Inspector Clouseau (1968)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Bud Yorkin

Writers:

Blake Edwards (character) &
Maurice Richlin (character) ...

Release Date:

19 July 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Crime | Mystery

Plot:

A string of robberies has occurred in Britain and it's up to Inspector Clouseau to catch them. |

Plot Keywords:

Clouseau | Detective | Disguise | Belt Gun | Animated Title Sequence

Cast

Alan Arkin	...	Insp. Jacques Clouseau
Frank Finlay	...	Supt. Weaver
Delia Boccardo	...	Lisa Morrel
Barry Foster	...	Addison Steele
Patrick Cargill	...	Commissioner Sir Charles Braithwaite
Beryl Reid	...	Mrs. Weaver
Clive Francis	...	Clyde Hargreaves
Richard Pearson	...	Shockley
Michael Ripper	...	Frey
Susan Engel	...	Carmichael
Wallas Eaton	...	Hoeffler
Tutte Lemkow	...	Frenchie LeBec
Katya Wyeth	...	Meg
Tracey Crisp	...	Julie
Geoffrey Bayldon	...	Gutch

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Australia:G | Singapore:PG | Finland:S | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U (1968)

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

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, who was director Bud Yorkin's producing partner for many years on shows such as "All in the Family" (1971) and "Sanford and Son" (1972).

Quotes:

Reporter: Could you give us a statement please?
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: Yes. Chocolate makes one very thirsty.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Pink Panther Story (2003) (V)

A tragic waste...

...of the comedic talents of Alan Arkin.

Arkin is a fine actor, with a flair for incorporating pathos into comedy. Arkin's Clouseau was different from the one that Sellers had portrayed (though the Clouseau in The Pink Panther & A Shot In The Dark was far removed from the Clouseau in the 70's movies) - Arkin's Clouseau KNEW that he was hopelessly clumsy and introduced a side to the character that Sellers steered clear of when the three picture deal was stuck during the 1970's.

Inspector Clouseau is also one of the shortest entries in the series; this would most likely be down to the fact that it seems choppy, with all the hallmarks of a movie being butchered down to around 90 minutes when a studio loses faith during post-production and test screenings.

Even if a restored version was released (though it's a pretty safe bet that the original elements ceased to exist decades ago), it would be a far from perfect movie, but it would at least give fans of the series a chance to properly evaluate the movie as a whole, rather than as just a series of disjointed set-pieces where characters appear and disappear and situations occur with little-or-no-reason.

Alan Arkin may have been mauled for his interesting interpretation of the character, but there was more inventiveness and creativity into his single stint as Clousea than Sellers put into the three seventies Pink Panther movies.