The Pink Panther Strikes Again Imp Awards
| The Pink Panther Strikes Over again | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | Frank Waldman Blake Edwards |
| Produced past | Blake Edwards Tony Adams (Associate Producer) Animation: Richard Williams |
| Starring | Peter Sellers Herbert Lom Colin Blakely Leonard Rossiter Lesley-Anne Down |
| Cinematography | Harry Waxman |
| Edited by | Alan Jones |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Production | Amjo Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release dates |
|
| Running fourth dimension | 103 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million |
| Box office | $75 million[1] |
The Pink Panther Strikes Again is a 1976 comedy movie. The fifth film in The Pink Panther series, its plot picks upwardly three years after The Return of the Pink Panther, with former Master Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) virtually to be released from a psychiatric hospital after having finally been driven insane by new Principal Inspector Jacques Clouseau's (Peter Sellers) unrelenting ineptitude in the previous films. A typically disastrous visit from Clouseau on the day of his release prompts a swift relapse which cancels Dreyfus'due south scheduled discharge, only he presently escapes anyway, and organizes an elaborate criminal plot to threaten the countries of the world with annihilation by a massive laser weapon if they do not assassinate Clouseau for him.
Unused footage from the picture show was later included in Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), after Sellers' death.
Plot [edit]
Afterwards three years in a psychiatric infirmary, former Chief Inspector of the Sûreté Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), has recovered from his obsession to kill Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and is well-nigh to exist released; Clouseau, who has since replaced Dreyfus equally Principal Inspector, arrivies unannounced to speak on behalf of his former boss, and within minutes drives Dreyfus insane again. Dreyfus later escapes from the hospital and once again tries to kill Clouseau by planting a bomb while the Inspector (by periodic arrangement) duels with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk). The bomb destroys Clouseau'south apartment and injures Cato, but Clouseau himself is unharmed, being lifted from the room past an inflatable hunchback disguise. Deciding that a more elaborate plan is needed to eliminate Clouseau, Dreyfus enlists an army of career criminals to his cause and kidnaps nuclear physicist Professor Hugo Fassbender (Richard Vernon) and the Professor's daughter Margo (Briony McRoberts), forcing the professor to build a "doomsday weapon" in render for his daughter's freedom.
Clouseau travels to the UK to investigate Fassbender's disappearance, where he wrecks their family habitation and ineptly interrogates Jarvis (Michael Robbins), Fassbender'due south cross-dressing butler. Although Jarvis is later killed past the kidnappers, to whom he had become a unsafe witness, Clouseau discovers a clue that leads him to the Oktoberfest in Munich, West Germany. Meanwhile, Dreyfus, using Fassbender's invention, disintegrates the Un headquarters in New York City and blackmails the leaders of the world, including the President of the United States and his Secretary of Country (based on Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger), into assassinating Clouseau. However, many of the nations instruct their operatives to kill Clouseau to proceeds Dreyfus'due south favor and possibly the Doomsday Machine. As a effect of their orders and Clouseau's obliviousness, all of the other assassins terminate up killing one another until only the agents of Egypt and Russia remain.
The Egyptian assassin (Omar Sharif) shoots ane of Dreyfus' assassins, mistaking him for Clouseau, but is seduced by the Russian operative Olga Bariosova (Lesley-Anne Down), who makes the aforementioned error. When the real Clouseau arrives, he is perplexed by Olga's affections but learns from her Dreyfus's location at a castle in Bavaria. Dreyfus is elated at the erroneous report of Clouseau's demise, but suffers from a painful toothache and sends for a dentist; when Clouseau hears a dentist is needed at the castle, he disguises himself as an elderly German dentist and finally gains entry to the castle (his earlier attempts at sneaking in the castle had been repeatedly foiled past his general ineptitude and the castle's drawbridge). Unrecognized by Dreyfus, Clouseau ends upward intoxicating both of them with nitrous oxide. When 'the dentist' mistakenly pulls the wrong tooth, Dreyfus immediately figures out it is Clouseau in disguise. Clouseau escapes, and a vengeful and now totally insane Dreyfus prepares to utilize the car to destroy England. Clouseau, eluding Dreyfus'due south henchmen, unwittingly foils Dreyfus'due south plans when a medieval catapult exterior the castle launches him on top of the doomsday machine, causing it to malfunction and fire on Dreyfus and the castle itself. As the remaining henchmen, Fassbender and his girl, and somewhen Clouseau himself escape the dissolving castle, Dreyfus plays "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on the castle'south pipe organ while he himself disintegrates, until he and the castle vanish into sparse air.
