Ever walked through the $5 movie bin at a gas station and seen a face that looks like a discount Inspector Clouseau? That was likely your first encounter with the son of pink panther movie, formally titled Son of the Pink Panther. Released in 1993, this film is a strange artifact. It’s the cinematic equivalent of a cover band that has the original drummer and bassist but a lead singer who doesn't quite know the lyrics.
Blake Edwards, the legendary director, was 71 years old when he took one last stab at the franchise he built with Peter Sellers. He was tired. You can feel it in the frames. But he was also determined to prove the series could survive without the ghost of Sellers hovering over every pratfall.
Spoiler alert: It didn't work.
The Impossible Task of Replacing a Ghost
By 1993, the Pink Panther franchise was basically a zombie. Peter Sellers had been dead for thirteen years. The studio had already tried to keep the lights on with Trail of the Pink Panther (which used deleted outtakes of Sellers) and Curse of the Pink Panther (which introduced Ted Wass). Both were, to put it mildly, disasters.
So, why try again?
Money, mostly. But also a genuine belief that the "slapstick detective" archetype was evergreen. The producers looked toward Italy and found Roberto Benigni. Before he became an Oscar darling for Life is Beautiful, Benigni was a hyperactive comedic force in Europe. He was supposed to be the "new" Sellers. The bridge to a new generation.
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The casting process was a mess. They looked at everyone. Kevin Kline was interested but backed out after reading the script (smart move). Rowan Atkinson—Mr. Bean himself—was offered the gig but turned it down because he respected Sellers too much to try and fill those shoes. Even Gérard Depardieu was signed on at one point before studio politics pushed him out.
What is Son of the Pink Panther actually about?
The plot is... well, it’s a Pink Panther plot. Princess Yasmin of Lugash gets kidnapped off the coast of Nice. Who do you call? Not the Ghostbusters, but the French police. Specifically, Commissioner Dreyfus, played once again by the long-suffering Herbert Lom.
Dreyfus, who spent most of the original films trying to murder Clouseau, is forced to work with a local gendarme named Jacques Gambrelli.
- The Big Twist: Gambrelli is the illegitimate son of Maria Gambrelli (from A Shot in the Dark) and, you guessed it, Inspector Clouseau.
- The Problem: Gambrelli has inherited his father’s "unique" brand of incompetence.
- The Reunion: Claudia Cardinale returns, but not as the Princess from the 1963 original. Instead, she plays Maria Gambrelli. It's a confusing bit of meta-casting that only die-hard fans would catch.
The movie spends ninety minutes watching Benigni fall down stairs, get his fingers stuck in things, and drive Dreyfus back into a mental breakdown. There is a climax in a desert castle involving real-life Jordanian Special Operation Forces paratroopers. It feels like a Bond movie directed by someone who had just been hit in the head with a mallet.
Why it Tanked at the Box Office
The son of pink panther movie cost about $28 million to make. It made back about $2.4 million in the U.S. That is not a typo. It was a catastrophic failure domestically.
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Honestly, the timing was just wrong. 1993 was the year of Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List. Audiences weren't exactly lining up for 1960s-style physical gags that felt like they had been preserved in amber for thirty years. The humor wasn't just old; it was fossilized.
Critics were brutal. Rotten Tomatoes currently has it sitting at a dismal 6%. Benigni even got a Razzie nomination for Worst New Star. Imagine being a legend in Italy and coming to Hollywood only to be told you're the worst thing since un-sliced bread.
Interestingly, it was a massive hit in Italy, raking in $18 million there. It turns out that if you have a national hero in the lead role, people will show up even if the script looks like it was written on a napkin during a lunch break.
The Forgotten Legacy of Blake Edwards
This was the final film for both Blake Edwards and the iconic composer Henry Mancini. Mancini died in 1994, and Edwards never directed another feature. It’s a bit sad, really. These were the titans of 20th-century comedy and music, and their final collaboration was a movie most people only remember because of the pink cartoon cat in the opening credits.
But there are tiny flashes of the old magic. The opening sequence, which cost $1 million on its own, features the Pink Panther cartoon character interacting with a live-action Benigni. It’s charming. Henry Mancini’s score is, as always, impeccable. He could have written a masterpiece for a commercial about dish soap.
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Lessons from the Son of Pink Panther Movie
If you're a film student or a comedy nerd, there’s actually a lot to learn from this failure.
- Characters > Gags: Benigni is a great clown, but he isn't Clouseau. Sellers brought a weird, arrogant dignity to the role. Benigni just felt like a guy trying too hard.
- Context Matters: You can’t just drop a 60s Vaudeville act into the 90s without updating the rhythm.
- Know When to Quit: Sometimes the "son of" or "cousin of" trope is a sign that the creative well has run dry.
How to Watch it Today (If You Dare)
If you’re a completionist, the movie is available on various streaming platforms and has a decent Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber. It includes some deleted scenes and a "making of" featurette that is arguably more interesting than the movie itself.
If you want to see where the franchise went next, you’ll have to skip ahead to 2006 when Steve Martin took over. That reboot was also divisive, but at least it didn't bankrupt the studio.
The son of pink panther movie remains a curious footnote. It’s a reminder that even the biggest legends in Hollywood can miss the mark when they try to catch lightning in a bottle for the fourth or fifth time.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Watch A Shot in the Dark (1964) to see the original Maria Gambrelli character and understand the "lore" they were trying to tap into.
- Check out Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful to see what the actor is actually capable of when he isn't being forced to do bad impressions of Peter Sellers.
- Listen to the full Son of the Pink Panther soundtrack; Mancini's work here is genuinely underrated and deserves a listen without the distracting visuals.