This is really the last of the Clouseau films. The others were cobbled together after Sellers' death and are not as enjoyable. This film is actually quite fresh and very enjoyable. Not only are the regulars in attendance, we get to meet the people who provide Clouseau with his fabulously ridiculous disguises. It turns out that there is a store that provides them and is owned by one Professor Auguste Balls (done to a T by the remarkable Graham Stark).

In this film, Robert Webber plays Phillipe Douvier, who is a gangster that his peers think is losing his edge. So, he kills Clouseau as a demonstration that he is still a powerful man. Well, everyone thinks he has killed Clouseau and that leads to most of the delightful humor in the film. While the familiar elements of Dreyfus and Kato are here, everything is twisted pretty hard and kept fresh even though they are familiar. We get to find out more about Kato and what he turns to once he thinks Clouseau is gone. Amazing stuff.

Dyan Cannon, at her most stunning, plays Simone Legree (ho, ho, ho) who is Douvier's mistress / secretary. The mighty Dourvier is afraid of his wife who demands that he end his relationship with Simone which, of course, makes Simone angry and reckless. Douvier intends to have her killed and she is inadvertently saved by the already deceased Clouseau. Fireworks ensue. When you get all this plus an inflatable parrot, how can you go wrong?

"Revenge of Pink Panther" (1978) is the best of the later Inspector Clouseau comedies, with Peter Sellers and director-writer Blake Edwards providing some new wrinkles to a well-established formula. The welcome addition of Dyan Cannon as Clouseau's romantic interest, along with an expanded role for Burt Kwouk's Cato, adds to the fun. Happily, "Revenge" avoids the sadistic physical humor of the earlier sequels for a kinder, gentler comic approach. And watch for Sellers' dead-on imitation of Oliver Hardy during Clouseau's slapstick interlude with Cato.

Plot: Someone attempts to kill Inspector Clouseau, but fails. Clouseau goes along with it and fakes his death to capture a drug ring in Hong Kong and find his would-be murderer.

Review: The movie's opening credits scene is, as always, a hilariouly violent cartoon segment- Clouseau vs. the Pink Panther. Highlights include a bicycle-powered zepplin, a paint-by-numbers Pink Panther, and lots and lots of guns/explosives. The movie itself is just as funny, with goofy gags like the Inspector's car ("The Silver Hornet") falling apart.....twice, Chief Inspector Dreyfuss constantly fainting after being shocked by Clouseau, various disguises, the climax (let's just say the 4th of July is coming early), and Clouseau's award ceremony.

Closing Statement: See this movie now! It's one of the best of the series, and an entertaining way to spend an hour and a half.

As others have mentioned before, this one has one glaring logical gap: the mere presense of Chief Inspector Dreyfuss, since he was killed at the end of THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN. Thus it would be best for a newcomer watching the series for the first time to see this one right after watching RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, then see THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN, as this entry fits in nicely if veiwed as a prequel to the one where Dreyfuss threatens to destroy the world. (Also we don't see or hear about what happens to Dreyfuss after the climax in the fireworks factory, so for all we he know could well have been sent back to the institution.)

Anyway. The plot is about the mafia wanting the newly-promoted-to-Chief-Inspector Cluesoue dead. After two failed attempts, involving a bomb and a superhuman martial artist assassin, they think they've succeeded after luring Cluesoue out to a secluded area at night and ambushing his car with gunmen. Now the whole world thinks Cluesoue is dead. But as it turns out, Cluesoue had picked up a hitchhicking transvestite robber just moments earlier, who had then taken both his car and his clothes and then had fallen into the trap meant for Cluesoue. Now it's up to the bumbling detective to find out who tried to kill him and expose them. Along the way he rescues Simone, former secretary of Phillip, the mob boss who has put a contract out on her life. And, of course, former Chief Inspector Dreyfuss, seen locked away in a mental hospidal at the end of RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, who makes an instant recovery and is happy as a clam when he learns Cluesoue is dead, is having horrible psychological distress at seeing his hated adversary and hoping he's hallucinating, and then being told he's been assigned to catch Cluesoue's killers when he'd rather congradulate them!

Other funny moments include: Cluesoue driving out in the Silver Hornet (a car that looks like it came directly out of a comic book and is about the most conspicuous thing you can think of, and besides which has some serious maintanence problems,) Cluesoue coming home after escaping from the loony bin (he told the cops, after being forced to put on the dress the transvestite left him with, that he was Cluesoue and they didn't belive him,) and seeing what Kato has done to the place after thinking his boss died, and Cluesoue's disguises, most notably the "old sea dog" one, complete with a blow-up rubber parrot that is so obviously fake, (particularly since he's always having to pump air into it as it keeps deflating,) he'd be better off without it! Don't miss this one!

I am an enormous Peter Sellers fan, and love the whole "Pink Panther" series, but while still funny, this is not one of my favorite outings. Sellers is back as Jacques Clouseau, and this time is taking on "The French Connection" crime organization in the midst of a huge heroin transaction that takes them from France to Hong Kong. Robert Webber plays Philippe Douvier, chief of the organization, and while he is smooth, the interactions are more forced and formulaic than in the other "Panther" films. This time the beautiful vixen is played by Dyan Cannon (as Simone Legree), and series stalwart Burt Kwouk returns as the always helpful Cato (who starts his own business for a new twist...)

Also returning (somehow) is the wonderful Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus, although some suspension of belief is needed for the continuity to work inasmuch as he was last seen in "Strikes Again" being atomized by the doomsday machine. Notwithstanding that continuity gaffe, Lom gives the best performance of the film, and in fact single-handedly rescues this installment from a three star rating by virtue of the sublime funeral scene in which he has to give the giggling eulogy for "Clouseau" in what must be one of the funniest scenes ever caught on film.

Here the plot seems very contrived and the screenplay devolves frequently to only modestly amusing puns. Clouseau's disguise designer, for instance, is named "Auguste Balls", and you can see the hilarity that can result. Pretty grade school level, I'm afraid. Also devolving into tedium is the seemingly eternal chase scene at the close of the film, which looks like something the Three Stooges would have done, and set to extremely repetitive, annoying, whistle-laden vaudeville slapstick music. I remember seeing this a long time ago and thinking this scene lasted too long, but this time I actually started thumbing through a magazine to pass the time until it was over.

This movie is funny, and I do recommend it, with a couple of caveats. First, it is recommended only to people who are already fans of the series, and second, it is recommended only to those with patience to muddle through a bit more tedium than is typical of the rest of the "Pink Panther" films.