Curse of the Pink Panther
[Note: this is a direct sequel to Trail of the Pink Panther with most of the cast from the previous film]
While investigating the theft of the Pink Panther diamond from the previous film (Trail of the Pink Panther), Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau, hailed as France's greatest detective, has disappeared during the investigation and no trace can be found of him. Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is under pressure to set up a thorough inquiry called Operation Paragon. What the world at large does not realize is that Clouseau was a clumsy, bungling idiot whose cases were solved more through luck than actual detective work.
Since Clouseau's clumsiness drove him to a series of nervous breakdowns, Dreyfus in particular is desperate not to see or hear from him ever again. He is told to use the Interpol computer, a fictional Huxley 600 named "Huxley" to find the world's greatest detective, but instead sabotages the machine to select the worst. This turns out to be Sergeant Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass), an officer of the NYPD who are glad to get rid of him for a while after Sleigh is shown to bungle a sting operation when he dresses up as a woman to nab a purse snatcher, only to get acousted by a leering dirty old man, a pimp and a couple of prostitutes whom think that he's intruding on their turf, and falsely arrested by a pair of beat cops who think he's a prostitue while the purse snatcher steals another woman's purse right under everyone's nose.
When his harried boss sends him on assignment to France to find the missing Inspector Clouseau, Sleigh, who is descended from a long line of cops, sees this as an opportunity to prove his worth. Dreyfus and his long-suffering assistant Sergeant Francois Durval (Andr Maranne) soon find that the plan has worked a bit too well: Sleigh is just as clumsy as Clouseau, falling around, causing disaster and driving Dreyfus crazy. When Sleigh meets Dreyfus for the first time in his office, as Dreyfus warily offers to shake his hand, Sleigh walks forward only to trip over his own feet and fall on Dreyfus who falls back in his wheeled office chair which rolls out a walk-in window and Dreyfus falls three stories into a pond, breaking his left leg. Later in the movie as Dreyfus goes insane again and attempts to murder Sleigh, he keeps injuring himself by falling off buildings and even a steep cliff, leading to him breaking most of his bones and ending up in a body cast.
As he sets about his inquiry, Sleigh becomes the target of many people who would rather he did not find Clouseau. These include the inspector's former manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) (who had given up trying to defeat Sleigh the first time and let him go to find the missing Inspector); Dreyfus, who attempts to kill Sleigh like he tried to kill Clouseau; and Bruno Langlois (Robert Loggia), the mafia boss from 'Revenge of the Pink Panther'. Langlois attempts many assassinations on Sleigh, but Sleigh's bumbling nature allows him to evade the attacks, and ultimately, Langlois, along with his henchmen (including Mr. Chong from 'Revenge of the Pink Panther'), have a final showdown with Sleigh, although a mysterious young woman (smitten with Sleigh) comes to his rescue and manages to defeat Langlois (by giving him the Family Jewels) and the thugs in combat. Langlois is finally arrested and taken to prison.
Sleigh also meets Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) who is now married to Clouseau's former wife Simone (Capucine) and accompanied by his nephew George (Robert Wagner) (all from the very first Pink Panther movie). Sir Charles Litton is the notorious jewel thief known as the Phantom, though only Clouseau was convinced of this. The Phantom would steal items of jewelry and leave behind a white glove.
Eventually the trail leads Sleigh to a health spa run by Countess Chandra (Joanna Lumley). There he meets a famous British film star (Roger Moore), who speaks with a rather odd French accent and falls about all over the place (behaviour characteristic which would be familiar to those who have seen the previous films in the series). Countess Chandra tells Sleigh that Clouseau visited her claiming to be Gino Rossi and asking for a good plastic surgeon.
Sleigh concludes, wrongly, that Clouseau stole the Pink Panther diamond, underwent plastic surgery, was made to look like Rossi and was then killed for the diamond. Anxious to end the matter and be rid of Sleigh, Dreyfus announces that this is indeed the solution, officially closing the case and that the deceased Rossi was Clouseau (though it is clear that Dreyfus does not believe that this is what happened). In a final irony, as Dreyfus sets fire to Clouseau's official death certificate, happy to be rid of Clouseau once and for all, he accidentally sets fire to his whole office. Sleigh runs in an attempts to put out the fire with a fire hose only to accidetly hit Dreyfus with the water in which the force of the water pushes Dreyfus back out of his walk-in window and falling down three stories into the pond at the base of his window... again.
As it transpires, the Pink Panther was stolen by Gino Rossi (Christopher Reich) (in 'Trail of the Pink Panther') who bore a little physical resemblance to Clouseau. Rossi then tried to sell the diamond to Countess Chandra who instead killed him (shown in the pre-credits sequence) when trying to kill Clouseau who arrived at Chandra's house to retrieve the diamond. His body was later found on a beach. The film star that Sleigh met was in fact Clouseau who had undergone very extensive plastic surgery. However, Sleigh is right that Clouseau has "turned bad", becoming Countess Chandra's lover and partner in crime (possibly either have been brainwashed by the Countess or disillusioned about going against criminals); but when they go to admire the Pink Panther it is to find that it has been taken from its safe and replaced by a white glove. "Swine Phantom!" mutters Clouseau, knowing only too well who is responsible for the theft.
In the final scene, Sir Charles, Simone, and George sail away on board the Lytton yacht, along with the Pink Panther jewel.
