The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation
| The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation | |
|---|---|
| The Inspector series | |
 |
|
| Directed by |
Friz Freleng Co-director: Gerry Chiniquy |
| Produced by |
David DePatie Friz Freleng |
| Story by | John W. Dunn |
| Voices by |
Pat Harrington, Jr. Larry Storch Paul Frees |
| Music by |
William Lava Henry Mancini |
| Animation by | Manny Perez Don Williams Bob Matz Warren Batchelder Norm McCabe George Grandpré |
| Layouts by | T.M. Yakutis |
| Backgrounds by | T.M. Yakutis |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | December 21, 1965 |
| Color process | DeLuxe |
| Running time | 7' 14" |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat |
The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation is the first short in the Inspector series of theatrical cartoons. A total of 34 entries were produced between 1965 and 1969.
The Inspector has been tasked by the Commissioner to guard the De Gaulle Stone, an enormous diamond worth 10 billion francs. The Commissioner warns the Inspector of the dire consequences should he lose the diamond, but the Inspector manages to lose it in seconds, handing it to what he thinks is his assistant, Sgt. Deux Deux, but is in fact a three-headed thief, collectively referred to as the Matzoreilys. The left (the Soviet Russian-accented "Weft") and right (the American-accented "Wight") heads argue about what to do next, and the apparently dim third head (the Chinese "Wong", but sounding like "wrong") tries to break up the fight, only to be clobbered by his brothers. The Inspector uses this chance to try and catch up with them, at which point they get into their car and drive away, accidentally flattening the Inspector in the process. Deux-Deux tries to pursue them himself, but he flattens the Inspector some more instead.
The Matzoreilys are heading home when they see the Inspector chasing them. They shoot bullets at him, breaking his car and stripping him until he's only wearing his Pink Panther underwear. They also drop a bomb on him from up in the air.
The Matzoreilys have their car convert itself into a plane, forcing the Inspector to man a plane of his own in order to pursue them. The crooks easily dispose of him with a giant fly-swatter however, and his plane crashes into the Sûreté building, destroying the Commissioner's office and earning the Inspector another ear-bashing. The trio manages to escape, but once back at their mansion, Wong discovers that their coat pocket has a hole in it, and they have managed to lose the diamond.
The Commissioner returns the diamond to the Inspector, who puts it in a safe. Unfortunately, the safe turns out to be the evil three in disguise. The Inspector and Deux-Deux pursue the thieves to a hotel, where the Inspector's attempts at catching them meet with a predictable lack of success. The Inspector is shot in the eye by a random bullet, but when he shows Deux-Deux what's coming through the keyhole, nothing happens. When the Inspector announces he will shoot at the count of three, the Matzoreilys escape in their car, knocking down the door and flattening the Inspector, who fires a bullet that only drops to the ground.
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Wikipedia