All Pink Panther Movies, Ranked

The Pink Panther franchise is one of the longest-running comedy franchises of all time, but there’s a massive gulf in quality between its best movies and its worst ones. Most Pink Panther movies focus on the useless French detective Jacques Clouseau as he bumbles his way through another case, but there have been some twists and turns throughout the years.

Peter Sellers made the character famous way back in the 1960s. After his death, the franchise tried to stay alive with a few lackluster stand-ins, but none could hold a candle to Sellers. Steve Martin’s reboot failed to fully revive the franchise, but now, over 60 years since its inception, there are reports that the Pink Panther franchise could return with Eddie Murphy in the lead role. The best Pink Panther movies are true comedy classics, but the franchise has also dropped a fair few clangers over the years.

11 Son Of The Pink Panther (1993)

The franchise’s lowest point featured a comedy legend on poor form

Son of the Pink Panther is the lowest point of a franchise that has suffered plenty of lows. Roberto Benigni is undoubtedly a brilliant comic actor, but Son of the Pink Panther doesn’t let him utilize any of his skills. He is best known for writing, directing and starring in the multiple Oscar-winning comedy-drama Life is Beautiful, a story about a Jewish family during the Second World War.

10 years after the disappointing Curse of the Pink Panther, Son of the Pink Panther was a limp attempt to revitalize the franchise. The story concerns a kidnapped European princess, and the man tasked with recovering her is Inspector Clouseau’s illegitimate son, which infuriates Commissioner Dreyfus to no end. With a dreadful script and yet another performance which doesn’t measure up to Peter Sellers, Son of the Pink Panther all but killed Pink Panther for good.

10 Curse Of The Pink Panther (1983)

One of many attempts to move on without Inspector Clouseau

Curse of the Pink Panther was produced concurrently with Trail of the Pink Panther, but it didn’t use any old footage. Instead, the movie focuses on a new character, American detective Clifton Sleigh, who tries to find the missing Inspector Clouseau. This almost sets up a grand finale with one last moment featuring Peter Sellers, but clearly there was no archive footage that was usable. Clouseau is played by James Bond actor Roger Moore, in a moment which makes no sense and comes across as an ill-advised stunt.

There are times when Curse of the Pink Panther tries to reckon with Peter Sellers’ legacy by using Clouseau as a proxy, but these potentially emotional moments are undercut by lame slapstick comedy and a meandering plot. Rather than acting as a genuine tribute to Sellers and closing out the series, Curse of the Pink Panther tries to set up a future of the Pink Panther series with Clifton Sleigh at the center, who is no real substitute.

9 Inspector Clouseau (1968)

Alan Arkin stepped in as the Inspector when Peter Sellers chose not to return

Although it was released just four years after A Shot in the Dark, Peter Sellers decided not to return for Inspector Clouseau, the movie named after his own character. Sellers and Blake Edwards reportedly clashed during development and vowed never to work with one another again. Although they patched things up for the sequels, Alan Arkin stepped in for Inspector Clouseau.

As well as having a new Clouseau on screen, Inspector Clouseau suffered from Blake Edwards’ absence in the director’s chair, with Bud Yorkin taking on the sequel. Alan Arkin’s best movies show that he’s a superb comedic actor, but Inspector Clouseau restricts him by having him perform an impression of Sellers. He is at his best when he can be wry and sarcastic, like in Little Miss Sunshine or Russians Are Coming.

8 Trail Of The Pink Panther (1982)

Trail of the Pink Panther is a bizarre movie. Made after Peter Sellers died of a heart attack at the age of 54, the film uses some old footage to keep Clouseau alive, but it mixes this with an entirely new story involving British comedian and actor Joanna Lumley. The result is a disorienting patchwork which lacks cohesion, direction, and, most importantly, anything remotely funny.

Trail of the Pink Panther is just about saved from being the franchise’s worst movie by the atrocious misfires that came later.

The movie appears to have been hastily sewn together at the last minute, without any thought about honoring Peter Sellers and leaving his most famous character in a dignified manner. Audiences usually hate sitcom clip shows, and this is what Trail of the Pink Panther feels like. There’s a reason that the clips of Sellers used here were left on the cutting room floor in previous movies.

7 The Pink Panther 2 (2009)

The last Pink Panther movie failed to improve upon the first reboot

The first Pink Panther reboot was met with mediocre reviews, but its financial success meant that a sequel was released three years later. This time, the audiences seemed to agree more with the critics, as the film flopped at the box office and put the final nail in the coffin of the Pink Panther franchise. It now seems like a bad idea to try to revive the franchise again, but there have been enough misguided attempts to suggest that someone will always be foolish enough to try.

In his second outing as Inspector Clouseau, Steve Martin joins a “Dream Team” of international detectives to track down a high-profile thief known as “the Tornado”. The ensemble cast wasn’t enough to inject the sequel with any fresh ideas, and The Pink Panther 2 seems like a cautious rehash of its predecessor, treading familiar comedic territory and providing an unsatisfying mystery plot. There are a few laughs to be had, but it’s no tragedy that there was no Pink Panther 3.

