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The Pink Panther (1963)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
6/18
6/18:
When I was a kid, I used to watch The Pink Panther cartoons, and one day, I saw the 1963 picture on TV, thinking of
the animated show, but it was not, causing me to turn it off.
Decades had passed by, and I decided to try the film one more time, knowing it was going to be with real people yet not
understanding why the cartoon character was initially involved. It was afterwards that I finally learned the real story.
Blake Edwards pitched an idea to Friz Freleng and David DePatie to create a supposedly one-time cartoon character for the
opening title sequence and supplied them background information of his vision. Hundreds of variations
were sketched, and Blake selected the one that became the iconic character as we know him today.
After the film was a big success, people wanted more of the Pink Panther in cartoons, so United Artists made a deal
with DePatie-Freleng Enterprises to produce a series of animated shorts. The very first one was called The Pink Phink
which ended up winning the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1964. To this day, the Pink Panther lives on and is an
instantly recognizable character. He now sells pink fiberglass insulation for Owens Corning. Oh...the 1963 film with
David Niven and Peter Sellers? Fucking forget about it.
It's a huge snoozefest that took me a week to complete. It's not even funny, and there's no plot to speak of.
In fact, when the laborious trek made its way through the masquerade ball, I immediately recognized the rip-off from
Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief. The ending is an all-time bad.
I don't get Peter Sellers. He's not a funny guy. Everything he did in The Pink Panther can be seen
coming a mile away which smacks of an obsession with old silent film comedies. Peter Ustinov was first offered the role of
Inspector Clouseau but smartly turned it down, thinking of the "Run! He is coming! Hide!" script not being worthwhile.
Eventually, he replaced Peter Sellers in Topkapi and therefore won his second Oscar.
Full of wood, David Niven is a dreadful bore. There's not a trace of personality in him. He tries too hard
to be the next William Powell who had a great deal of debonairness. I'm not going to mention Robert Wagner whose acting
pedigree is equal to daytime soap opera shows.
Who the hell calls herself "Capucine"? That made-up name sounds like a hodgepodge of cappuccino and porcupine. At any rate,
she's a Lauren Bacall wannabe with no star quality. As beautiful as Claudia Cardinale is, she
was virtually dubbed by Gale Garnett after I noticed most of her spoken words didn't match the English subtitles.
Her drunken scene with the tiger-hide rug is highly offensive and thus not appreciated.
All in all, the only good thing out of The Pink Panther is the iconic cartoon character.