Curse of The Pink Panther

Curse of the Pink Panther is a 1983 British comedy film and a continuation of The Pink Panther series of films started by Blake Edwards in the early 1960s. It is a sequel to the movie Romance of The Pink Panther, the final film starring Peter Sellers as Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Curse of the Pink Panther attempted to relaunch the series with a new lead, Ted Wass, as bumbling American detective Clifton Sleigh, assigned to find the missing Inspector Clouseau.

Plot
In Lugash, the fabled Pink Panther diamond is stolen. Countess Anastasia de Puissance, a daring burglar known as "the Frog", and also Clouseau's wife, is looking to procure the priceless gem and an argument with Gino Rossi the thief regarding the price. Rossi attempts to commit murder only for Clouseau to burst in what a gun in order to protect his wife. The Countess then shoots Rossi. Meanwhile, Dreyfus becomes the chief inspector again and is pressured by the commissioner to locate the missing Pink Panther diamond and assign a new detective to the case now that Clouseau is retired. Dreyfus is forced to over see Operation Paragon and utilize Interpol's fictitious Huxley Huxley 600 computer Aldous to find the world's greatest detective, second to Clouseau, to solve the crime.

What the world at large does not realize is that Clouseau was actually an inept fool whose cases were solved more through luck than actual detective genius, and that his accident-prone incompetence led Dreyfus to a series of nervous breakdowns. Upset that he wasn't assigned to solve the case himself, Dreyfus sabotages the computer to select the world's worst detective. This turns out to be Sergeant Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass), an incompetent officer of the New York Police Department.

Sleigh, who is descended from a long line of cops, sees the case as an opportunity to prove his worth. Dreyfus and his long-suffering assistant, Sergeant François Durval (André Maranne), soon find that the sabotage has worked a bit too well: while slightly more intelligent and capable, Sleigh is just as clumsy as Clouseau. When Sleigh meets Dreyfus for the first time in his office, Sleigh trips over his own feet and knocks Dreyfus into his wheeled office chair, which rolls out onto the balcony — and sends Dreyfus falling three stories into a pond below, breaking his left leg. Sleigh visits Dreyfus in the hospital to apologize, but accidentally ends up hurting Dreyfus more by falling over the hospital equipment holding Dreyfus's leg.

As he sets out on the case, Sergeant Sleigh suspects that Clouseau is the thief and breaks into the Clouseau Museum Cato now operates. However, Sleigh is attacked by Cato. Dreyfus attempts to kill Sleigh numerous times like he tried to kill Clouseau. Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia) also puts out a hit on Sleigh fearing that he would figure out that he is actually Al Marchione, the mobster from Revenge of The Pink Panther. Sleigh is even targeted by General Bufoni and the Lugash Secret Police who doesn't want the Pink Panther to be recovered since that would mean that he and the President of Lugash would have to return the insurance money that he already spent. Langlois orders several assassination attempts on Sleigh, but the detective's bumbling nature allows him to survive.

Sleigh also meets Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven), who is now married to Clouseau's former wife Simone (Capucine), and is accompanied by his nephew George (Robert Wagner). Sir Charles was the notorious jewel thief known as "the Phantom," though only Clouseau was convinced of this. The Phantom would steal items of jewelery and leave behind a monogrammed white glove.

Ultimately, Langlois, along with his henchmen (including Mr. Chong from Revenge of the Pink Panther) have a final showdown with Sleigh in a dark alley in Valencia, Spain, during Carnival. Julie Morgan (Leslie Ash), an employee of the enigmatic Countess de Puissance, comes to Sleigh's rescue and manages to defeat Bruno and his thugs in street combat. Sleigh goes to meet Julie Morgan in his hotel room only for Clouseau to shoot his wife's secretary fearing that she would talk and Sleigh gets blamed for it by the police chief of Valencia, who Dreyfus misinformed as an impostor impersonating Sergeant Sleigh.

Eventually, Sleigh's trail leads to a health spa run by Countess de Puissance. There he meets Clouseau. Countess de Puissance manipulates Sleigh into believing that Gino Rossi stole the Pink Panther diamond. She recalls Rossi was looking for a good plastic surgeon and she recommended one.

Sleigh concludes that a man named Gino Rossi stole the Pink Panther diamond and that Countess de Puissance killed Rossi for it. Rossi' body was found washed up on shore after he was shot to death. Not wanting to have any encounter with Clouseau again, Dreyfus pays Sleigh to keep this quiet and say that Rossi stole the diamond and that Langlois killed him for it. In a final irony, as Dreyfus sets fire to Gino Rossi's photograph — happy to be rid of Clouseau once and for all — he accidentally sets fire to his office. Sleigh runs in and attempts to put out the fire with a hose, only to accidentally hit Dreyfus with the water, the force of which pushes him onto his balcony and Dreyfus again falls three stories into the pond below.

When Clouseau and de Puissance open her hidden wall safe to admire The Pink Panther, they discover they have been robbed, and a white monogrammed glove has been left behind. "Swine Phantom!" mutters Clouseau, knowing only too well who is responsible for the theft. In the final scene, Sir Charles, Simone, and George are sailing away on board their yacht with The Pink Panther jewel, which Simone has stolen.

In a post-credits scene, the animated Pink Panther is shown stealing the Pink Panther jewel. Realizing it's heavy, he slips out of the shot and drops the diamond offscreen, shattering it. The credits roll shortly afterwards.

Cast

 * Ted Wass as Sgt. Clifton Sleigh
 * Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus
 * David Niven as Sir Charles Lytton
 * Robert Wagner as George Lytton
 * Capucine as Lady Simone Lytton
 * Robert Loggias Al Marchione/Bruno Langlois
 * Pamela Stephenson as Countess Anastasia de Puissance, "the Frog"
 * Douglas Wilmer-Police Commissioner
 * André Maranne as Francois
 * Burt Kwouk as Cato Fong
 * Harvey Korman as Prof. Auguste Balls
 * Leslie Ash as Julie Morgan/Juleta Shayne
 * Pat Corley as Lt. Palmyra
 * Ed Parker as Mr. Chong
 * Bill Nighy as ENT Doctor
 * Peter Sellers as Jacques Clouseau
 * Liz Smith as Martha
 * Michael Elphick as Valencia Police Chief
 * Hugh Fraser as Dr Stang
 * Joe Morton as Charlie
 * Denise Crosby as Denise, Bruno's moll
 * Peter Arne as General Bufoni