6 The Pink Panther (2006)

The franchise’s big reboot cast Steve Martin as Clouseau

13 years after the dreadful Son of the Pink Panther, the franchise received a surprising reboot with Steve Martin as Inspector Clouseau. The reboot had a completely new team behind it, as director Blake Edwards had retired years ago. Shawn Levy, who is behind this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine, took on the directorial duties. The story sees Clouseau trying to solve the murder of a French soccer coach, but he doesn’t know that Commissioner Dreyfus is merely using him as a distraction while he assembles a crack team of detectives to work in private.

The Pink Panther is not one of Steve Martin’s best movies, despite his best efforts. His version of Inspector Clouseau provides a few laughs, as all his characters do, but there are more misses than hits with the jokes. Martin may have been onto a winner with a better script, but there’s no way of knowing. The mystery plot, just like many of the gags, is entirely unremarkable. A great Pink Panther movie requires both.

5 Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978)

Peter Sellers’ final outing as Clouseau

Revenge of the Pink Panther was Peter Sellers’ final Pink Panther movie, not counting the archive footage in Trail of the Pink Panther which was made after his death. Although it isn’t his very best outing as Inspector Clouseau, it’s far superior to anything else that the franchise has attempted to cook up without him. Revenge of the Pink Panther sees Clouseau busting a heroin ring after a drug kingpin tries to have him killed.

Time has not been kind to Revenge of the Pink Panther, and there are one or two scenes which would be unacceptable by today’s standards. Looking beyond these ill-advised moments, the movie does provide some classic buffoonery from Inspector Clouseau. This could have and should have been the end of the series. Sellers and the script both seem a little less vibrant than they were in previous movies.

4 The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975)

Peter Sellers made a triumphant return to the series in the aptly named sequel

After the dreadful Inspector Clouseau, Peter Sellers really had no choice but to return and revive his beloved character. With Blake Edwards returning too, The Return of the Pink Panther picks up where the duo left off, delivering a raucous comedy caper that gives Sellers ample opportunity to don ridiculous disguises and make a fool of himself. The plot may be a rehash of earlier movies, but that doesn’t matter too much.

Inspector Clouseau is as joyously inept as ever in The Return of the Pink Panther, but other characters also benefit from Sellers’ reintroduction. His absence and reappearance helped highlight his brilliant dynamic with Herbert Lom as Dreyfus. Bert Kwuok’s Cato is also more enjoyable when he’s punching Peter Sellers in the back of the head, rather than some other actor.

3 The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)

Dreyfus’ finest hour shows that Clouseau isn’t the only star

Inspector Clouseau is the star of the Pink Panther series for good reason, but The Pink Panther Strikes Again gives Dreyfus his time to shine. After Clouseau’s infuriating antics send Dreyfus spiraling into a complete mental breakdown, he plots to have the Inspector assassinated by any means necessary. Dreyfus kidnaps a scientist to construct a nuclear doomsday weapon for him, and he threatens the United Nations to kill Clouseau.

Dreyfus’ threat sends dozens of international assassins after Clouseau, but his trademark ineptitude works in his favor, and he manages to escape every assassination attempt through pure luck. The Pink Panther Strikes Again is an unusual kind of film in the franchise. There is still a fun mystery for Clouseau to stumble through, but with Dreyfus adopting the role of a deranged Bond villain, there are also elements of the espionage genre.

2 The Pink Panther (1963)

The film that started it all is still a classic over 60 years later

Although it’s sometimes easy to forget after the eleven subsequent movies, The Pink Panther wasn’t originally a movie designed around Inspector Clouseau. David Niven plays Sir Charles Lytton, a gentlemanly jewel thief who commits daring heists for sport. Clouseau is just one part of the puzzle, but Peter Sellers steals the show, and it’s no surprise that the sequels focus more on him.

The Pink Panther is one of Peter Sellers’ best movies, as he takes to the character of Inspector Clouseau with ease. His moments of riotous slapstick are the perfect counterweight to Niven’s evergreen charm. Niven plays a charming and seductive jewel thief, so Sellers is the punchline, bringing him crashing down to the real world. Although Sir Charles Lytton might enjoy the cat-and-mouse game of being pursued by a brilliant detective, he instead has to put up with an obnoxious dolt.

1 A Shot In The Dark (1964)

Clouseau stepped into the spotlight for a thoroughly satsifying murder mystery

The Pink Panther set up a lot of what makes the franchise so enjoyable, including the swinging score by Henry Mancini and the delightful animated title sequences, but A Shot in the Dark was the film which perfected the Clouseau formula. With the French detective promoted from co-star to headliner, he has to solve a murder at a luxurious French countryside mansion where each inhabitant and staff member is a suspect.

A Shot in the Dark also introduces Dreyfus and Cato, thereby rounding out the Pink Panther franchise’s best cast. The murder mystery spoof takes aim at Agatha Christie stories and the like, but it still provides an enjoyable plot with enough twists to ensure that Sellers’ slapstick antics aren’t for naught. He also masters the art of subtle comedy, and he can just as easily illicit a laugh with a small movement of his eyes as a prat fall. Sellers also starred in Stanley Kubrick’s Cold War comedy Dr. Strangelove in 1964, solidifying it as the best year of his career.