Son of the Pink Panther | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Blake Edwards |
Produced by | Tony Adams |
Screenplay by | Blake Edwards Madeline Sunshine Steve Sunshine |
Story by | Blake Edwards |
Based on | Characters by Blake Edwards Maurice Richlin |
Starring | |
Music by | Henry Mancini |
Cinematography | Dick Bush |
Edited by | Robert Pergament |
Production
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Distributed by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer United Artists |
Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
Country | United States Italy |
Language | English |
Budget | $28 million |
Box office | $2,438,031 |
Son of the Pink Panther (1993) is a continuation of the The Pink Panther film series. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son. Also in this film are Panther regulars Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark and a star of the original 1963 film, Claudia Cardinale. It was the final film for both filmmaker Blake Edwards and composer Henry Mancini; Edwards retired from movie making, and Mancini died the following year.
Princess Yasmin of Lugash (Debrah Farentino) is abducted in French territorial waters off the coast of Nice by terrorists led by a mercenary named Hans (Robert Davi) in order to force her father to abdicate and allow her disgraced stepmother's lover, a military general with terrorist ties to an unfriendly neighboring kingdom, to claim the throne. Police Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) is tasked with solving the case of the kidnapped princess. While investigating her disappearance in the South of France, he has a run-in with the kidnappers, and a local gendarme, named Jacques Gambrelli (Roberto Benigni). Gambrelli opens the rear doors of the kidnapper's van and unknowingly spies the Princess who he believes is the driver's sister en route to the hospital.
Hans becomes aware that Gambrelli witnessed the Princess in the back of his van and sends his henchmen to kill Gambrelli as a routine precaution. Dreyfus follows Gambrelli to the hospital where he observes the bumbling Gambrelli's antics with stumbling around as well as getting his bicycle stuck in a wet cement sidewalk outside the hospital. When Hans' henchmen arrive and chase after Gambrelli on his bicycle, Dreyfus intervenes and saves the klutzy policeman. He then takes Gambrelli to his home where he lives with his mother Maria (Claudia Cardinale) whom Dreyfus recognizes as a suspect in a murder case 30 years ago. During the casual encounter with Maria, Dreyfus learns from her Gambrelli is in fact the illegitimate son of the late Inspector Jacques Clouseau. When Hans' men attempt to plant a bomb under the Gambrelli house, it leads to Dreyfus becoming injured instead and sent to the hospital.