Following the death of Peter Sellers, the Pink Panther series seemed to have little future but director Blake Edwards still managed to grind out two further entries. The Trail Of The Pink Panther was mediocre but it had funny moments; The Curse Of The Pink Panther is a stretch too far. This - number seven in the popular series - is a feeble comedy in which the plot is poorly contrived, the actors look totally indifferent, and the comic moments are tired rehashes of scenes from the earlier films. It's no exaggeration to say this is the worst of the series.
Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) is assigned to use a super-computer to track down the world's greatest detective. Once found, this awesome detective will be entrusted with the task of finding the missing Inspector Clouseau. However, Dreyfuss has no intention of helping in the hunt for Clouseau (you may remember from earlier films that Clouseau drove Dreyfuss to the brink of insanity). Thus, Dreyfuss deliberately misuses the computer and finds the worst detective in the world - the inept New York officer Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass). Sleigh travels to France and follows a trail of clues hither and thither, accidentally surviving numerous attempts on his life and getting into all manner of wacky situations as he closes in on the truth. Along the way he crosses swords with various characters from earlier Pink Panther films, before it is finally revealed to the audience (though not to Clifton Sleigh) what actually became of the hapless Inspector Clouseau.
There are a few compensations amid the general air of indifference. A certain famous film star, billed as Turk Thrust II, makes a guest appearance as Clouseau near the end, and has a funny cameo role mimicking the mannerisms that Sellers had brought to the character. Henry Mancini's music is as catchy as ever, and there are infrequent sight gags which are fairly amusing (e.g. the scene where Wass sits on a giant rubber duck, only for the beak to poke out suggestively from between his legs). On the whole, alas, The Curse Of The Pink Panther is a very poor film. With a running time close to 2 hours, the film needs more than a couple of amusing gags and a good cameo appearance. Long before the end (heck, long before the middle!) it becomes a tedious affair, and as the plot unfolds one increasingly wishes that the final credits would hurry up and put an end to the misery. After this, Edwards gave up on the series until, in 1993, he belatedly added one final flick entitled The Son Of The Pink Panther.
Dreyfuss (Herbert Lom) is assigned to use a super-computer to track down the world's greatest detective. Once found, this awesome detective will be entrusted with the task of finding the missing Inspector Clouseau. However, Dreyfuss has no intention of helping in the hunt for Clouseau (you may remember from earlier films that Clouseau drove Dreyfuss to the brink of insanity). Thus, Dreyfuss deliberately misuses the computer and finds the worst detective in the world - the inept New York officer Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass). Sleigh travels to France and follows a trail of clues hither and thither, accidentally surviving numerous attempts on his life and getting into all manner of wacky situations as he closes in on the truth. Along the way he crosses swords with various characters from earlier Pink Panther films, before it is finally revealed to the audience (though not to Clifton Sleigh) what actually became of the hapless Inspector Clouseau.
There are a few compensations amid the general air of indifference. A certain famous film star, billed as Turk Thrust II, makes a guest appearance as Clouseau near the end, and has a funny cameo role mimicking the mannerisms that Sellers had brought to the character. Henry Mancini's music is as catchy as ever, and there are infrequent sight gags which are fairly amusing (e.g. the scene where Wass sits on a giant rubber duck, only for the beak to poke out suggestively from between his legs). On the whole, alas, The Curse Of The Pink Panther is a very poor film. With a running time close to 2 hours, the film needs more than a couple of amusing gags and a good cameo appearance. Long before the end (heck, long before the middle!) it becomes a tedious affair, and as the plot unfolds one increasingly wishes that the final credits would hurry up and put an end to the misery. After this, Edwards gave up on the series until, in 1993, he belatedly added one final flick entitled The Son Of The Pink Panther.