THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN (1976, UK/USA, 103m, PG) ***
Comedy, Crime
dist. United Artists; pr co. Amjo Productions; d. Blake Edwards; w. Frank Waldman, Blake Edwards; pr. Blake Edwards; ph. Harry Waxman (DeLuxe | 2.35:1); m. Henry Mancini; ed. Alan Jones; pd. Peter Mullins; ad. John Siddall.
cast: Peter Sellers (Chief Inspector Clouseau), Herbert Lom (Charles Dreyfus), Lesley-Anne Down (Olga), Burt Kwouk (Cato), Colin Blakely (Drummond), Leonard Rossiter (Quinlan), André Maranne (Francois), Byron Kane (Secretary of State), Dick Crockett (The President), Richard Vernon (Dr. Hugo Fassbender), Briony McRoberts (Margo Fassbender), Dudley Sutton (McClaren), Hal Galili (Danny Salvo), Robert Beatty (Admiral), Michael Robbins (Ainsley Jarvis), Geoffrey Bayldon (Dr. Duval), Graham Stark (Munich Hotel Clerk / Alpenros Hotel Clerk), Vanda Godsell (Mrs. Leverlilly), Norman Mitchell (Mr. Bullock), Patsy Smart (Mrs. Japonica).
Sellers’ fourth time out as bumbling Inspector Clouseau is the most outlandish and least disciplined to date. Just released from a mental hospital, Charles Dreyfus (Lom) intends to off Clouseau, a former underling whose blundering drove the lawman around the bend. Dreyfus captures a scientist, ordering him to create a weapon that will destroy the planet, and threatens world leaders with annihilation unless they hand over his nemesis. Meanwhile, Clouseau goes to England to look for the vanished scientist, and his obliviousness turns out to be an asset. Chaotically assembled, the movie becomes merely a series of slapstick comic set pieces under which the plot, for what it is, unfolds. There are some moments of comic genius, but the pacing slows when Edwards remembers there is a story to tell as well. Richard Williams once more provides the animated title sequence. Followed by REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER (1978).
