Lucky Pink (1968) User Reviews

Not that funny

[rbverhoef · 6/10 · 17 January 2004]

In this Pink Panther short a horseshoe brings everything but luck for a crook. Every single time the crook ditches the thing, the panther brings it back to him, so he stays unlucky.

There are some nice moments but no real laughs. It is all a little too predictable. Fortunately the short starts with the famous Henry Mancini theme. That means there is at least one good thing here.

A decent, if somewhat predictable, short with several nice gags

[llltdesq · 7/10 · 18 September 2006]

Pink Panther shorts are almost all a bit predictable, in that the character is rather one-dimensional and they usually establish a basic premise and then bounce gags off that premise for most of the short. How enjoyable any given cartoon is largely depends on the execution of the individual sight gags. While this isn't one of the best shorts in the series, it is funny in spots and starts off with an interesting idea. As I want to discuss the short in some detail, this is a spoiler warning:

This short follows a rather unfortunate thief-essentially, this is the Panther's primary adversary, the little guy with a temper. Whereas for most people, horseshoes are supposed to be good luck, for him, a horseshoe brings incredibly bad luck, frequently involving the police (early on, he steals a getaway car, only to have it turn out that he's stolen a squad car).

I was reminded of the old Keystone Kops films whenever I saw the police. In fact, part of the basic premise reminded me of an old Warner Brothers short, The Blow Out, because the Pink Panther keeps trying to return the horseshoe every time it's throw away, even when it becomes clear that his efforts aren't appreciated in the least.

The gags mostly fall into two categories: how the Panther gets the horseshoe back to its reluctant owner and what happens to him when the horseshoe comes back to him. The funniest gags have to do with how the Pink Panther returns the shoe, as there's only so many different ways to show the cops arriving on the scene before the gag stops being humorous.

This has a fairly good delayed gag in it and it also has a funny reverse gag where the thief forces the Pink Panther to take the horseshoe at gunpoint, sees the Panther having good luck, then taking it back at gunpoint only to have bad things happen to him again.

This short is available on the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection and is worth seeing, even though it does drag in spots. Recommended.

Very predictable, but amusing and beautifully animated

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 20 August 2013]

The Pink Panther cartoons are always fun to watch and most of them hold up well. Lucky Pink is not among the best of them, story-wise it's very predictable(among the most predictable of the series possibly) and a couple of gags seemed rather drawn out and stale. Lucky Pink is beautifully animated though, stylistically it's kept simple but the colours are very striking and the drawing is elegant. Definitely one of the most visually beautiful Pink Panther cartoons. The music is catchy with wonderfully jazzy orchestration and a good sense of character. Henry Mancini's theme tune is a classic, and still ageless and infectious after so many times of hearing it. Most of the gags do work, they are timed generally well and while never hilarious they are nonetheless very amusing, especially the antics with the shoe. Pinky is somewhat one-dimensional, that doesn't really matter though because he's still one of animation's most likable and coolest characters, and his comedy feels natural too. His adversary works well with him and within the cartoon itself, though Pinky has had more memorable ones. All in all, amusing and very well animated, though doesn't make much of an impression narratively. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Good Drawings In This City Chase Story

[ccthemovieman-1 · 8/10 · 29 April 2007]

This gets off to a wild start, with a man about to rob the City Bank. Walking across the street, he spots a horseshoe lying on the street and picks it up, thinking it will bring him good luck. Seconds later, he's running for his life as a mob of policemen are chasing him, guns blazing. In the chases, he tosses the horseshoe away, which goes through a basement apartment open window and clunks the Pink Panther in the head. When the Panther sees the crook running back his way in the other direction, he follows to give him back his horseshoe!

So, the "gag" in this cartoon is that every time the Panther returns the horseshoe to the bandit, bad things happen to the latter. This happens about a half dozen times, usually resulting in that posse of police racing after him and firing away.

At the end is an ironic twist, typical of the Pink Panther cartoons. Overall, this is very entraining and the drawings are some of the best I've seen in the PP cartoons. I especially liked the overhead "shots" by the director.

Wished every crook would have a horse shoe.

[OllieSuave-007 · 8/10 · 22 September 2016]

A horse shoe has proved to be bad luck for a robber as it foiled a crime for him. After he throws it away, the Pink Panther retrieves it and decides to return it to him, thinking he has misplaced it. But, every time the robber keeps getting the horse shoe in his possession, bad luck descends upon him, from getting the police chasing after him to getting dynamite blow up in his face, to ultimately getting a piano fall on him.

A predictable cartoon, but it generated some laughs and it will make you wish that every crook in the world would get a horse shoe like the one in this short.

Grade B

More philosophical than some, this picture . . .

[pixrox1 · 8/10 · 22 December 2022]

. . . explores Leon Trotsky's "Horseshoe Theory." To put it in a nutshell, the Horseshoe Theory speculates that opposites attract. For instance, if you put a milquetoast Pink Panther in close proximity with a serial bank robber, they'll become bonded more completely than a burr on a work glove. Though Trotsky had a fatal encounter with a baseball bat 28 years prior to LUCKY PINK's release, he probably was able to enjoy it as his piece of pie in the sky. It's true that some pundits dismiss the Horseshoe Theory as being Twirl Dee Twirl Dumb. After all, how can the ineffectual Jack-a-lopes be equated with Pernicious Pachyderms? But that's the whole point of LUCKY PINK. Eventually the Evil Elephantine End-timers will have to stop and face the music, when a piano crushes them.