I've been seeing a lot of commercials for the upcoming "Pink Panther 2" film. I love Steve Martin but I have to admit, he made a grave error in accepting the role of Clouseau. There is only one Clouseau and we all know that's Peter Sellers. They've tried a couple of times to replace him with the likes of Alan Arkin, Roberto Benigni and Ted Wass and each time they failed. Not to mention that every time they tried one without Sellers, Blake Edwards was also missing! As rough and rocky as their relationship was, Sellers and Edwards made the perfect team to bring the Pink Panther films together. My favorite of the films has always been"The Pink Panther Strikes Again". It is the fourth film of the series (many web sites will tell you it's the fifth but I don't count "Inspector Clouseau" because Sellers and Edwards were not a part of it) and by far, the wackiest! There are so many classic comedy bits in this film that it outdoes pretty much every other Panther film by shear content alone! My favorite scene is the tooth pulling scene where Clouseau poses as a dentist on a house call to Inspector Dreyfuss, who has gone insane and kidnapped a professor and his daughter and is hold up in a castle.
Clouseau uses nitrous oxide to numb Dreyfus but ends up taking as many hits as his patient. Stupid humor but funny! A lot of people have said that "Strikes Again" creates continuity problems for the films that follow in the series but let's face it, we're not talking about high drama here people. It's the Pink Panther movies. I don't think Blake Edwards really had continuity issues on his mind when making them! Incidentally, both "The Pink Panther Returns" and "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" use script ideas from a proposed Pink Panther television series that never got off of the ground. Some more Strikes Again trivia: the character of Professor Fassbender is named after Peter Sellers' character in "What's New Pussycat?" and the singing voice of drag queen Ainsley Jarvis is none other than the great Julie Andrews (Blake Edwards' wife!). Speaking of singing, Tom Jones had a huge hit with the song "Come To Me" which is featured in the film. You can hear that and many other musical moments from the film (composed by the master, Henry Mancini) when you download today's sharity: the soundtrack from "The Pink Panther Strikes Again". Enjoy!
The Pink Panther Strikes Again OST
1 comment:
I agree that Peter Sellers is and only could be Inspector Clouseau. "Strikes Again", was my first introduction to the series. It was shortly after my grandmother passed away and a school friend told me she had seen this movie and said I had to see it. Well, my parents took me to it and it was the best medicine for my depression, I was literally in the isle laughing my ass off! Since then I've always been a fan. I still have the full page Seattle Times article on his death which I framed beautifully in commemoration to fondly remember how he changed my life. That's Mr. Sellers, you did this kid well!
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