Sellers + Edwards = Genius

Featured at this very moment on Turner Classic Movies is one of the staples of my childhood, The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), quite possibly one of the silliest movies ever made. Mom introduced us to the Pink Panther series when I was maybe twelve, and really, what more could you want from a comedy as a twelve-year-old? The wicked and infectious theme by Henry Mancini. A naked-but-for-a-fur-coat Russian spy (played by the downright sexy Lesley-Anne Down) attempting to seduce the hapless Inspector Clouseau, a crew of absurd international assassins including a dwarf with a crossbow, and an insane former police inspector threatening world destruction if Clouseau is not dispatched. Oh, and every possible slapstick moment imaginable, including exploding apartment buildings, suction-cup-arrows in the forehead, laughing gas, and the accidental destruction of an antique piano with a mace from a suit of armor, resulting in the following exchange during a kidnapping investigation that Clouseau thinks is a murder investigation:

Mrs. Leverlilly: You've ruined that piano!
Clouseau: What is the price of one piano compared to the terrible crime that's been committed here?
Mrs. Leverlilly: But that's a priceless Steinway!
Clouseau: Not anymore.

Another classic piece of wit:

Clouseau: (to ancient hotel owner) Does your dog bite?
Owner: No.
Clouseau: Nice doggy. (Pets the dog, which bites him) I thought you said that your dog did not bite!
Owner: That is not my dog.

The dead-on portrayals of Gerald Ford (stumbling, Michigan-football obsessed) and Henry Kissinger (the perfect nasal German accent) probably went over my young head, as did the extended scene in the gay drag club, but they're fun to look back on today.

So to director Blake Edwards, the ridiculously- accented Peter Sellers, and twitchy-eyed Herbert Lom (as the insane Inspector Dreyfus), I say thank you. Oh, and mom, thanks to you too.

Follow-up note: Strikes Again and Return of the Pink Panther are really the only two good entries in the series. A Shot in the Dark is okay, but Revenge of the Pink Panther (now playing on TCM) is not good at all.