Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978) * * * 1/2

Directed by: Blake Edwards

Starring:  Peter Sellers, Dyan Cannon, Robert Loggia, Robert Webber, Burt Kwouk, Tony Beckley, Herbert Lom

I'm flabbergasted that I neglected to review Revenge of the Pink Panther, which is the funniest of the Pink Panther series and the last one made in Peter Sellers' lifetime.  Sellers returns as the bumbling, inept, but accidentally successful Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, who this time is causing a disruption in the French connection drug organization led by Douvier (Webber), who I believe is supposed to be French but is played by American Robert Webber with an American accent.  No matter, it's better and less distracting that way.  Sellers is the only one with a ridiculous French accent and that's how it's supposed to be.

Douvier wants Clouseau out of the way and for a time, it appears to the world he was successful, but Clouseau finds a way to keep on keeping on with his unbelievably good fortune.  His manservant Cato (Kwouk) turns Clouseau's apartment into a brothel not even 24 hours after Clouseau's reported passing, but once Clouseau returns, he and Cato team with Douvier's jilted mistress Simone (Cannon) to bring down the French connection.  How?  Not that the plot necessarily matters, but Clouseau poses as a New York mobster during a meeting with Douvier in Hong Kong wearing the most ridiculous and hilarious mobster disguise you've ever seen.  Clouseau wears disguises that draw attention to him rather than allow him to pass through peacefully, but Clouseau believes nonetheless in their brilliance. 

What makes Clouseau such a rich comic character is his unshakable belief in his own competence.  He is right twice a day like your average broken clock, but others like his former boss Dreyfuss (Lom) who hated him enough to utilize a doomsday device in The Pink Panther Strikes Again in order to eliminate Clouseau.  Clouseau and the rest of the world must have amnesia, because the people in this movie forget the events of the last one (where the device actually made Dreyfuss disappear) and has Dreyfuss reinstated upon Clouseau's death and has him deliver the eulogy (which causes Dreyfuss to break out in unintentional laughter). 

The Pink Panther series wasn't meant to be a bastion of realism anyway.  From its inception in 1963, the series has improved with each film and Revenge of the Pink Panther represents the hilarity zenith of the franchise.  Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther don't count by the way.