Returning to Paris, Clouseau is finally reunited with Olga. Even so, their tryst is interrupted first by Clouseau's apparent inability to remove his clothes, and and then by Cato's latest surprise attack, which causes all 3 to be hurled into the river Seine when the reclining bed snaps back upright and crashes through the wall. Immediately thereafter, a cartoon image of Clouseau emerges from the water, which has been tinted pinkish, and begins swimming, unaware that a gigantic version of the Pink Panther graphic symbol is waiting below him with a sharp-toothed, open oral fissure (a reference to the then-contempo film Jaws, made further obvious by the thematic music). The pic ends as the animated Clouseau chases the Pinkish Panther upward the Seine as the credits roll.
Cast [edit]
- Peter Sellers as Main Inspector Jacques Clouseau
- Herbert Lom as Former Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus
- Leonard Rossiter equally Superintendent Quinlan
- Lesley-Anne Down as Olga Bariosova
- Colin Blakely as Inspector Alec Drummond
- Burt Kwouk as Cato Fong
- André Maranne as François
- Michael Robbins as Ainsley Jarvis
- Richard Vernon as Professor Hugo Fassbender
- Briony McRoberts as Margo Fassbender
- Dick Crockett as the President of the United States (Gerald Ford)
- Byron Kane as the United states Secretary of State (Henry Kissinger)
- Paul Maxwell as CIA Manager
- Gordon Rollings every bit Inmate
- Dudley Sutton every bit Inspector Mclaren
- John Clive as Chuck
- Damaris Hayman as Fiona
- Deep Roy as Diminutive Assassinator
Cast notes [edit]
- Owing to Peter Sellers's heart condition, whenever possible he would have his stunt double Joe Dunne stand in for him. Because of the often physical nature of the one-act, this would occur quite ofttimes.
- Julie Andrews provided the singing voice for the female person-impersonator "Ainsley Jarvis".[2] The scene in the nightclub when Jarvis sings is in many ways similar to scenes in Edwards's later film Victor Victoria (1982), in which Andrews plays a woman pretending to be a man who is a female impersonator.
- Graham Stark, a longtime friend of Sellers, once once more fabricated an advent in the series, albeit in a modest function as the desk clerk of a modest German hotel. Since his role as Hercule LaJoy in A Shot in the Dark, he has appeared in pocket-size roles in every Pink Panther sequel except Inspector Clouseau, in which Sellers did not play Clouseau.
- Scenes featuring Harvey Korman as Professor Auguste Balls and Marne Maitland equally Deputy Commissioner Lasorde were deleted from the moving-picture show, but were afterwards seen in full in Trail of the Pink Panther in 1982. Graham Stark would assume the office of Professor Assurance in the next film, Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978).
- Omar Sharif appeared, uncredited, as the Egyptian assassin.
- Tom Jones sang the Oscar-nominated song "Come up to Me".
- The role of Olga Bariosova was originally played by Maud Adams, who was replaced later on filming a few scenes. Blake Edwards then intended to cast Nicola Pagett after seeing her in Upstairs, Downstairs merely instead ended up casting Pagett'due south castmate Lesley-Anne Down in the function.
