Stop Dissing the original PINK PANTHER!

Cafe Society
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Have you ever noticed how many people seem to like Inspector Clouseau movies but hate THE PINK PANTHER? I’ll often hear, online and in person, from someone who grew up watching RETURN OF THE REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN WHILE HE’S ON THE TRAIL OF A CURSE, and then sees THE PINK PANTHER and says, basically, “It sucks because it’s not like the other Inspector Clouseau movies.” Of course it isn’t. That’s why it’s so good.

THE PINK PANTHER is the best of the bunch precisely because it’s not 100% slapstick or 100% Clouseau. It’s a beautiful-looking, sophisticated combination of caper film, romantic comedy and slapstick, and surprisingly dark and morally ambiguous. Blake Edwards’ best comedy and one of the best Hollywood movies of its era. It’s worth it for the “Meglio Stasera” song number alone. In the Hollywood of the early ‘60s, when films were often visually impoverished and looked like bad TV no matter how much money was spent on them, Edwards’ sense of style and his beautiful widescreen compositions (I think this was his first film in 'Scope, and all but one or two of his subsequent movies used the 'Scope format) must have been a breath of fresh air.

Shot in the Dark is great, but it starts to make Clouseau into just another bumbling guy instead of the more complex character he promised to become based on the first movie. One of the things that makes it work, come to think of it, is that Sellers is still sort of playing the Clouseau he played in the first movie, a bumbling but kind of sad and lovable guy, instead of the one-dimensional destruction machine of the later movies.

PANTHER is not only different from the Clouseau movies, it’s different from most Hollywood comedies up to that point – a strange combination of the caper film, the slapstick farce, and the sophisticated comedy of manners. And it’s also one of the most heartless comedies ever made (the only truly decent person in the movie is Clouseau, and he’s cheated, ridiculed, humiliated, and finally… well, I won’t give away the ending). It’s perhaps the quintessential Blake Edwards movie and a snapshot of Hollywood in 1963: international casting, location shooting, a combination of innocence and cynicism, and a continuing process of adjustment to the end of the Production Code. There are things in this movie that couldn’t have happened under the Production Code, and yet it’s essentially a family picture in the way that it would not have been had it been made even five years later. (That’s actually something I miss, which is “adult” movies made for squeamish adults – someone should consider tapping into that market again.)

“Pink Panther” is often considered to be a disappointment compared with the rest of the series. I think it’s the other way round: except for “Shot in the Dark” (which is a great movie of a very different kind from “Panther”), the rest of the series didn’t live up to “Pink Panther.”

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No. I love Pink Panther movies, but didn’t see the first one until later. It sucked in comparison. People watch PP movies because they want to see, Kato, pratfalls, etc. The original was weak.

“does your dog bite?”

“no”

dog bitesInspector

“I thought you said your dog does not bite”

“it doesn’t, that’s not my dog”

Big fan of the PP series, but the first one does suck.

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Very interesting premise capelcleggs. I know I haven’t seen any PP movies since childhood, and my main memory of them is, as you put it, “one-dimensional destruction machine”.
I’ll keep my eye open for the original on TV - I hope you’re right about Clouseou being a more sympathetic character. (Perhaps pathos is an appropriate word to use? I love pathos with my comedy, there’s far too little of it around)

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Recently I watched Shot in the Dark with some younger cousins, and though they saw great merits in the young Elke Sommer, they really didn’t seem to find the movie all that terribly funny, as I still do.

I suspect that if Clouseau fornicated an apple pie, then had explosive diarrhea on a busted toilet, before smearing semen into his hair, it would have better passed their rigorous and elevated standards for what real comedy is.

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David Niven and Robert Wagner, both dressed in gorilla suits. How can this NOT be a great movie!

Plus, the skiing scenes featured pretty decent skiing, for its day.

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Personally, I can’t stomach any of them; but then, I’m not a fan of Blake Edwards or Peter Sellers.

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Say it ain’t so, Eve! I must…idolize you slightly less for this!

I guess I’ve never really talked much about the Inspector Clouseau movies with others, because I didn’t realize that the first one was less well-liked than the others. They’re all funny, but the original is the only one I’ve seen more than once. I’m not opposed to seeing the others again, but I haven’t sought them out either. I agree with capelcleggs assessment of the original as a darker, more sophisticated, and more well-developed film.

However, I can also see how the elements that appeal to me could turn off others, especially if they are big fans of the other movies in the series. The later ones are movies of a different kind. I wouldn’t say they’re worse, but they’re different enough that comparison begins to get into apples-and-oranges territory. So if someone loved the later movies and watched the first one hoping for more of the same, I wouldn’t blame them for being disappointed.

Pointless personal anecdote: When I broke up with my now ex-girlfriend (“Psycho Girl”) about three years ago, The Pink Panther was on in the background at her place. I cannot reflect on this relationship without unease. Even when it was over it wasn’t over – she turned out to be nuttier than I’d thought, and soon began a series of vicious revenge plots. Despite this, I still really like The Pink Panther. When remembering the breakup I’ve sometimes even thought “But hey, at least I got to see some of The Pink Panther!”

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Actually, the first one is the only one I’ve seen all the way through, and I love it. The scene in which Clouseau seduces his wife, the dancing in the Ski Lodge, the masquerade ball fireworks, and the chase scene are all wonderful–but so is Clouseau’s understated humor throughout. Sellers ability to execute a pratfall while maintaining a debonaire patter is just hilarious.

The bits I’ve seen of later movies – Kato, Clouseau in an insane asylum – didn’t do much for me.

Daniel