose off):

This is Clouseau's first fight scene with Cato, from A Shot in the Dark. Clouseau has asked Cato to attack at random so that Clouseau can keep his combat skills sharp.



There is at least one fight scene in every movie. And they always end with Inspector Clouseau winning by a cheap shot after poor Cato has answered the phone. Here's another one, from The Pink Panther Strikes Again.



Here's one from The Return of the Pink Panther that is a typical demonstration of the difficulties of Clouseau's accent.



Another accent clip, from The Pink Panther Strikes Again:



A display of Clouseau's athleticism, from The Pink Panther Strikes Again:



That felt good! Of course, Clouseau is a master of disguise, too. Here's probably my favorite scene from any of the movies, again from The Pink Panther Strikes Again.



There's something about people hysterically laughing that is just so funny to me. This last one is from Revenge of the Pink Panther. Here, Clouseau is disguised as a Swedish sailor.



Of course, we could go on and on. The point is, they're funny movies.