The Return of the Pink Panther

This was the first time in ten years that Peter Sellers had reprised his hit 1960s role as the klutzy French police detective Jacques Clouseau, but the title is more literal than that, as Clouseau is once again tangling with the nefarious thief Sir Charles Lytton, alias `The Phantom,' from the original PINK PANTHER. At times it seems like we're watching two different movies; wild slapstick with Clouseau, more grownup adventure/intrigue with Sir Charles.

But it's Sellers' mastery of characterization that makes Clouseau work. He's a bumbling oaf but conceitedly believes in himself as a cool crimefighter and master of disguise -- and good fortune seems to conspire to indeed make Clouseau look like a super-sleuth in the end, sending Dreyfus into a homicidal rage. Even though director Blake Edwards shows other characters (not Dreyfus, of course) laughing at Clouseau, a supposed violation of screen comedy's most sacred rule, it's still a riot.