MovieChat Forums > Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) Discussion > B.E. made this film to set up the 'real'...

B.E. made this film to set up the 'real' film, CURSE OF THE...

posted 18 years ago by A_Minor_Blip
3 replies | jump to latest

there is only ONE reason they did this film

it's to set up the next film CURSE OF THE PINK PANTHER

it has the same plot (to find clouseau) and the same bad guy (loggia) and the same cameos (niven, cappucine and added, wagner) and even the same cab driver (william hootkins, porkins from star wars)...

TRAIL was Edwards way of having it seem as if Sellers were -- from the dead -- giving his "okay" on allowing a new incompetant bumbling hero to enter the picture, played by Tedd Wass... in other words, this film was supposed to make CURSE more legitimate... allowing Wass to "inheiret" the role...

TRAIL of the PINK PANTER, thus, has only ONE purpose...

no, it's NOT a homage... that's the disguise...

it was a cheap way to set up for what Edwards thought was going to revamp the series...

he thought Ted Wass would become a new franchise... he thought Ted Wass would go on for a decade and that Clifton Sleigh would become a household name...

boy was he wrong!

you can even say that this film is liken to two hours worth of "that was then" to set up for "this is now"...

but anyhow, that's the entire sole reason that this was even made, as a cheap set up for CURSE...

that's it, and there's no argument...

watch both at the same time, and you'll see exactly what i mean.

[–] FinnurE 18 years ago

Curse of the Pink Panther is definitely the better of the two, as the plot makes a lot more sense (Trail... didn't even have a proper plot, see my post "Great Idea" of what to do with it). All the same, both of these films stink.

[–] Ultimate007 18 years ago

here's my idea...

keep the first half of Trail - everything up until Clouseau's disappearance - but cut out all the crap with the reporter and the flashbacks... then skip to the part of Curse where Dreyfus finds Sgt. Sleigh... cut up Sleigh's scenes so he bumbles along for 15-20 minutes, and then get to the part where he finds Clouseau, and keep the ending from Curse...

by my estimates, that'd bring us up to about the proper length of one Panther film, and that's all we need! IMO, that would have been MUCH more enjoyable than having these two films the way they are!

http://therapeuticpink.proboards102.com

[–] s007davis 10 years ago

here's my idea...

keep the first half of Trail - everything up until Clouseau's disappearance - but cut out all the crap with the reporter and the flashbacks... then skip to the part of Curse where Dreyfus finds Sgt. Sleigh... cut up Sleigh's scenes so he bumbles along for 15-20 minutes, and then get to the part where he finds Clouseau, and keep the ending from Curse...

by my estimates, that'd bring us up to about the proper length of one Panther film, and that's all we need! IMO, that would have been MUCH more enjoyable than having these two films the way they are!

That's actually a good idea. You should make a fan edit cut exactly like that.