The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Directed by Blake Edwards. Starring Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Richard Vernon, Leonard Rossiter, Lesley-Anne Down, Byron Kane, Paul Maxwell, Dick Crockett, Burt Kwouk, Colin Blakely, Briony McRoberts, Michael Robbins, André Maranne, Omar Sharif. [PG]

Fifth Inspector Clouseau picture (fourth with Sellers) is practically a spoof of the James Bond formula, with Clouseau’s old boss, Dreyfuss (Lom), escaping from the loony bin, kidnapping a nuclear physicist (Vernon), and forcing him to build a doomsday weapon. Sellers spends the lion’s share of the film inadvertently dodging a grab-bag of competing assassins before bedding Russian agent Down and infiltrating the villain’s Bavarian castle hideout. Logic and linking material are weak, and the film skids through a few dry spells, but there are more than enough riotous episodes to make up for it: the psychiatric hospital prologue, the battle with Cato (Kwouk), the parallel bars dismount and the interrogation that follows, the castle “assault” that resembles a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon, etc. Not as fully sustained or satisfying as the first two pictures in the series, but quite funny all the same, and the cartoon during the opening credits plays with a few droll send-ups of Hollywood hits. Sharif went uncredited for his small role; series regular Graham Stark appears briefly as a hotel clerk; cross-dresser Robbins’ singing voice was dubbed by writer/director Edwards’ wife, Julie Andrews. Followed by Revenge of the Pink Panther.

75/100