Revenge of the Pink Panther

Edwards and his collaborators have wisely chosen to give an audience just what it wants and expects from a Pink Panther film - riotous slapstick, spectacular stunts and Sellers in a variety of accents and disguises that give him free reign and lead to inevitable uproariousness. [19 July 1978, p.E1]

Peter Sellers's marvelously inept French Inspector Clouseau takes his fifth bow in Revenge of the Pink Panther - and you can't help loving it. Sellers and writer-director Blake Edwards clearly have no interest in tampering with their pat, profitable formula. They give us what we have come to expect from the series: a slapstick farce with raucous sight gags, wild chases and crass jokes that must be inspired by Playboy cartoons. [24 July 1978, p.59]

Many reviewers have given the current exhibit low marks for vitality and originality, but then, most reviewers have never been wild about any of the Pink Panther movies. It is the public, not the critics, that made the Clouseau creations the highest grossing comedy series in the history of theatrical motion pictures. It is the perfect entertainment for children of all ages because it is not really designed as the perfect entertainment for children of all ages. [31 July 1978, p.35]

If you have the Clouzot habit, as I have, there's very little that Mr. Edwards and Mr. Sellers could do that would make you find the movie disappointing.

Peter Sellers, as Inspector Clouseau, puts on a lot of funny costumes and has a lot of funny accidents. It was a good routine in 1964, and it's a good routine 14 years later. But it has gotten sloppier over the years.

The fifth picture of the Pink Panther series, this wasn't as good as most of the others. It's a bit too unfocused, and the scenes shift to locations all over the world, like a comic version of a James Bond movie, but a good cast led by Sellers, under Edwards' direction, still provides plenty of laughs.

There are pratfalls and car chases and explosions enough to please youngsters but the adult appeal of the Pink Panther series has disappeared. [24 July 1978]

This -- tragically -- final entry in the Peter Sellers canon of "Pink Panther" films closes things out on a bit of a whimper, as it represents one of the first discernible moments in my times as a moviegoer where I can tell a film is simultaneously caught up in and unaware of its own narrativity. So much of it is focused on the plot at hand, yes. Clouseau is wrapped up in yet another scheme involving some criminal mastermind asking for his head, and while some of the events therein are mildly humorous, the overall tone is severely hampered by an over reliance on plot development. But with that, there's also one baffling moment where the canon of the entire franchise is thrown for a loop by. . .I don't even know what to call it. A narrative oversight? The laziest retcon ever? It's something I'd honestly take as an attempt at comedy, if the movie were a lot funnier. But, alas, a lot of the magic of the prior installments are gone. Clouseau fooling around in some millionaire's home gym. Clouseau unwittingly missing an entire robbery happening in a store just feet away from him. Clouseau giving away his luggage and clothing to some strange man in a hotel through a few simple conversational mistakes. All of these gags made for some of the best moments in a series that (I thought) valued nuance over grandiosity. But here we are, watching Clouseau parade around in "yellowface" and a bevy of other over-the-top disguises. To be fair and clear here, it's far from the worst comedy I've ever seen, and I wouldn't even say it's the worst in the franchise. But my regrets remain.