Peter Sellers, David Niven, Robert Wagner

In the first movie starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau, he tries to catch a jewel thief who is right under his nose.

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76% liked it

51,528 ratings

Unrated, 115 min.

Directed by: Blake Edwards

Release Date: March 20, 1963

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DVD Release Date: August 15, 2001

Stats: 1,769 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,769)


  • October 24, 2009
    Arguably the signature film for the immensely talented Peter Sellers and that, oddly enough, is a shame. Peter's well timed miscues and pratfalls endeared his clumsy Inspector Clouseau to a whole generation of moviegoers but this is hardly the most charismatic persona in his ars...( read more)enal of personalities. If you only know Peter Sellers from this film or one of it's many sequels then you owe it to yourself to check out some of his other stuff. There is so much more to the man than a series of double-takes and sight gags.
  • July 1, 2009
    So boring, not worth the watch I find.
  • March 22, 2009
    subtle and fun, this film was made without any hope of one sequel let alone many and it shows in the execution. in the end it may not be the funniest or even best of the series but its a solid comedy with a memorable car chase sequence at the end.
  • January 25, 2009
    I don't know what it is about David Niven but you can't root against the guy, He could play Judas and he would still play it with such charm that you wouldn't believe that he was the bad guy. That's the David Niven you get in the Pink Panther, though the other stand out in the fi...( read more)lm is the legendary Peter Sellers.

    The film is about a jewel thief called The Phantom who Insp. Jacques Clouseau (Sellers) has been chasing for the better part of a decade. He sees his chance to catch him by keeping close to Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale) who is the holder of the famous Pink Panther diamond. The Phantom is there in the person of Sir Charles Lytton (Niven) who is prepared to steal the diamond from the princess through his suave demeanor and charm.

    On the surface the Pink Panther feels like one of those '50's and '60's pseudo sex romps that promises a roll in the hay but never produces. Those films were like the cushioned soft core porn of the Leave It To beaver generation. Two people in the same bed!?!?! Shame! The Pink Panther rises above that from the performances of Niven, Sellers, Cardinale, Capucine (as Mrs. Clouseau), and a young Robert Wagner as the newphew of Sir Lytton. It's actually a funny film with Seller's stealing the show one bit after another. It's not as much of a time capsule as some of the other films of its era have become. A classic that started a twenty year franchise.
  • September 15, 2008
    Wacky and witty caper comedy with the charm of real film stars like David Niven, Peter Sellers, and the beautiful Claudia Cardinale.
    The clumsy inspector Clouseau was more like a secondary character here, but he was explored with more detail and with more hilarious results in th...( read more)e sequel.
    Henry Mancini's score is remarkable.
  • November 21, 2009
    Funny One!! Good acting!!
  • November 19, 2009
    Brilliant. Just brilliant. Peter Sellers the genius.
  • November 10, 2009
    The original Pink Panther movie introduced both the Inspector Clouseau character and the Pink Panther cartoon character. The opening credits are cool. The movie was supposed to be a David Niven movie but Peter Sellers stole the show. The later movies staring Peter Sellers were...( read more) much more funny but this was a good start. The first movie lacked the verbal humor used in the later movies. The really funny parts are the parts with Peter Sellers. The movie was also supposed to be a spoof of the 1960's Jet Set crowd. That's kind of out of date now. Peter Sellers physical humor still is funny after 45 years. I first saw this movie in 1978 at a Pink Panther film festival at Oklahoma State University Student Union Theater. They showed the four existing Peter Seller's Pink Panther Movies on two separate days. I laughed my ass off. When I got my first Laser Disc player one of the first movies I bought was the Pink Panther.
  • October 25, 2009
    In fact, I remeber I saw this film... but it is all I remember about it :) ... well it was in an open air cinem...
  • October 16, 2009
    A million times better than the remake! Peter Sellers is the perfect bumbling inspector.

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