{"id":3941,"date":"2024-09-10T21:43:36","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T21:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=3941"},"modified":"2024-10-14T11:59:17","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T15:59:17","slug":"the-pink-panther-strikes-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/09\/10\/the-pink-panther-strikes-again\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pink Panther Strikes Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Pink Panther Strikes Again<\/strong> (1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 103 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some violence, brief nudity, suggestive content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Blake Edwards\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Mancini\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Harry Waxman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 15, 1976 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down, Burt Kwouk, Colin Blakely, Richard Vernon, Briony McRoberts, Leonard Rossiter, Andre Maranne, Michael Robbins, Byron Kane, Dick Crockett, Graham Stark, Deep Roy, Omar Sharif (uncredited).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $33.8M (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0After 1964\u2019s A Shot in the Dark, I\u2019d have to say that The Pink Panther Strikes Again<\/strong> is my favorite of the series of films starring Peter Sellers as clumsy Surete detective Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It\u2019s even sillier than its immediate predecessor, The Return of the Pink Panther (1975). This time around, Clouseau finds himself up against a crazed megalomaniacal villain, the likes of which are usually seen in James Bond movies. And who is this villain? None other than former Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Lom) who\u2019s finally gone completely mad as a result of his obsession with Clouseau. Is he really the only one that realizes that the \u201cworld\u2019s greatest detective\u201d is a complete moron?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The zaniness of The Pink Panther Strikes Again<\/strong> is a long way from the sophistication of the first movie and David Niven\u2019s charming jewel thief back in \u201963. Then again, Blake Edwards didn\u2019t originally intend for Clouseau to become the break-out character of that first movie. It just worked out that way after Sellers replaced Peter Ustinov in the role.<\/p>\n

\u00a0After the events of the previous film, Dreyfus was committed to a psychiatric hospital and Clouseau replaced him as Chief Inspector. Now largely recovered, he\u2019s about to be released when Clouseau arrives at the hospital to speak on his behalf. It only takes minutes for Dreyfus to go insane again. Well, that\u2019s the last straw. He escapes from the hospital and embarks on a crime spree that starts with him bombing Clouseau\u2019s apartment. When that fails to kill him, Dreyfus enlists an army of criminals to kidnap a nuclear physicist (Vernon) and his daughter (McRoberts). Hiding out in a Bavarian castle, Dreyfus forces the scientist to build a doomsday weapon capable of obliterating entire cities. He then threatens to use it unless somebody kills Clouseau. Many of the world\u2019s nations, including the US, send their best assassins to do the job. Will Clouseau survive this latest threat? What do you think?<\/p>\n

\u00a0Along the way, Clouseau becomes romantically involved with the sexy Russian agent (Down) sent to kill him. It happens late in the movie, so not a lot of screen time is devoted to this. Much of The Pink Panther Strikes Again<\/strong> in comprised of Clouseau\u2019s tomfoolery as he bumbles his way through his latest case. The best part is the scene at Oktoberfest where many assassins try and fail to eliminate him. As usual, he\u2019s completely oblivious to any of it. It\u2019s a well-orchestrated scene.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A lot of The Pink Panther Strikes Back<\/strong> is funny. Some of it is not. Such is the nature of comedy. As usual, Henry Mancini\u2019s score is a highlight. This installment features, in my opinion, the best of the animated opening sequences. It references several movies. They are as follows: the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Batman, King Kong, The Sound of Music, Dracula A.D. 1972, Singin\u2019 in the Rain, Steamboat Bill Jr. and Sweet Charity. Jaws also gets referenced in the closing credits sequence. Lom is very good as an over-the-top villain. Sellers does his usual masterful job as Clouseau. Fun and funny, The Pink Panther Strikes Again<\/strong> is like a James Bond movie on laughing gas.\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 United Artists\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 103 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (some violence, brief nudity, suggestive content)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Blake Edwards\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Henry Mancini\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Harry Waxman\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 15, 1976 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Lesley-Anne Down, Burt Kwouk, Colin Blakely, Richard Vernon, Briony McRoberts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/The-Pink-Panther-Strikes-Ag.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5539,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3941\/revisions\/5539"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}