the year: 1964
the genre: comedy
the cast: Peter Sellers (Jacques Clouseau); Elke Sommer (Maria Gambrelli); George Sanders (Benjamin Ballon); Herbert Lom (Charles Dreyfus); Graham Stark (Hercule LaJoy)
the plot: When rich M. Ballon's Spanish driver is found shot dead, Inspector Jacques Clouseau is the first official on the scene. All evidence suggests Maria Gambrelli, the maid, to be the murderer. But Clouseau, being attracted to the beautiful girl, is convinced that she is hiding something. He has her released from jail and tries to follow her secretly, but things don't work out the way the he hopes and people keep getting murdered - and each time Maria seems to be the killer.
did you know: the audience enjoyed the Inspector Closeau cartoon that played over the credits so much that the entire preview audience applauded and gave the cartoon a standing ovation, and the theater had to stop the movie until everyone settled again.
don't miss: the "synchronized watches" scene. Knowing the dialog was improvised makes it even funnier.
listen for: "Look at that! I've got Africa all over my hand."
extra bonus points: if you know the final body count (including crows).
also listen for: "And I submit, Inspector Ballon, that you arrived home, found Miguel with Maria Gambrelli, and killed him in a rit of fealous jage!"
4 comments:
Watching and listening to Blaine laugh that hard while he was watching this recently was THE best! Blaine doesn't laugh that hard -- it was like when your dad busts a gut laughing. I swear it took Blaine a good 30 mins post movie to pull it together. Good times!
Ah, yes, the beumps!
And meuths. Did you also know that according to Blake Edwards, a week into filming, Peter Sellers disappeared. When he returned, from an apparent holiday, Edwards was ready to kill him until Sellers told him of a peculiar hotel manager he met who had a funny French accent....thus was born Clouseau's trademark pronunciations such as "beump" for bump and "meuths" for moths.
I think I'm going to try to watch one with Dad when I'm there. Watching him laugh is the best part of the "movie".
Answer: the final body count was 14 humans and 1 crow. (Four killed in the Ballon mansion, four by Dreyfus during Clouseau & Maria's date, and six killed at the end of the movie by the bomb Dreyfus put in Clouseau's car.)
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