Inspector Clouseau (film)

Infobox Film | name = Inspector Clouseau


director = Bud Yorkin
producer = Lewis J. Rachmil
writer = Blake Edwards (character)
Maurice Richlin (character)
Frank Waldman
Tom Waldman
starring =Alan Arkin
music = Ken Thorne
cinematography = Arthur Ibbetson
editing =
distributor = United Artists
The Mirisch Company
released = July 19, 1968
runtime = 96 minutes.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0063135
preceded_by = "A Shot in the Dark"
followed_by = "The Return of the Pink Panther"

"Inspector Clouseau" is a 1968 United Artists feature film, the third in the popular "Pink Panther" movie series. It was directed by Bud Yorkin, written by Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman and starred Alan Arkin, who replaced Peter Sellers – Sellers had declined to return to play the lead role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau.

The film was the last to feature Clouseau until 1975's "The Return of the Pink Panther". Costume design and elements of Arkin's performance were retained when Sellers took back the role for "Return"Fact|date=September 2008. Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman also make their debut writing the series. Frank Waldman would co-write "The Return of the Pink Panther", "The Pink Panther Strikes Again", "Revenge of the Pink Panther", and "Trail of the Pink Panther". Tom Waldman would co-write "Trail" with Frank.

"Inspector Clouseau" does not feature Sellers and was not directed by Blake Edwards. Both were involved at that time with the film "The Party". The Mirisch Company wanted to proceed with this movie, so when Sellers and Edwards declined to participate, Mirisch decided to proceed without them. The film languished in obscurity and although it has been released to home video on VHS and DVD, was not included as part of the "Pink Panther Collection".

Plot summary

An organized crime wave strikes across Europe. Suspecting a mole within Scotland Yard, the Prime Minister brings Clouseau in to solve the case. Clouseau foils two assassination attempts but is accidentally kidnapped. The gang use him to make a face mask. Later, they use their Clouseau masks to commit a series of daring bank robberies across Europe. Eventually, Clouseau foils the plot and unmasks the traitor within the Yard.

Cast of characters

*Alan Arkin as "Inspector Jacques Clouseau"
*Frank Finlay as "Supt. Weaver"
*Delia Boccardo as "Lt. Lisa Morrel"
*Patrick Cargill as "Commissioner Sir Charles Braithwaite"
*Beryl Reid as "Mrs. Weaver"
*Barry Foster as "Addison Steele"
*Clive Francis as "Clyde Hargreaves (aka "Johnny Rainbow")"
*John Bindon as "Bull Parker"
*Michael Ripper as "Frey"
*Tutte Lemkow as "Frenchie LeBec"
*Anthony Ainley as "Bomber LeBec"
*Wallas Eaton as "Hoeffler"
*David Bauer as "Police Chief Geffrion"
*Richard Pearson as "Shockley"
*George Pravda as "Wulf"

Miscellany

*In the scene where Clouseau is being chased through the cemetery after falling in the plot and disrupting the funeral, you can see a sign on a cross in the lower right part of the screen for a few seconds. The sign reads "Reposite En Pace: Norman Lear, 1903-1962". This is an in-joke that refers to Norman Lear, with whom director Bud Yorkin had founded Tandem Productions in the early '60s, and who would collaborate with Yorkin for many years on television shows as "All in the Family" (1971) and "Sanford and Son" (1972).

*Alan Arkin not only played Inspector Clouseau, he played the members of the gang whenever they were disguised as Inspector Clouseau, with the other actors' voices dubbed onto the soundtrack.

*The animated opening credits were done by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, using their character design of The Inspector from the series of short cartoons under that title. (De-Patie Freleng also animated the "Pink Panther" cartoon shorts, as well as the opening credit sequences for most of the Edwards-Sellers films.)

External links

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