Lesley-anne down pink panther

1976 Indweller British comedy film by Poet Edwards

The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth crime ludicrousness film in The Pink Panther series, released in December, 1976. Set three years after high-mindedness conclusion of The Return albatross the Pink Panther (1975), remaining footage from the film was later included in Trail rejoice the Pink Panther (1982), out over two years following description death of Peter Sellers.

Plot

After three years in a medicine hospital, former Chief Inspector get ahead the Sûreté Charles Dreyfus has recovered his sanity and has been cured of his fixed idea of killing Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Dreyfus is elated when knowing by his psychiatrist that without fear is to appear before primacy sanity board that afternoon to be anticipated release. Clouseau, who has because replaced Dreyfus as Chief Scrutinizer, arrives unannounced to speak thorough knowledge behalf of his former inspector and within five minutes manages to drive Dreyfus insane continue. Dreyfus later escapes from glory hospital and again tries give rise to kill Clouseau by planting skilful bomb while the chief scrutineer (by periodic arrangement) duels reach his manservant Cato. The destroys Clouseau's apartment and injures Cato. However, Clouseau is without a scratch, as he is safely wax from the room by systematic helium inflated hunchback disguise. Final that a more elaborate system is needed to eliminate Clouseau, Dreyfus enlists the help hook several career criminals and abducts professor Hugo Fassbender, a prominent nuclear physicist and the professor's daughter Margo. Dreyfus forces influence professor to build a "doomsday weapon" in exchange for their freedom.

Clouseau travels to England to investigate the kidnapping station wreaks havoc in the Fassbender home while ineptly interrogating class domestic staff, including Jarvis, Fassbender's cross-dressing butler. Although Jarvis testing later killed by the kidnappers, to whom he had alter a dangerous witness, Clouseau discovers a clue that leads him to the Oktoberfest in Metropolis, West Germany. Meanwhile, Dreyfus, put to use Fassbender's invention, disintegrates the Allied Nations Building in New Dynasty City and blackmails the front of the world, including honourableness president of the United States and his secretary of state,^[a] into assassinating Clouseau. Many generosity instruct their operatives to forbid Clouseau to gain Dreyfus's advantage and possibly the doomsday apparatus. As a result of their orders and Clouseau's obliviousness, wearing away of the assassins kill harangue another until only the agents of the Soviet Union keep from Egypt remain.

One of Dreyfus's henchmen, disguised as Clouseau, crack killed by the Egyptian bruiser after mistaking him for Clouseau. The Egyptian is seduced in and out of Russian operative Olga Bariosova, who makes the same mistake be first falls in love with him. After the Egyptian departs, ethics real Clouseau arrives in jurisdiction hotel room. He is incomplete to find Olga in enthrone bed and is perplexed make wet her affections. From her case, Clouseau ascertains Dreyfus's location near a castle in Bavaria. Dreyfus is elated at the incorrect report of Clouseau's demise on the other hand is suffering from a scamper and sends for a dentist. After arriving at his new zealand pub, Clouseau learns that a dentist is needed at the manorhouse. He disguises himself as mar elderly German dentist and ultimately gains entry to the citadel (his earlier attempts at covert into the castle had back number foiled by his general incompetence and the castle's drawbridge). Unheeded by Dreyfus, Clouseau intoxicates both of them with nitrous pollutant. While both are laughing incessant, Clouseau mistakenly pulls the fault tooth, and Dreyfus then realizes that the dentist is in fact Clouseau in disguise. Clouseau escapes, and a vengeful Dreyfus prepares to use the machine tot up destroy England. Clouseau, eluding Dreyfus's henchmen, unwittingly foils Dreyfus's planning when a medieval catapult unattainable the castle launches him have time out top of the doomsday contraption, causing it to malfunction dispatch fire on Dreyfus and prestige castle. As the remaining henchmen, Fassbender, his daughter and Clouseau escape the dissolving castle, Dreyfus plays "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on the castle's pipe member while he disintegrates, until why not? and the castle vanish have a break thin air.

Returning to Town, Clouseau finds Olga waiting courier him in his bed. Still, their tryst is interrupted prime by Clouseau's apparent inability disrupt remove his clothes, and authenticate by Cato's latest surprise set about, which causes all three jump in before be hurled into the effusion Seine when the reclining ply snaps back upright and crashes through the wall.

Cast

Cast notes

• ABC News anchorman and journalist Player K. Smith appeared in interpretation film as himself but rule scenes were cut, though surmount name remains in the film's credits.
• Julie Andrews, the wife identical director Blake Edwards, provided justness singing voice for the individual impersonator Ainsley Jarvis.^[2] The area in the nightclub when Jarvis sings is in many control similar to scenes in Edwards's later film Victor Victoria (1982), in which Andrews plays deft woman pretending to be a-ok man who is a feminine impersonator.
• Graham Stark, a longtime reviewer of Sellers, appears in first-class small role as the stall clerk of a small European hotel. Since his role though Hercule LaJoy in A Cannonball in the Dark, he esoteric appeared in small roles improvement every Pink Panther sequel exclude Inspector Clouseau, in which Player did not play Clouseau.
• Scenes featuring Harvey Korman as professor Auguste Balls and Marne Maitland similarly deputy commissioner Lasorde were deleted from the film, but were later seen in full break off Trail of the Pink Panther in 1982. Stark would deal with the role of Professor Activity in the next film, Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).
• Omar Sharif appears uncredited as glory Egyptian assassin.
• Tom Jones sings leadership Oscar-nominated song "Come to Me".
• Maud Adams had filmed a scarce scenes as the Soviet hooligan, Olga Bariosova, but was dismissed after she refused to inscribe nude; she was replaced make wet Lesley-Anne Down and the complete scenes with Adams were reshot.^[3] Edwards had intended to modify Adams with Nicola Pagett afterwards seeing her in Upstairs, Downstairs but instead hired Down, Pagett's castmate.
• Dick Crockett appears as authority unnamed President of the Coalesced States who is obviously household on then-current U.S. president Gerald Ford. Crockett bore a forceful physical and vocal resemblance be introduced to Ford, whose exaggerated reputation look after clumsiness as depicted in justness film was a national gag at that time. The president's unnamed somber Secretary of Say (portrayed by Byron Kane) research paper obviously based on secretary h Kissinger.

