A Shot In The Dark (1964)

A Shot in The Dark (1964)

6/10

Starring

Peter Sellers

Elke Sommer

George Sanders

Herbert Lom

Directed by Blake Edwards

A Shot in the Dark is the second movie in The Pink Panther series, following the adventures—well, the cases—that Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté gets involved in. Inspector Clouseau was just a supporting character in the first Pink Panther film, but his performance gained so much appeal that the rest of the films in the series became more focused on him.

This film, however, isn’t as funny as you’d hope. Here, the clumsiness of Inspector Clouseau feels more annoying than amusing, and Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Clouseau’s boss) becomes more of an irritation than the character was meant to be. I think my main issue with this movie is its lack of a solid plot. The screenplay could have been better, but the acting was top-notch. I’d say the issues likely stemmed from Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers working to develop the Clouseau character, so we can cut them some slack.

Originally, the movie wasn’t written to star Peter Sellers, but it was later adjusted to center around him. It’s here that we first get a taste of Clouseau’s exaggerated French accent, which later became the trademark of the character.

Directed by Breakfast at Tiffany’s director Blake Edwards, who also directed the first Pink Panther movie, Edwards also produced and wrote the screenplay for this sequel. The first scene in the movie is a bit of a classic to me, as we see a confusing patrol of individuals all after their own gains. Then a murder happens, and all hell breaks loose because we have no idea who the murderer is. The plot builds from this scene, with Inspector Clouseau being mistakenly assigned to the case—a mistake Chief Inspector Dreyfus wants to correct by killing Clouseau.

The movie does contain a lot of sexual references, which may not be suitable for children, as the plot itself is centered on sex and adultery.

There was a reboot of the Pink Panther series later in 2006, with a follow-up in 2008. The new releases starred Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau, but they were not well received by fans of the original classic.

This is the only Clouseau film not to feature the animated Pink Panther in its opening credits, but like the other films in the series, it did have an introductory animation scene.

A Shot in the Dark isn’t a movie I’d readily recommend to others, as it does drag on and gets boring after a while, but there are still some funny moments.