Inspector Clouseau fans know the character best from the highly influential and hilarious Pink Panther film series, but many forget that the character made one of his funniest appearances in a little film called A Shot In The Dark. Technically, the movie is part of the Pink Panther franchise, but it's an entirely different take on the traditional formula.
The only constant is, of course, Clouseau who bumbles his way from one madcap scene to another in side-splitting glory. Often cited as one of the funniest movies ever made, A Shot In The Dark underwent quite a dramatic evolution from its initial concept.
A Familiar Face
Actor Graham Stark portrayed Clouseau's reluctant partner Hercule LaJoy, a man who'd had just about enough of his unfortunate superior's bumbling. He helped craft some of the funniest scenes in the film, including the ad-libbed watch synchronize in the final act.
Stark would later portray another Pink Panther character named Pepi, a two-bit criminal who suffers the repeated wrath of Sir Charles Litton in the 1975 hit The Return of the Pink Panther. The two characters are about as different as apples to oranges.
Anachronistic Punishments
The practice of using the guillotine to execute dangerous criminals was commonplace in France up to a certain point. Clouseau mentions that if found guilty of the multiple murders in the Ballon household, Maria Gambrelli would certainly face such a punishment. However, this isn't entirely accurate.
France stopped executing female prisoners via the guillotine in 1949, but they did maintain the practice for men up until 1981. In either scenario, the fact that such a brutal execution method stuck around into the latter half of the 20th century is shocking.
Cartoon Franchising
Many cartoon fans know the Pink Panther animated series well, but Inspector Clouseau also got his own show thanks to the success of A Shot In The Dark. The series was inspired by the 3-minute long animated opening credits sequence and was referred to simply as "The Inspector."
The series was produced between 1964 and 1969, which means it didn't last nearly as long as the most enduring animated TV shows, but it did manage to rack up a total of 34 animated shorts. Henry Mancini's Shot In The Dark Theme was also used for the cartoon series, much the same as the Pink Panther animated series used the iconic Mancini tune.
Cato & Dreyfus
Pink Panther fans know Cato as Inspector Clouseau's close friend, housekeeper, and martial arts sparring partner, and A Shot In The Dark marked the first time the character appeared on screen in typically hilarious fashion. He popped up several times throughout the film at the most awkward and inopportune moments to wreak havoc on Clouseau's plans with some of the most hilariously epic martial arts battles of all time.
Herbert Lom also made his first appearance in the series as Inspector Dreyfus, Clouseau's superior who would love nothing more than to see him dead. The hilarious character would feature prominently in the sequels to follow as a man driven insane by Clouseau's bumbling ineptitude.
It Was Adapted From A Play
Originally, A Shot In The Dark was supposed to be an entirely separate work called "L'Idiote," written by French playwright Marcel Achard. Actor Peter Sellers didn't like where the story was headed and wanted to exit production, which forced director Blake Edwards to shake things up a bit.
According to Blake Edwards' commentary track on The Pink Panther 2007 DVD release, he teamed up with Exorcist author William Peter Blatty (who was busy writing comedy at the time) to adapt the screenplay to fit the character of Inspector Clouseau. It worked brilliantly for several reasons, including the fact that it was the only Pink Panther film to center around a murder mystery.
Confusing Body Count
Since A Shot In The Dark is a trope-filled murder mystery filmed by lunatics in charge of the camera equipment, there was bound to be some zany confusion among all the hilarity. Some fans still can't accurately pin down how many deaths occurred in the film, and who was responsible for them.
Officially, fourteen humans bite the big one in A Shot In The Dark, with six of them dying via car bomb planted by Dreyfus in an attempt to take out Clouseau. The Ballon mansion residents are responsible for the rest, leaving Clouseau the only one to kill a non-human character - specifically one crow.
Sellers' Troubles
1964 marked the first sign of real trouble for Peter Sellers with a series of heart attacks. Substance abuse problems were the culprit, and they would contribute to a long-running campaign of health problems that would eventually catch up to him later in life.
Eventually, he'd succumb permanently to a heart attack in 1980, passing away at 54 years of age. Sellers ignored all the warnings to cut drugs and alcohol out of his lifestyle, and eventually it took its toll.
Talk In The Trenches
These days, Pink Panther fans are well aware of the close relationship between Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards, but neither of them thought their working relationship would last beyond A Shot In The Dark. Edwards liked to shoot his scenes loose with plenty of room for ad-libbing, which sometimes frustrated Sellers.
The two would fight continuously during the filming of the movie, with both of them vowing never to work together again. Ultimately this was all just trench talk, and the duo reunited for the riotously funny The Party in 1968, followed by a string of Pink Panther sequels that kept the laughs fresh and constant. Sellers and Edwards however, were never on perfect terms.
A Peculiar Benefit
Blake Edwards once remarked how Peter Sellers went AWOL on the first week of filming, supposedly to go on vacation. This caused a major uproar in the shooting schedule that left Edwards holding the ball with nothing to show for it. By the time Sellers returned, the director was inches away from murdering the actor.
That is until Sellers told him a great story about a hotel concierge with a particularly humorous French accent that caused him to pronounce certain English words different than normal. The trait was wedded into Clouseau and became a staple of the character for the entire run of Pink Panther films, except the original. Such examples are "beump" instead of bump, and "minkey" instead of monkey.
It's Not A Prequel
Many fans have speculated that A Shot In The Dark is a prequel to the original Pink Panther film, but this is incorrect. The extremely close shooting schedules may have something to do with the spreading of the myth, however.
The Pink Panther was already being shown in Hollywood previews in September of 1963, which is the same month that A Shot In the Dark began filming. Remarkably, it came out just three months after The Pink Panther debuted in the United States, perhaps to capitalize on the success of that film.