REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER—-making sure the series, the characters and a measure of good will are run firmly into the ground, director Blake Edwards offers up the bumbling Inspector Clouseau for the fifth time.

Peter Sellers seems tired of the shtick and his performance is sloppy. The bouts with Kato (Burt Kwouk) wreak havoc as before, there is a typically slick credit sequence, and Dyan Cannon fuels it up some with her comic appeal. Hong Kong serves as location, and there are a few laughs, but they show up in proportion to the series diminishing originality. Even Henry Mancini’s music is half-hearted.

99 minutes, with Herbert Lom, Robert Webber, Robert Loggia, Paul Stewart, Tony Beckley, Adrienne Corri, Graham Stark, Douglas Wilmer and Ferdy Mayne. It made money in 1978, $49,500,000, so Edwards & Co. got their $12,000,000 investment back. Four years later a stake was driven through the heart of the series when Edwards worked footage of the by-then deceased Sellers into the awful Trail Of The Pink Panther and Curse Of The Pink Panther, a dismal double- finale to avoid like the plague. Stick with the first three and keep the memories glowing.