- Though the grapheme of the President of the United States (portrayed by Dick Crockett) is unnamed in the film, it is obviously based on then current U.s.a. President Gerald Ford; Crockett bore more than a passing resemblance to the President and Ford's somewhat exaggerated reputation for clumsiness equally depicted in the motion picture was a national joke at the time. The President'south unnamed somber Secretarial assistant of State (portrayed past Byron Kane) is obviously based on and then current Secretary Henry Kissinger.
- Blake Edwards fabricated a cameo appearance in the background of the nightclub scene.
Production [edit]
The Pink Panther Strikes Once again was rushed into production attributable to the success of The Return of the Pinkish Panther.[3] Blake Edwards had adapted i of two scripts that he and Frank Waldman had written for a proposed "Pink Panther" TV series every bit the basis for that flick, and he adjusted the other as the starting bespeak for Strikes Again. Every bit a result, it is the just Pinkish Panther sequel which has a storyline (Dreyfus in the insane asylum) that explicitly follows from the previous picture show. Oddly, the plot has nothing to exercise with the famous "Pink Panther diamond" of previous films, but comes off more like a parody of James Bond movies.
The movie was in production from December 1975 to September 1976, with principal photography taking place between February and June 1976.[4] The strained relationship between Sellers and Blake Edwards had further deteriorated by the time product of Strikes Once more was underway. Sellers was ailing both mentally and physically, and Edwards afterward commented on the histrion's mental land during production of the motion-picture show: "If you went to an asylum and you described the first inmate you saw, that's what Peter had get. He was certifiable."[three]
The original cut of the film ran for around 180 minutes, but was drastically trimmed down to 103 minutes for theatrical release. Edwards originally conceived Strikes Again as an ballsy, zany chase moving picture, similar to Edwards' earlier The Great Race, simply UA vetoed this long version and the motion-picture show was edited downwards to a more conventional length. Some of the excised footage was later on used in Trail of the Pink Panther. Strikes Over again was marketed with the tagline Why are the globe's chief assassins subsequently Inspector Clouseau? Why non? Everybody else is. Like its predecessor and subsequent sequel, the film was a box office success.
During the picture's championship sequence, there are references to television'southward Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Batman, too the films King Kong, The Sound of Music (which starred Blake Edwards'southward wife, Julie Andrews), Dracula A.D. 1972, Singin' in the Rain, Steamboat Neb, Jr. and Sweet Charity, putting the Pink Panther graphic symbol and the animated persona of Inspector Clouseau into recognizable events from said movies. There is also a reference to Jaws in the catastrophe credits sequence. The scene in which Clouseau impersonates a dentist and the use of laughing gas and pulling the incorrect tooth are conspicuously inspired past Bob Promise in The Paleface (1948).[5]
Richard Williams (after of Roger Rabbit fame) supervised the animation of the opening and closing sequences for the 2nd and final time; original animators DePatie-Freleng Enterprises would return on the side by side film, but with decidedly Williamesque influences.
Sellers was unhappy with the final cutting of the film and publicly criticized Blake Edwards for misusing his talents. Their tense relationship is noted in the side by side Pink Panther movie's opening credits (Revenge of the Pink Panther) listing information technology every bit a "Sellers-Edwards" product.
