Peter Sellers

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What's New Pussycat?

An appealing, free-floating lunacy fuels What's New Pussycat?, and there's enough of it bubbling around to carry the movie past its many defects. The cast is like a collection of terribly attractive people stumbling over each other at a disorganized cocktail party--they aren't always witty, and some of them are drunk, but there's enough going on to keep you distracted. Peter O'Toole plays a swinging London womanizer seeking help for his addiction, who makes the mistake of consulting one Dr. Fritz Fassbender (Peter Sellers), a demented psychoanalyst.

A Shot In The Dark

Like the Marx Brothers or W.C. Fields, Peter Sellers is the real thing decrees Newsweek, and as the witless Inspector Clouseau, he proves it again and again in this riotous film of "continuous laughs" (Boxoffice) that'll leave you tickled pink! The French have a word for a man like Clouseau: idiot! Across Paris, baffled citizens want to know if the inspector is in hot pursuit of a criminal...or just in love with one!

The Return Of The Pink Panther

The world's most hilariously disaster-prone detective is back on the case as Peter Sellers stars in this merry masterpiece of sheer slapstick sleuthing fun! When the priceless Pink Panther diamond is stolen yet again, the inimitable Inspector Jacques Clouseau is saved from an unwilling early retirement and sent off to the country of Lugash to investigate. Certain that the heist is the work of a suave jewel thief known as The Phantom, Clouseau unleashes his formidable array of outlandish disguises and preposterous deductive powers in madcap pursuit of his would-be quarry.

The Pink Panther

Peter Sellers and David Niven are flawless exclaims Variety of this riotously funny film about an almost flawless - and quite priceless - diamond, and the lengths people will go to obtain it! Arriving at a posh resort with her precious "panther" - a large gem with the image of a leaping feline inside - sexy princess Dala (Cardinale) meets the debonair Sir Charles (Niven). She is unaware, however, that Charles, a.k.a "The Phantom," is a professional thief who steals from the rich and gives to...himself! Enter Jacques Clouseau (Sellers), the clumsiest Inspector ever to trip over a case.

The Party

Though this film is a relatively minor one in the massive canon of Peter Sellers, it has moments of absolute hilarity. Written and directed by Blake Edwards, one of Sellers's most fertile collaborators, the film stars Sellers as a would-be actor from India (let them try to get away with that today) who is a walking disaster area. After ruining a day's shooting as an extra on a film, he finds himself unintentionally invited to a big Hollywood party. That's pretty much it as far as plot goes, but Edwards and Sellers know how to milk a simple idea for an unending string of slapstick gags.

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

Peter Sellers is the poet of slapstick (Village Voice) - and here he rhymes yet again as the hopelessly clueless inspector Clouseau. "Give me ten men like Clouseau, and I could destroy the world," Inspector Dreyfus (Lom) said in A Shot In The Dark. But in The Pink Panther Strikes Again, he actually tries! Driven mad by Clouseau's incompetence, Dreyfus commandeers a doomsday device and threatens global destruction. His only demand? Clouseau's death. The world community's response?

Murder By Death

Neil Simon wrote this 1976 spoof in which virtually every famous fictional detective of the 1930s and 1940s congregate at the home of a mysterious fellow (Truman Capote) to try and solve the mystery of who's trying to kill them all. Simon's jokes are mostly obvious, and the film's real appeal is the clever concept matched with fine--sometimes legendary--actors. Peter Falk plays a very Bogart-like Sam Spade equivalent, James Coco is a Hercule Poirot wannabe, Peter Sellers does a Charlie Chan bit, David Niven and Maggie Smith are reflections of Nick and Nora.... You get the picture.

Dr. Strangelove

Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold-war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr. Strangelove is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids," mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so- called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the U.S.

Casino Royale

John Huston was only one of five directors on this expensive, all-star 1967 spoof of Ian Fleming's 007 lore. David Niven is the aging Sir James Bond, called out of retirement to take on the organized threat of SMERSH and pass on the secret-agent mantle to his idiot son (Woody Allen). An amazing cast (Orson Welles, Peter Sellers, Deborah Kerr, etc.) is wonderful to look at, but the romping starts to look mannered after awhile. The musical score by Burt Bacharach, however, is a keeper.

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