Review: The Trail of the Pink Panther

Peter Sellers was dead. No doubt about it. The comedic genius who brought us The Goon Show, Dr. Strangelove, and Inspector Clouseau was dead an buried. The project he had been working on before he left was yet another Pink Panther sequel, and he died contractually owing United Artist the film. It was not long after his death that United Artists announced that they would be going ahead with the work that Sellers had started. Apparently there was a script that Sellers himself helped write and all they need do is recast Clouseau. After all, they had successfully recast James Bond, so why not Inspector Jacques Clouseau? As a matter of fact there was now a forgotten sequel to the Pink Panther series released in the late 60s with Allen Arkin as the inspector, so yes it could be and had been done. Complete Sellers' last project, that was the plan.

But then again the only reason at that point for the Pink Panther series still existing was because people loved Sellers playing that character. He owned that character. Clouseau and Sellers were one and the same. When James Bond was recast most people would not accept anyone other than Sean Connery as 007. Roger Moore would always be the other James Bond, the replacement James Bond, the poor man's James Bond. And Moore was not the first actor to replace Connery. With much fanfare George Lazenby took over the role when Connery dropped out of the series. Lazenby gave an exceptional performance with only one fault, he was not enough like Connery's version of Bond. After only one movie he was not only out of the franchise but seemed to drop off the face of the Earth, ending up working in low budget movies and films shot in Hong Kong. This had been the same with other film series. For decades no one would accept any actor portraying Sherlock Holmes other than Basil Rathbone. Despite his poor acting Johnny Weissmuller would be the only real Tarzan. Sellers would not easily be replaced. United Artists needed a plan B.