French comic book author René Goscinny of Asterix fame was reportedly trying to sue Blake Edwards for plagiarism at the time of his decease in 1977 after noticing stiff similarities to a script titled "Le Maître du Monde" (The Chief of the World) which he had sent Peter Sellers in 1975.[six]
Reception [edit]
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has an blessing rating of 76% based on 21 reviews, with an average score of vii.20/10.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Lord's day-Times gave the flick two and a half stars out of four and wrote, "If I'yard less than totally enthusiastic most The Pink Panther Strikes Once more, maybe information technology was because I've been over this ground with Clouseau many times before," stating that a fourth dimension would have to come up "when inspiration gives way to habit, and I think the Pink Panther serial is just about at that point. That'southward non to say this film isn't funny—it has moments equally good as anything Sellers and Edwards have ever done—but that it's time for them to move on. They worked together once on the funniest moving-picture show either ane has always done, The Party. Now information technology'south fourth dimension to try something new once more."[8]
Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that the characters of Clouseau and Dreyfus "were made for each other," and further stated, "I'm not certain why Mr. Sellers and Mr. Lom are such a hilarious team, though information technology may exist because each is a fine comic actor with a special talent for portraying the sort of all-consuming, epic self-assimilation that makes slapstick farce initially adequate—instead of alarming—and finally and then funny." Canby also enjoyed Clouseau'due south French accent, and wrote, "Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Edwards delight in old gags, and part of the joy of The Pink Panther Strikes Again is watching the fashion they spin out what is essentially a unmarried routine".[9]
The film earned theatrical rentals of $19.5 million in the United States and Canada[10] from a gross of $33.8 meg.[11] Internationally, it earned rentals of $ten.5 million for a worldwide full of $thirty million.[10] Past March 1978, the moving picture had grossed $75 1000000 worldwide and was hoping to earn another $viii million by the cease of the year.[1]
Awards [edit]
- The screenwriters, Blake Edwards and Frank Waldman received a 1977 Writers Social club of America Award for "Best One-act Adapted from Another Medium". The film also won a 1978 Evening Standard British Motion picture Award for "Best Comedy".
- "Come up to Me", written by Henry Mancini (music) and Don Black (lyrics), received an Academy Honour nomination for "Best Song" at the 49th Academy Awards.
- The motion picture was nominated for a 1977 Golden Earth Award for "Best Motion Picture", and Peter Sellers was nominated for "All-time Motion Picture Histrion – Musical/Comedy".[12]
- American Movie Constitute Lists
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs – Nominated[13]
- AFI'southward 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
- "Does your dog bite?" – Nominated[14]
Play Adaptation [edit]
The film was adapted into a play by William Gleason. Most events in the film occur though the locations sometimes are changed. Scene changes are done past women wearing pink panther costumes. The play currently tin can be licensed through Dramatic Publishing.[xv]
References [edit]
- ^ a b "New 'Pink Panther,' Set up For July Bow, Tops $7-Mil in Blind Bids". Multifariousness. 22 March 1978. p. 39.
- ^ Allmovie Bandage
- ^ a b Thames, Stephanie "The Pinkish Panther Strikes Once again" (TCM article)
- ^ IMDB Business organization Information
- ^ Starks, Michael (Oct 1982). Cocaine fiends and Reefer madness: an illustrated history of drugs in the movies. Cornwall Books. p. 190. ISBN978-0-8453-4504-7.
- ^ (in French) Pascal Ory, Goscinny (1926–wall): la Liberté d'en rire, Paris: Perrin, 2007, ISBN 978-2-262-02506-nine, p. 221.
- ^ The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Rotten Tomatoes, retrieved 19 March 2022
- ^ Ebert, Roger (20 December 1976). "The Pinkish Panther Strikes Once more Review (1976)". Chicago Sun-Times . Retrieved ii June 2017.
- ^ Canby, Vincent (16 December 1976). "Pink Panther Team Unflappable In Fourth Loftier-Spirited Caper". The New York Times . Retrieved 2 June 2017.
- ^ a b "UA Motion picture Rental Highlights of 1977". Variety. 11 January 1978. p. iii.
- ^ "The Pink Panther Strikes Over again, Box Office Information". Box Part Mojo. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
- ^ IMDB Awards
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs Nominees
- ^ AFI's 100 Years...100 Pic Quotes Nominees
- ^ "The Pink Panther Strikes Over again". Dramatic Publishing . Retrieved ix April 2022.
External links [edit]
- The Pink Panther Strikes Once more at IMDb
- The Pink Panther Strikes Once again at the TCM Movie Database
- The Pink Panther Strikes Over again at AllMovie
- The Pinkish Panther Strikes Again at the American Moving-picture show Establish Catalog
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pink_Panther_Strikes_Again
0 Response to "The Pink Panther Strikes Again Imp Awards"
Post a Comment