The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation

The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation
The Inspector series
Directed by	Friz Freleng Gerry Chiniquy
Produced by	David DePatie Friz Freleng
Story by	John W. Dunn
Voices by	Pat Harrington, Jr. Larry Storch Paul Frees
Music by	William Lava
Animation by	Manny Perez Don Williams Bob Matz Warren Batchelder Norm McCabe George Grandpré
Layouts by	T.M. Yakutis
Backgrounds by	T.M. Yakutis
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	December 21, 1965
Color process	DeLuxe
Running time	7' 14"
Language	English
Followed by	Reaux, Reaux, Reaux Your Boat

The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation was the first short in the Inspector series of theatrical cartoons. On release, it was attached to the James Bond film Thunderball (which contains a cameo appearance by André Maranne, who plays Sergeant François Chevalier in the Pink Panther film series).

The title is a play on words, being both a pun on the term, "gallstone", and a reference to the then-French President, Charles de Gaulle.

Plot

The Inspector has been tasked by his Commissioner to guard the DeGaulle Stone, an enormous diamond worth 10 billion francs. The Commissioner warns the Inspector of the dire consequences should he lose the diamond, but the Inspector manages to lose it in seconds, handing it to what he thinks is his assistant, Deux-Deux, but is in fact a three-headed thief, collectively referred to as the Matz-O'Reillys. The left (the Soviet Russian-accented "Weft") and right (the American-accented "Wight") heads argue about what to do next, and the apparently dim third head (the Chinese "Wong", but sounding like "wrong") tries to break up the fight, only to be beaten up by the others. The Inspector uses this chance to try and catch up with them, at which point they get into their car and drive away, flattening the Inspector in the process. Deux-Deux then tries to pursue them in his own car, but only succeeds in flattening the Inspector some more.

The thieves have their car convert itself into a plane, forcing the Inspector to man a plane of his own in order to pursue them. The crooks easily dispose of him with a giant fly-swatter however, and his plane crashes into the Sûreté building, destroying the Commissioner's office and earning the Inspector another ear-bashing. The Matz-O'Reillys manage to escape, but once back at their hideout, Wong discovers that their jacket has a hole in it, and they have managed to lose the diamond.

The Commissioner returns the diamond to the Inspector, who puts it in a safe. Unfortunately, the safe turns out to be the Matz-O'Reillys in disguise, and the chase is on again. The Inspector tries to pursue them out the window, but the Matz-O'Reillys escape in their car, causing the Inspector to fall and crash through the roof of the Commissioner's staff car.

The Inspector and Deux-Deux search the hotel

The Inspector and Deux-Deux pursue the thieves to a hotel, where the Inspector's attempts at catching them meet with a predictable lack of success. Every time the Inspector looks through the keyhole, he gets blasted in the eye no matter where he moves it (when he shows Deux-Deux, nothing happens). When the Inspector announces he'll shoot at the count of three, the Matz-O'Reillys escape in their car, knocking down the door and flattening the Inspector, who fires a bullet that only drops to the ground.

The Matz-O'Reillys cannot hide forever though, and the Inspector arrives at their hideout with a considerable number of backup units. Realising that they are going to get caught anyway, Wong puts the diamond in a glass of water, within which it is inconspicuous. The Inspector and the other officers break in, and apprehend the thieves. While the others search for the missing diamond, the Inspector decides to help himself to the nearby glass. The next scene shows him being rushed to hospital, and a surgeon removing the DeGaulle Stone from the Inspector. The surgeon gives the diamond to his nurse...who turns out to be the crooks, in disguise again. The Inspector is left with a bandage on his stomach, some painful memories, and the task of explaining himself to the exasperated Commissioner.

Laugh track

The Pink Panther Show contained a laugh track when the Pink Panther cartoons were broadcast on NBC-TV. Currently, the laugh-tracked version airs on the Spanish language Boomerang TV channel.

External links

• The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation at the Internet Movie Database
• The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation at AllRovi
• DePatie-Freleng website