Summaries

Synopsis

When the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen once again from Lugash, Chief Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is called on the case by Deputy Commissioner Lasorde (Marne Maitland) despite protests by Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom). Lasorde has received a request for assistance by the President of Lugash (Harold Kasket) himself, who has asked for Clouseau personally.Dreyfus is under therapy with Dr Longet (Ronald Fraser), due to his obsession with Clouseau. Dreyfus derives pleasure from the through of Clouseau dying.While on the case, Clouseau is followed by the mob who are seeking to assassinate him.Clouseau gets himself a disguise designed by Prof. Auguste Balls (Harvey Korman) and his wife Martha (Liz Smith). The disguise consists of a wig, a false nose and teeth.

Clouseau first goes to London to interrogate Sir Charles Litton (David Niven) (having forgotten that the Sir Charles Litton lives in the South of France) and that Prince Charles lives in London.Traveling to the airport driven by Sgt. Francois Chevalier (André Maranne), he accidentally blows up his car, but mistakenly believes it to be an assassination attempt.Clouseau disguises himself in a heavy cast while on the flight, which causes complications in the air (when he attempts to go to the toilet with his cast on) and on land and leads to an awkward introduction to the Scotland Yard detectives who meet him at Heathrow. The Yard is represented by Superintendent Quinlan (Leonard Rossiter), Alec Dummond (Colin Blakely) and Inspector McLaren (Dudley Sutton).

Meanwhile, Dreyfus learns from Scotland Yard that Libyan terrorists may have marked Clouseau for assassination once he announces his intent to visit the scene of the crime in Lugash. Rather than order him back to Paris, Dreyfus orders him to continue on to Lugash as planned.

Colonel Bufoni (Peter Arne) is the right hand man to the President of Lugash and advises him the Clouseau reaching Lugash is not good news as that would put Lugash in a negative light in the international community. The President asks Bufoni to take care of the situation, with a promise of a promotion to General.Clouseau's plane crashes on route to Lugash. All aboard are believed lost at sea. Marie Jouvet (Joanna Lumley), a television reporter covering the story, sets out to interview those who knew the detective best. All of these interview scenes provide flashbacks to scenes of earlier Pink Panther films (The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and Revenge of the Pink Panther).Dreyfus is barely able to contain himself when Jouvet describes Clouseau as an athlete, an expert marksman, a born leader, a karate black belt, and so on.

To prepare for unforeseen attacks, Clouseau would assign his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) to attack him at any time of day or night.Jouvet interviews Clouseau's former assistant Hercule Lajoy (Graham Stark). Hercule says that while Clouseau was obsessed with facts, but he made decisions based on his intuition. He was always proven right at the end of a case.Clouseau's meeting with Princess Dalia (Claudia Cardinale) who claims to be the real owner of the Pink Panther. Jouvet meets Lady Simone Litton (Capucine), Clouseau's ex-wife, who is now married to Charles Litton whom Clouseau accused of being the Phantom. For a while it looked like Clouseau was the Pink Panther and was even sent to prison for the same reason.Charles Litton says that Clouseau was a fool, but he epitomized determination.

Jouvet also interviews Clouseau's father, at his winery in the south of France. He uses naked French beauties to crush his grapes into wines.Clouseau's father provides glimpses of Clouseau's childhood (Lucca Mezzofanti) (who was born on Sep 8th, 1920) (as a child he always wanted to be a policeman and was very resourceful), and his early career during college (Daniel Peacock), nearly leading him to commit suicide after a girl of his dreams marries another person, especially in the French Resistance involving him failing to detonate a bridge full of crossing Nazis.

Jouvet also has an unpleasant encounter with Mafia don, Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia), an antagonist. Langlois warns Maria to stop asking questions about Clouseau as business is booming in the French underworld with the detective missing. Jouvet refuses and tries to file a complaint against Langlois with Chief Inspector Dreyfus.Dreyfus, who wants Clouseau dead just as much as Langlois does, refuses to press charges citing circumstantial evidence, much to Jouvet's frustration.

The film ends with Maria hoping that Clouseau might be alive. Clouseau is seen standing looking over a seaside cliff, when a seagull flies over and messes the sleeve of his coat. The words "Swine seagull!" are heard in the distinctive 'over French' accent of Clouseau.

The next shot shows the animated Pink Panther in trench coat and trilby hat, revealed to be in place of Clouseau watching the sunset; he turns around to face the camera and flashes his coat open.