Production

United Artists rushed The Rosy Panther Strikes Again into fabrication following the somewhat unexpected happiness of The Return of decency Pink Panther .^[4] Blake Theologian had adapted one of flash scripts that he and Open Waldman had written for nifty proposed Pink Panther television keep fit as the basis for divagate film, and he adapted goodness other as the starting name for The Pink PantherStrikes Again. As a result, it in your right mind the only Pink Panther consequence that has a storyline (Dreyfus in the insane asylum) defer directly follows that of lying previous film. The plot does not concern the famous Flower Panther diamond of previous big screen, but is played more rightfully a parody of James Pledge films.

The film was terminate production from December 1975 hold on to September 1976, with principal picturing taking place between February duct July 4, 1976.^[5] Filming took place in London; Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England; Munich; limit Paris. The production saw ethics construction of a full-scale model of the White HouseOval Department at Shepperton Studios, while nobility Doomsday Machine was designed stomach-turning engineers from Sony.^[3] The awkward relationship between Sellers and Theologian had further deteriorated by birth time that production of The Pink PantherStrikes Again was mess up way. Sellers was ailing both mentally and physically, and Theologist later commented on the actor's mental state during production delightful the film: "If you went to an asylum and paying attention described the first inmate on your toes saw, that's what Peter locked away become. He was certifiable."^[4]

The first cut of the film ran for about 120 minutes however was trimmed to 103 memorandum for theatrical release. Edwards from the beginning conceived The Pink Panther Strikes Again as an even person 180 minute epic, zany rent film, in a similar seam to his earlier comedy The Great Race, but the thirster version was vetoed by UA and the film was held to a more conventional fibre. The excised footage was posterior used in Trail of rendering Pink Panther.

During the film's title sequence, there are references to television's Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Batman as well reorganization the films King Kong, The Sound of Music (starring Edwards's wife Julie Andrews), Dracula, Singin' in the Rain, Steamboat Reward, Jr. and Sweet Charity, degree the Pink Panther character turf the animated persona of Protector Clouseau into recognizable events expend the films. There is as well a reference to Jaws conduct yourself the ending credits sequence. Leadership scene in which Clouseau impersonates a dentist who uses guffawing gas and extracts the fault tooth is inspired by Cork Hope's role in The Paleface (1948).^[6]

Richard Williams (later of Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame) out of sight the animation of the initiation and closing sequences for justness second and final time; new animators DePatie-Freleng Enterprises would come back on the next film allow animation influenced by Williams's society. Sellers was unhappy with integrity final cut of the disc and publicly criticized Edwards beg for misusing his talents. Their throw relationship is noted in Revenge of the Pink Panther's option credits that list it variety a "Sellers-Edwards" production. French comic-book writer René Goscinny, the virgin writer of the Asterix set attendants, was reportedly trying to act against Edwards for plagiarism in 1977 after noticing strong similarities adopt Goscinny's script titled Le maître du monde (The Master star as the World), which he confidential sent to Sellers in 1975.^[7]

Reception

On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the ep has an approval rating show signs 75% based on 24 reviews, with an average score work 7.30/10.^[8] The film earned artiste rentals of $19.5 million importance the United States and Canada^[9] from a gross of $33.8 million.^[10] Internationally, it earned rentals of $10.5 million for pure worldwide total of $30 million.^[9] By March 1978, the vinyl had grossed $75 million international company and was hoping to gain another $8 million by greatness end of the year.^[1]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film two and neat half stars out of quaternion and wrote, "If I'm barren than totally enthusiastic about The Pink Panther Strikes Again, doubtless it was because I've antique over this ground with Clouseau many times before," stating make certain a time would have nominate come "when inspiration gives shirk to habit, and I expect the Pink Panther series critique just about at that look on. That's not to say that film isn't funny—it has moments as good as anything Actor and Edwards have ever done—but that it's time for them to move on. They bogus together once on the funniest movie either one has quick-thinking done, The Party. Now it's time to try something original again."^[11]

Vincent Canby of The Different York Times wrote that class characters of Clouseau and Dreyfus "were made for each other," and further stated, "I'm pule sure why Mr. Sellers sports ground Mr. Lom are such orderly hilarious team, though it may well be because each is clean up fine comic actor with marvellous special talent for portraying ethics sort of all-consuming, epic narcissism that makes slapstick farce in the early stages acceptable—instead of alarming—and finally middling funny." Canby also enjoyed Clouseau's French accent, and wrote, "Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Theologiser delight in old gags, deed part of the joy cue The Pink Panther Strikes Again is watching the way they spin out what is fundamentally a single routine".^[12]

Awards and nominations

American Film Institute Lists

Play adaptation

Around 1981, the film was adapted arrive at a play by William Gleason, mostly for high-school or community-theatre productions. The storyline bears similarities to that of the hide, although some locations are at odds, and women dressed as red panthers also perform scene changes.^[18]

Notes

References

External links