Night of The Pink Panther (1989)

Night of The Pink Panther is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film that stars Pat Corley, Ted Wass, Joe Morton, Michael Winslow, Jack Palace, and Teri Hatcher. The film was released in the United States on December 22, 1989, and alongside Always was the final film to be released in the 1980s. Sergeant Clifton Sleigh and Sergeant Chuck Jones work together when a criminal mastermind, Matthew Carswell (Palace), frames both of them for the murder of an F.B.I agent.

Plot
Matthew Carswell (Jack Palace), a major business leader and secretly a mob leader, is suspected by his drug trading partner of weak leadership and improperly managing his criminal empire. To prove otherwise, Carswell decides to kill the famous Lieutenant Clifton Sleigh and his partner Sergeant Chuck Jones, members of the NYPD who have earned themselves a reputation for disrupting Carswell's smuggling operations. Carswell angrily explains an elaborate scheme to his henchmen that will put them through exquisite tortures and humiliation (he says simply having them killed is too "quick and easy").

Posing as an informant, Carswell informs Sleigh of a drug dealer taking place later that night. Sleigh and Jones arrive at the location and discover a dead body that is wire-tapped before the F.B.I arrive and surround the duo. Agent Walker finds Sleigh's backup Walther PPK pistol on the floor with a silencer attached and arrests both Sleigh and Jones. At their murder trial, Sleigh and Jones are incriminated by an audio tape, secretly given to Carter by Carswell and vertified in court by an audio expert, which appears to reveal them shooting the undercover FBI agent after discussing a drug purchase. They plead no contest to a lesser charge in exchange for reduced sentences in a minimum-security prison, however, Carswell bribes the judge to transport them to a maximum-security prison to be housed with many of the criminals they arrested in the past.

Once in prison, Sleigh and Jones are roused from their beds and tortured by a gang of prisoners until Mauser, now a prison warden, rescues them. Mauser recommends that they escape and provides them with a plan, but Sleigh refuses to go along with it. When Jones tries to escape, he finds Mauser murdered and is attacked by prisoners. Sleigh rescues him and the duo heads to the roof, Sleigh manages to zipline outside the prison walls, but Jones is attacked by Face (Robert Z'Dar), Jones defeats him by knocking him into a transformer which electrocutes him, Jones also manages to escape. Once outside the prison walls, they proceed to hideout in Sleigh's apartment.

The detectives then visit the witnesses who framed them in court as well as the Judge. Walker confesses to Jones that Carswell was in charge of the setup, but gets killed in a car bomb while trying to escape. Sleigh discovers that Bartholomew (Michael Jeter), the audio expert, made the incriminating tape himself and destroys his expensive equipment until Skinner agrees to help him clear his name. During the case however, Sleigh is targeted by a mysterious assassin who wishes for him to die.

Jones reveals that Tackleberry has given them Carswell's address when hiding at Loretta Bronson's house. Tackleberry, Sleigh, and Jones board a high tech assault vehicle to storm into Carswell's headquarters to confront the crime lord. At this point, Carswell, who has kidnapped Loretta, starts a timer that will trigger the building's automatic self-destruct procedure. After Tackleberry kills Carswell's core security personnel, the trio is confronted by Carswell, who holds a gun to Loretta 's head in a hall of mirrors. However, Palmyra barges in and accidentally kill Carswell while trying to kill Sleigh. As it turned out, Palmyra was the mysterious assassin all along due to gone insane from Sleigh's bumbling.

Sleigh, Tackleberry, Jones, and Loretta escape from the exploding building. Palmyra survives, but is injured and has to go to the hospital. Sleigh and Loretta then spend the evening together after he and Jones are completely vindicated.

Cast

 * Ted Wass as Sergeant Clifton Sleigh
 * Michael Winslow as Sergeant Chuck Jones
 * David Graf as Sergeant Eugene Tackleberry
 * Pat Corley as Lieutenant Palmyra
 * Jack Palace as Matthew Carswell
 * Brion James as Deacon
 * Art Metrano as Warden Mauser
 * James Hong as Lee
 * Marc Alaimo as Lopez
 * Michael J. Pollard as Owen
 * Robert Z'Dar as "The Jaw"
 * Lewis Arquette as Federal Agent Walker
 * Roy Brocksmith as Federal Agent Davis
 * Richard Fancy as Nolan
 * Michael Jeter as Skinner (the audio expert)
 * Clint Howard as "Joey"
 * Benny Urquidez as Thug