Word: panthers
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...when Peter Sellers succumbed in July 1980 to a massive heart attack, leaving his latest Pink Panther extravaganza only half-filmed, director Blake Edwards knew he'd be taking a big chance trying to salvage the movie. But Edwards went for it. He overhauled the second half of the original script, doing away with Sellers' Inspector Clouseau by having the bumbling detective's plane mysteriously vanish in mid-mission. He also brought in an inquisitive young French reporter; her search for the missing sleuth leads her to a host of Clouseau's friends, foes, colleagues and relatives. The resulting flashbacks...
...Trail of the Pink Panther works surprisingly well. The first half of the film--in which Clouseau jaunts around England and France, wreaking havoc on two countries that already have more problems than they know how to handle--proves once again that the versatile Sellers was the funniest comedian...
...detective is searching for the exquisite Pink Panther diamond, which has disappeared from the mythical Middle Eastern country of Lukash (as it did in Clouseau's 1962 debut film, The Pink Panther). His scourge and rival, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is livid that the clumsy Clouseau has drawn another choice assignment. But the President of Lukash wants the renowned Clouseau--until, that is, he learns that he stands to make big bucks in insurance as long as the diamond remains missing. Shortly thereafter, Clouseau disappears...
...there are, of course, the flashbacks: to Clouseau's domestic wars with his man-servant Cato, to his childhood and "accomplishments" sleuthing, and to his characteristic butchering of the English language. The second half of the film is, in a sense, the "Best of Clouseau"--and for Panther devotees, it is glorious...
Trail of the Pink Panther. Peter Sellers died in July 1980. You'd think that would put an end to the profitable series of Pink Panther farces in which Sellers starred as the dithery Inspector Clouseau. But no. Writer-Director Blake Edwards has basted together seven "outtake" sequences with Sellers, scenes from other Pink Panther movies and some supporting footage from series regulars to produce what may be the cinema's first posthumous sequel...