Category Archives: Bumbling Detectives

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988) | David Zucker

Bumbling Detectives, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More

The comedy writing team of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker brought this first of a trilogy, based on their short-lived 1982 TV show “Police Squad”, of zany screwball comedies to Hollywood in 1988, offering plenty of sight gags, plays on words, pop culture sendups, and downright silly slapstick.  Leslie Nielsen returns to star as Lt. Frank Drebin, who seems to have a high success rate in closing his cases despite being an overconfident buffoon. His latest case involves trying to prevent the assassination of Queen Elizabeth II while on a visit to America. A hunch leads Drebin to look into wealthy philanthropist Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), who Frank thinks is also a scam artist. Drebin ends up falling for Ludwig’s beautiful but klutzy assistant, Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). George Kennedy and O.J. Simpson also appear.

 

Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) | Blake Edwards

Bumbling Detectives, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More

Ted Wass stars as New York City police sergeant Clifton Sleigh, who ends up getting selected by an Interpol computer that is choosing the second-best sleuth in the world to use to find the missing best sleuth, Inspector Clouseau. Except Sleigh isn’t the best, as Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) deliberately sabotaged the computer to try to find the worst and assure the whereabouts of Clouseau remains a mystery.  Meanwhile, Clouseau is still alive in the care of health spa operator Countess Chandra (Joanna Lumley), who aims to change his looks through plastic surgery. Meanwhile, the criminal element of the French underworld tries to take out Sleigh before he can find success in bringing their nemesis back, Inspector Clouseau. Blake Edwards co-writes and directs this attempt to continue the Pink Panther series beyond the death of star Peter Sellers.

Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) | Blake Edwards

Bumbling Detectives, , , , , , , , , ,

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Pandora | iHeartRadio | Stitcher | Email | TuneIn | Deezer | RSS | More

Trail of the Pink Panther is a film done nearly two years after the death of Pink Panther franchise star Peter Sellers, compiling the best clips and unused outtakes from prior films, along with new material to hang together a plot around the. That plot involves the theft of the infamous and priceless Pink Panther diamond from the fictional country of Lugash, and Chief Inspector Clouseau, at the request of the president of Lugash, is brought in yet again to investigate its whereabouts, against the wishes of Commissioner Dreyfus. In the course of the globe-hopping investigation, a plane carrying Clouseau goes down into the ocean, where it is presumed he might have finally met his fate. A television reporter is called forth to talk to those who knew Clouseau well, from co-workers to those he helped put away, as well as those who knew of his activities prior to joining the police, from his childhood upbringing to becoming a resistance fighter for France in World War II. Herbert Lom, Joanna Lumley, David Niven, and Robert Loggia also appear. Blake Edwards directs.