A Viewing Guide to 'The Pink Panther Movies,' In Order

Released in March 1964 here in the United States, The Pink Panther is the first-ever installment of the series starring Peter Sellers as Clouseau, Robert Wagner, Capucine, David Niven, and Claudia Cardinale. The story follows Clouseau as he is on the hunt for a notorious jewel thief known as "The Phantom," traveling from Rome to Cortina d'Ampezzo in the hopes of being able to catch him before he's able to steal a very valuable diamond called "The Pink Panther."

The Pink Panther received positive reviews upon its release, and has been selected into the Library of Congress for preservation.

Released the following year, A Shot in the Dark stars Sellers once again as Jacques Clouseau, this time around in Paris as the detective is assigned to murder case in which a chambermaid is accused of killing her husband. Despite death following this woman everywhere she goes, Clouseau remains determined to prove her innocence.

A Shot in the Dark is notable turning point in the series for a couple of reasons, the first being that was the first film in which Detective Clouseau spoke with a heavy French accent. This movie was also the introduction of Commissioner Dreyfus, Dreyfus's assistant François, and Clouseau's stalwart manservant Cato, all of whom would go on to become a regular presence in the following films.

This third installment was a temporary departure from Peter Sellers playing Clouseau as he and the normal director of The Pink Panther films, Blake Edwards, we're both busy shooting the 1968 comedy film The Party. Popular actor and director Alan Arkin took over the Jacques Clouseau duties for this film, which was about a group of thieves committing a string of robberies across Europe. By this point in the series, audiences had become accustomed to seeing Sellers in the role, so unfortunately Inspector Clouseau suffered poor ratings and a bad box office return.

That said, why should you still watch it? Well, because the storyline is a solid one, and we personally believe that the backlash came specifically because audiences and critics had already fallen in love with the Peter Sellers/Blake Edwards duo, so they didn't give it a fair shot. That's just our opinion personally, but you should definitely watch to draw your own conclusion.

After the negative reception to Inspector Clouseau, the creators of The Pink Panther decided that it was probably a good idea to wait for Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards schedules to clear up to avoid future failures. That meant waiting seven years (six if you count the filming process) for the next installment in the franchise. Aptly titled The Return of the Pink Panther, Jacques Clouseau is in trouble after letting a robbery slip right underneath his nose, which causes him to be suspended indefinitely.

That is until the Pink Panther diamond is stolen from the National Museum in Lugash, and his help is requested again. You would think after getting suspended for screwing up that Clouseau would tighten up a bit, but he proceeds to mess up... again.

Three years after the events of Return of the Pink Panther, Jacques Clouseau finds himself the target of Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) who's just been released from the mental hospital with plans to kill him. Dreyfus kidnaps a scientist, ordering him to create a weapon that will destroy the planet, using the capture of Clouseau as a blackmail attempt. Meanwhile on the opposite of town, Jacques Clouseau is just living his life carefree, unaware (as usual) that he's in danger, but one thing about Detective Clouseau—he somehow always finds a way to make it work.

Unfortunately with the untimely passing of Peter Sellers in 1980, Revenge of the Pink Panther is the last of the franchise with him as Detective Clouseau, and for that reason is alone the movie is a must-watch as Sellers was his usual brilliant self. Once again, Clouseau is a target as Philippe Douvier makes a plan to kill the detective to show that he is still very much a powerful force to reckon with. News of Clouseau's death starts making the rounds after an unsuccessful attempt to kill him, and the Inspector uses his fake death as an advantage to go undercover to catch the criminals behind it.

Alright stick with us here because the immediate films following the death of Peter Sellers are a little tricky. The Trail of The Pink Panther was pre-production at the time of Seller's passing, and roughly eighteen months out from the time of shooting. Rather than scrapping the film altogether, Blake Edwards decided to use the deleted scenes from previous films, which is quite interesting because they were still able to line up with the overall concept of The Trail of The Pink Panther.

Also interesting is the fact that the other actors had to essentially act out their scenes with Clouseau (Sellers) by themselves. This movie was able to work because of the plot being centered around Detective Clouseau having gone missing. Obviously it wasn't the most intriguing storyline in the series, but pretty cool considering they had enough archival footage to work with.

With all of the archival footage being used in Trail of The Pink Panther, a decision was ultimately made to assign a new lead of the series. Blake Edwards being a loyal friend to Sellers refused to recast the role of Jacques Clouseau, instead choosing to keep the storyline of the detective being missing. Ted Wass was introduced to the series as a boneheaded detective assigned to find the missing Inspector Clouseau, but honestly it just didn't work. The film received negative reviews and bombed at the box office, with the ultimate question being how long it was possible to keep Clouseau missing for. Eventually the question would have to be addressed, but Blake Edwards decided to rethink the approach and give it one more shot ten years later.

After the disappointing performance of The Curse of the Pink Panther ten years prior, many thought The Pink Panther series was officially extinct. However, Blake Edwards decided to give the franchise one more hurrah before retiring, with Son of the Pink Panther being his final film. Ever loyal to Sellers, the role of Jacques Clouseau was not recast, with the director instead shifting the focus to be on Gendarme Jacques Gambrelli (Robert Benigni), the son of the late detective. The Curse of the Pink Panther was the perfect close-out to the first part of the series, and well received by fans and critics.

Thirteen years later, an official Pink Panther reboot was put into motion. By this point, Steve Martin had long become a comedic fan favorite amongst movie lovers, making him the perfect choice as the new Jacques Clouseau. Released in 2006, The Pink Panther also starred Beyoncé, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, and Emily Mortimer as Clouseau is assigned to solve the murder of a famous football coach and the theft of the famous Pink Panther diamond. Despite the movie receiving negative reviews from critics, it was actually a box office smash earning $164 million worldwide.

The success of The Pink Panther resulted in a sequel being released three years later, which saw the return of Martin as Clouseau, Jean Reno, and Emily Mortimer (Beyoncé was in the midst of filming another movie and recording her third solo album). This go-round, the crew returns to try and catch a notorious cat burglar called "The Tornado." While not commercially beloved as the first film, the movie still did well, pulling in $76 million at the box office.