Alan Arkin took over the role of France's 'greatest' detective in Inspector Clouseau (1968) with disastrous results. In 1982, director Blake Edwards tried to resurrect deceased star Peter Sellers by using old footage and out-takes for Trail of the Pink Panther, with even worse results. Curse of the Pink Panther employs a much more successful (and fun) method for keeping Clouseau alive, but, for the most part, the film focuses its attention on another, no-less-inept character: American cop Sergeant Clifton Sleigh, played by Ted Wass. When Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is instructed to use a supercomputer to select the world's greatest detective in order to find the still-missing Clouseau, he rigs the machine so that the opposite happens: Sleigh proves every bit as clumsy and clueless as the man he is sent to find.
Needless to say, Sleigh's antics aren't a match for the sublime buffoonery of Sellers' detective, but there are still laughs to be had, with several familiar faces from the previous Pink Panther movies joining in on the fun: Joanna Lumley as Countess Chandra, David Niven as Sir Charles Litton, Robert Wagner as George Litton, Capucine as Lady Litton, Harvey Korman as Auguste Balls, and Burt Kwouk as Cato. The cast also features a young Leslie Ash as high-kicking babe Juleta Shane, who helps Sleigh escape from underworld assassins employed by crime boss Bruno Langois (Robert Loggia), whose organisation has thrived in Clouseau's absence. Also look out for Denise Crosby and Bill Nighy in small roles.
Although some of the comedy is undeniably weak (the whole 'inflatable woman' segment is painfully unfunny and drawn out), the good stuff outweighs the bad: for me, the comedy highlight is Sleigh's meeting with the Littons, which involves the detective sitting on a pool inflatable with hilarious results, but I also had a lot of fun with Juleta and Sleigh's fight with Langois' henchmen, the crazy car chase in which Sleigh's taxi spends much of the time on its roof, and the very silly finalé, in which Roger Moore steals the show as the post plastic surgery Clouseau, the Bond star doing a brilliant impression of Sellers that puts Arkin's efforts to shame.
5.5/10, rounded down to 5 for the overlong running time: they should have cut the inflatable woman scene to keep it under 90 minutes.
Needless to say, Sleigh's antics aren't a match for the sublime buffoonery of Sellers' detective, but there are still laughs to be had, with several familiar faces from the previous Pink Panther movies joining in on the fun: Joanna Lumley as Countess Chandra, David Niven as Sir Charles Litton, Robert Wagner as George Litton, Capucine as Lady Litton, Harvey Korman as Auguste Balls, and Burt Kwouk as Cato. The cast also features a young Leslie Ash as high-kicking babe Juleta Shane, who helps Sleigh escape from underworld assassins employed by crime boss Bruno Langois (Robert Loggia), whose organisation has thrived in Clouseau's absence. Also look out for Denise Crosby and Bill Nighy in small roles.
Although some of the comedy is undeniably weak (the whole 'inflatable woman' segment is painfully unfunny and drawn out), the good stuff outweighs the bad: for me, the comedy highlight is Sleigh's meeting with the Littons, which involves the detective sitting on a pool inflatable with hilarious results, but I also had a lot of fun with Juleta and Sleigh's fight with Langois' henchmen, the crazy car chase in which Sleigh's taxi spends much of the time on its roof, and the very silly finalé, in which Roger Moore steals the show as the post plastic surgery Clouseau, the Bond star doing a brilliant impression of Sellers that puts Arkin's efforts to shame.
5.5/10, rounded down to 5 for the overlong running time: they should have cut the inflatable woman scene to keep it under 90 minutes.