Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Redundant and unnecessary.

one of my absolute favorites!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Filmed right after Trail of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther continues the storyline of finding both Chief Inspector Clouseau and the Pink Panther diamond. Since Dreyfus, however, would rather Clouseau was never found, he has someone from jail tell him how to fix it so a HAL-like computer finds the opposite of best detective in the world. That opposite would be Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass) from New York City. Meanwhile, a Countess Chandra (Joanna Lumley in her second consecutive Panther role) has the diamond and, it seems, an affair with a certain police detective...All right, I'll just say this right now: I didn't like the way Clouseau ended up in this movie being an accomplice to the Pink Panther theft and changing his face as well. I can't believe this is the way he would have behaved considering his sworn oath to upload the law (or luw). Having said that, I was very amused when he ended up looking like Roger Moore and how perfect was he when he did the Clouseau voice! Okay, moving on-I wasn't crazy about Sleigh when they first showed him disguising as a hooker in New York. Then he showed up at a Chicago airport during a windy storm with his umbrella almost swept up in it and I laughed a little. What got me on his side was that hilarious scene with an inflatable woman provided by Balls (Harvey Korman again) taking place at an outside French restaurant with once again another hilarious performance by the versatile Graham Stark as a bored waiter who can't keep his eyes off of the doll and Sleigh's attempts at blowing her up. There was also a hilarious fight scene between Clifton, some gangsters led by Robert Loggia, and a woman he just met named Juleta Shane-real name Julie Morgan (Leslie Ash) who later tries to bed Sleigh. Oh, and Korman was only fitfully amusing as Balls here though I did like the way he said "ca-ca". And besides David Niven and Capucine, it was nice to see Robert Wagner also show up as Niven's nephew George Lytton who's also from The original Pink Panther. One more appearance I was pleasantly surprised by was that of Pat Corley-best known to me as Phil the bartender on "Murphy Brown"-as Sleigh's frustrated superior in New York. He sounded different here but I recognized him just the same. Herbert Lom as Dreyfus still provides some laughs but Burt Kwouk as Cato was mostly wasted here especially when he wrestles with the American Sleigh at the now-Clouseau Museum apartment. So I guess overall, I really enjoyed Curse of the Pink Panther despite the absence of Sellers and what Edwards did with his character. Oh, and I wasn't crazy about the animated beginning credit sequence from Marvel Productions this time around though as always, the Henry Mancini theme is way cool. One more note: This was Niven's final film appearance as well as the final Panther stint for Andre Maranne as Sgt. Francois Duval. Since this movie bombed (or buumbed), you'd think Edwards was through with the Pink Panther series once and for all. Once again, you'd be wrong. P.S. Edwards' stepdaughter Emma Walton is an angry hooker here and his son Geoffrey (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is the voice of the computer Aldous. Next up, Son of the Pink Panther...

Blake Edwards did not get on with Peter Sellers, and they only came together again many years after Shot In The Dark when both needed the money and boost to their flagging careers. Since then in the documentaries Edwards had tried to puff up his importance to the films, obviously without being able to trash Sellers too much since after his passing it would not be good PR.If ever there was proof needed that the Panther franchise depended entirely on Sellers genius it is the films that Edwards produced in the Clouseau series without Sellers, basically they are the leaden dross to the varying purity of gold that the films with Sellers were.Trail was great for the first half hour because Sellers' outtakes were in it. The next half hour was a waste of time for us who had seen the other films since it was just clips we had all seen before. The last half hour was a waste of time period.This Curse film was a complete waste of time apart from a few minutes at the end when Roger Moore gives lessons to Ted Wass (an actor who has disappeared into the the obscurity he well deserves) in exactly what comic timing and flair really is, and provides more smiles in a few seconds than has been forthcoming in the rest of the entire movie.A travesty by Blake Edwards which proves just how little his contribution was to the franchise (without Sellers there to bail him out) and how low Hollywood can stoop in the quest to wring the last cents out of a franchise and spoil the pleasant and nostalgic memories of the great and funny earlier films.Not worth rating.

For some reason, people seem to have a problem differentiating this movie from Trail of the Pink Panther.At any rate, this work does nothing but serve to remind us how sad the world is without Peter Sellers in it.They brought back the same old favorites from Trail (Dreyfus, Cato, Litton, etc.), but they introduced a misdirected Pratt-fall humorist into a role which was designed to substitute for the missing Clouseau. Dreyfus devises a way to produce the perfect copy of Clouseau via a hard frame computer system which factors the variables and tosses out the name of the most inept idiot in the global law enforcement family. What we got was a poor guy who was obviously overwhelmed by the grand scale of what Blake Edwards proposed he should do, and boy does it show.Ted Wass was amiable as Sergeant Clifton Sleigh, but let's face it...he wasn't Clouseau in any way. I realize that Blake Edwards was losing his greatest cash cow, but to disrespect Sellers' memory like this was just sacrilege. Frankly, I'm glad they have remade the original. I hope it runs a long line of successful ventures for Steve Martin.This dreck rates a 2.0/10 from...the Fiend :.

For those who consider the Pink Panther films only watchable for Peter Sellers' performance as Inspector Clouseau, the series could be considered over with "Revenge of the Pink Panther." For those who love the Pink Panther brand of humor and want to see the full extension of the story line, "Curse of the Pink Panther" is worth a look.True, without Peter Sellers this movie doesn't feel quite authentic, but it makes an interesting epilogue to the series, picking up where the wafer-thin plot of "Trail of the Pink Panther" left off.Glad that Clouseau is gone but wanting to appear like he's doing his best to find the missing Inspector, Chief Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) searches for the worst possible detective to put on his old foe's tracks. He settles for Sgt. Clifton Sleigh (a young Ted Wass), a bumbling NYPD officer who can't understand why everyone thinks he's somehow related to Jacques Clouseau.While plenty of the worn-out routines from previous movies are repeated here, there are certainly some new bits, and Wass' likable character breathes some freshness, if only a little bit, into the film. Still, while Peter Sellers is missed, his character is missed even more. The studio could have counted its losses and found a new Clouseau and a new director to bring new blood to the franchise. Instead, the events of the previous films, including the little inconsistencies between movies, are brought to a head as Clouseau's disappearance and the Pink Panther diamond's theft come together in one mangled conspiracy theory. This, sadly, taints the simplicity of the individual films.Certain elements of the classics are here, including an exotic babe (Leslie Ash) and David Niven in his final film role. Appropriate, since this was originally supposed to be his franchise.It turns out in the end that Clouseau has had plastic surgery in order to look like Roger Moore, played by Roger Moore. The scene where Moore and Wass meet is priceless, providing a chance for "Clouseau" and "Sleigh" to see who the bigger buffoon is in a hilarious game of comical oneupmanship.Not as funny as any of the Peter Sellers films by a long shot, but a novelty among the series and a worthwhile comedy for fans of this comedy-mystery series.