Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)

Watch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It's been a year since Inspector Clouseau disappeared. The Surete is using its supercomputer to select the best detective to solve the case. Chief Insp. Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) does a deal with a criminal to rig the supercomputer and it selects the utterly incompetent NYPD officer Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass).This attempt to continue the franchise without a reboot is probably the best of many bad ideas. A rebooting of the franchise with a new Clouseau would probably be unacceptable to the audience so quickly after Peter Sellers' death. Ted Wass hopelessly tries to replace the great man but the ghost haunts him throughout the movie. Even Cato attacking him doesn't bring a chuckle. I do like Clifton with Juleta but that's a very small section. Somebody should have insisted to Blake Edwards that this franchise needed to take a break.

Writer/Director Blake Edwards held onto the Peter Sellers legacy for two entire films. First with TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER in which Inspector Jacques Clouseau is brought back to life using deleted scenes from THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN before vanishing into thin air. This lousy patchwork also includes filler cameos by original PANTHER alumni David Niven and Robert Wagner with a forgettable subplot involving Robert Loggia as a mobster…Leading to the second venture, CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER, that, while far from perfect, at least attempts to move the franchise along with new blood: Enter dopey, spectacle-wearing Ted Wass as New York's un-finest Clifton Sleigh, chosen by a police computer rigged by Herbert Lom's Chief Inspector Charles LaRousse Dreyfus to do the opposite of whatever's being punched in; so basically, the dumbest/clumsiest cop is chosen to find the legendary Clouseau, known to everyone but Dreyfus as a crime-solving genius.Wass fills some pretty big shoes with rubber feet, providing physical comedy more written for the action-packed storyline than to get laughs outright. Meanwhile, Loggia's mobsters keep moving in for the kill while Sleigh, tripping himself up at the last minute, always survives as the villains – including Dreyfus himself – wind up screwed in the process.Particular sequences, like Sleigh trying to keep a sexy blowup doll from deflating and the return of Harvey Korman's snooty costume maker (from TRAIL), are overlong and pointless, but the best aspects are the well choreographed car chases and fight scenes: one pitting Sleigh's love interest against a group of karate-chopping gangsters during a Mardi Gras parade. Even when it's not funny, you'll be breezily distracted by all the running around.The familiar wily socialites played by David Niven (posthumously dubbed by Rich Little), Robert Wagner and Capucine sit around their mansion or yacht discussing The Pink Panther; not the lanky cartoon cat featured in the opening title sequences but the priceless diamond (i.e. "McGuffin") the franchise is named after: All leading to Clouseau himself returning with a brand new face, very familiar to fans of real secret agent films.It's true, Ted Wass is no Peter Sellers. Then again, everyone is "no Peter Sellers." But he sure does try, and his character – more of a vulnerable deer caught in headlights than bumbling buffoon – has a few good moments: one involving an umbrella in a rainstorm and subtle gestures, like kissing the wrong hand and having a diamond ring stab him in the eye: lightly humorous bits perfectly befitting a lightly humorous motion picture.

Filmed right after Trail of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther continues the storyline of finding both Chief Inspector Clouseau and the Pink Panther diamond. Since Dreyfus, however, would rather Clouseau was never found, he has someone from jail tell him how to fix it so a HAL-like computer finds the opposite of best detective in the world. That opposite would be Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass) from New York City. Meanwhile, a Countess Chandra (Joanna Lumley in her second consecutive Panther role) has the diamond and, it seems, an affair with a certain police detective...All right, I'll just say this right now: I didn't like the way Clouseau ended up in this movie being an accomplice to the Pink Panther theft and changing his face as well. I can't believe this is the way he would have behaved considering his sworn oath to upload the law (or luw). Having said that, I was very amused when he ended up looking like Roger Moore and how perfect was he when he did the Clouseau voice! Okay, moving on-I wasn't crazy about Sleigh when they first showed him disguising as a hooker in New York. Then he showed up at a Chicago airport during a windy storm with his umbrella almost swept up in it and I laughed a little. What got me on his side was that hilarious scene with an inflatable woman provided by Balls (Harvey Korman again) taking place at an outside French restaurant with once again another hilarious performance by the versatile Graham Stark as a bored waiter who can't keep his eyes off of the doll and Sleigh's attempts at blowing her up. There was also a hilarious fight scene between Clifton, some gangsters led by Robert Loggia, and a woman he just met named Juleta Shane-real name Julie Morgan (Leslie Ash) who later tries to bed Sleigh. Oh, and Korman was only fitfully amusing as Balls here though I did like the way he said "ca-ca". And besides David Niven and Capucine, it was nice to see Robert Wagner also show up as Niven's nephew George Lytton who's also from The original Pink Panther. One more appearance I was pleasantly surprised by was that of Pat Corley-best known to me as Phil the bartender on "Murphy Brown"-as Sleigh's frustrated superior in New York. He sounded different here but I recognized him just the same. Herbert Lom as Dreyfus still provides some laughs but Burt Kwouk as Cato was mostly wasted here especially when he wrestles with the American Sleigh at the now-Clouseau Museum apartment. So I guess overall, I really enjoyed Curse of the Pink Panther despite the absence of Sellers and what Edwards did with his character. Oh, and I wasn't crazy about the animated beginning credit sequence from Marvel Productions this time around though as always, the Henry Mancini theme is way cool. One more note: This was Niven's final film appearance as well as the final Panther stint for Andre Maranne as Sgt. Francois Duval. Since this movie bombed (or buumbed), you'd think Edwards was through with the Pink Panther series once and for all. Once again, you'd be wrong. P.S. Edwards' stepdaughter Emma Walton is an angry hooker here and his son Geoffrey (who also co-wrote the screenplay) is the voice of the computer Aldous. Next up, Son of the Pink Panther...

When Peter Sellers died, you'd have thought they'd have let the 'Pink Panther' series die with him. But money talks and in 1981 we got the dire 'Trail Of The Pink Panther'. 'Curse', its successor, was an improvement, thanks to a funny performance from the likable Ted Wass, best known as 'Danny Dallas' from the long-running T.V. show 'Soap'. His character, Clifton Sleigh, had more than a touch of Harold Lloyd about him but alas Sellers proved irreplaceable ( Dudley Moore and Rowan Atkinson knew this too. They both turned it down ), and we never saw Sleigh again. Some good visual gags include Dreyfus falling from his office window and Sleigh's problems with an inflatable doll. The film might have stood a chance had it not been continually looking over its shoulder at what went before. Especially confusing was Joanna Lumley's appearance as Countess Chandra - a totally different character to the one she'd played in 'Trail'. The decision to turn Clouseau bad rankled with audiences as well. David Niven's final film, sadly.