Pink Panther Strikes Again
The relationship between Peter Sellersâ Inspector Clouseau and Herbert Lomâs Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus is really and truly unlike any in the history of cinema: A famous, respected French police detective (who is thought of by most people to be a genius) and the man who knows him best, his boss and commanding officer who sees the accolades that his underling receives while always knowing just what a complete bumbling idiot he really is, a knowledge that along with the stressful agony of dealing with him on a day to day basis has driven Dreyfus completely and utterly insane, so much so that he has been responsible for the murders of scores of people over the years while personally undertaking his own failed assassination attempts on Clouseau, with the cherry on top being Clouseauâs continued fondness and respect for his murderous boss who wants to kill him. Director Blake Edwards finally realized that this paradox was truly the heart and soul of the Pink Panther films rather than some blathering on by an elegant old cat burglar or a valuable jewel or a bunch of rich, bored types picking each other off in an opulent mansion, and in 1976 when making the fourth film in the series (using another story idea that had been proposed in the early 1970s) decided to mine it as much as possible for what surely would be pure comedy gold. Itâs safe to say that the series went off and took some major story risks that headed in a completely new direction as the jewel heists (even though the jewelâs name that also served as the title of the franchise was officially co opted for this production with the jewel itself being nowhere in sight) and mundane murder mysteries of old were replaced by a storyline that in many ways was almost akin to a James Bond film (with Clouseau as Bond and Dreyfus as the Bond Villain) with the concept itself being audacious in many ways when compared to the leisurely, slow paced 1963 original. The film starts with Dreyfus just about being pronounced cured by his doctors at the loony bin and even better, seemingly able to handle the idea of Clouseau living and breathing the same air as him. Before long, Clouseau himself arrives at the hospital to speak on Dreyfusâ behalf (similar to how Sellers in real life once wrote a letter to the U.S. Embassy vouching for Lom on his behalf since he was having travel issues), but after only a few minutes alone with Clouseau, Dreyfusâ psychosis is reaggravated as he makes another aggressive âattemptâ on his life and thus guarantees continued incarceration. No matter though, as Dreyfus quickly escapes from the nuthouse anyway and heads straight over to Clouseauâs apartment to make another try, but not before personally witnessing the latest sneak attack on Clouseau by his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) of which it must be said that the fight choreography (for obvious comedic effect) between these two is absolutely superb, plus this remains one of their best fights in the series as it also indirectly involves Dreyfus too and remains that rare time when all three of the true comedic stars of the series were in one place. Anyway, Dreyfus tries again (and fails) to kill Clouseau with a bomb so itâs off to Bavaria, Germany where Dreyfus (using his knowledge of the worldâs top criminals to get them to work for him) moves into an ominous castle complete with a large organ which he enjoys playing (just like in Lomâs starring role in the 1962 Hammer Films version of The Phantom Of The Opera) and engineers the kidnapping of a famous scientist (and his daughter) who has invented a disintegration beam before making the outrageous demand that he will use the beam unless Clouseau and Clouseau only is killed by any of the worldâs top assassins. This leads to a twofold mission for Clouseau as he now must not only avoid all of the assassinsâ attempts on his life (on the belief that whichever countryâs top assassin who makes the kill will be first in line for access to the beam which Dreyfus controls) but he must also track down Dreyfus himself to his hideout location and put a stop to him once and for all. Again, itâs easy to see the Bond influence here with the cloak and dagger type material complete with Clouseau having his own âBond Girlâ in the form of Lesley Anne Down as a Russian operative. The beautiful thing about the three main stars (Clouseau, Cato, and Dreyfus) is in the almost childlike way that they conduct themselves throughout. As usual, Sellersâ Clouseau is almost infantile in his innocent stupidity (despite an egotistical streak a mile wide) and his fight here with Cato again almost amounts to watching two crazy twelve year olds on a sugar high just tearing the house apart with their play fighting, complete with Clouseau always having to get one last (cheap) shot in there. But the hilarious thing about Dreyfus is that when first seen in 1964âs Shot In The Dark, he really was a dignified, seemingly respectable man, but as he descended further into madness over his hatred of Clouseau, he too began taking on the manic personality and physical mannerisms of a child, a gleeful, evil child at that with murder on his mind whose idea of âtortureâ of the scientist and his daughter in order to get their cooperation is to put cotton in his own ears, put on a specialized glove with knives for fingernails (yep) and scrape a chalkboard repeatedly until theyâre begging to help him with the deadly laser beam. Later, when Dreyfus is suffering from a toothache and whining like a petulant baby, it is Clouseau who is nearby and intercepts the call for a dentist, showing up in disguise only for him and Dreyfus to get caught up using laughing gas on each other, a hilarious scene but also rather touching because it obviously (and perhaps intentionally) shows the real life fondness that Sellers and Lom had for each other displayed onscreen for just this one time only. The film tries to work in some other elements that donât really work though, one of which is a lame âPresidentâ character that tries to be a full working parody of then real life President Gerald Ford (complete with Henry Kissinger look alike) for whom the overriding running joke is a constant, neverending fixation on football rather than on politics or the threat posed by Dreyfus. Another problem is that the âBondâ elements donât really gel quite as well as desired as there are some funny bits and others that just seem either tired or repetitive. The film also features the sight of Clouseau (while following a lead) not only winding up in but also getting into a brawl at a gay bar, a misadventure that makes the front page of the papers with Clouseauâs picture being most prominent. There is also a bit of an unnecessary scene where Clouseau questions the household staff at the kidnapped Professorâs residence which does see Sellers get off some good lines but also comes across as a replay of a similar scene in A Shot In The Dark (it even features one of the same actresses!). Sellersâ propensity for achieving results akin to comedy gold onscreen when allowed to operate unfettered still comes through even as Cato would be given an unfortunate smaller part here. And the finale featuring Dreyfus deciding to go for world domination after all (with Clouseau still loose in the castle) before meeting his âdemiseâ is one that winds up throwing the whole series out of whack in terms of continuity as Dreyfus would not only be very much alive and well in the next entry but would actually outlive Clouseau as the series went on (and regain his position as Chief Inspector as well) as the real life death of Sellers and Edwardsâ almost perverse insistence on continuing the series without him (using the strange âClouseau has gone missingâ storyline) while keeping on Lom as Dreyfus (and officially making him the lone funniest character even if he wasnât allowed to be the lead in those later films) makes the conclusion of THIS film one which very much leaves it up for debate as to whether this is literally considered âcanonâ or maybe perhaps a full fledged paranoid delusion suffered by Dreyfus while straitjacketed in a rubber room during the previous filmâs conclusion (which still ended with Clouseau winning and him being zapped) or it could be considered as a stand alone âexperimentâ with Dreyfus in the role of supervillain or perhaps the Professor character had installed the beam with a fail safe device that could restore everything it disintegrates whereupon Dreyfus was taken back to the loony bin. Either way, this is still a movie with a lot of great bits even if those familiar with the series might be confused by the final momentsâŚ
7/10