Lock Yourself In Weekend: Peter Sellers

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The reason Peter Sellers had trouble with his identity is because he was everyone. Men, women, children of every ethnicity and action.  Sellers put on personalities the way other people put on clothes.  He’s been called Great Britain’s finest comedic actor since Charlie Chaplin, and deservedly so.  Off screen Sellers could be dark and even threatening. He blazed through four marriages and his on-set blow ups with directors  are the stuff of legend. He also was a phenomenal physical comedian with an astounding arsenal of accents. He could go low brow to high brow in the same scene.  He was quite simply, a genius.

If any of this is news to you, then you are in need of a Peter Sellers “Lock Yourself in Weekend.” Buy, rent or borrow these classic films, cook up some hot fresh popcorn, and clear out your weekend for the perfect weekend long Peter Sellers film festival.

1.  The Mouse that Roared

Sellers plays three different roles in this film about a tiny European country that declares war on the United States of America.  Their plan is to quickly lose the war and then benefit from the foreign aid that the U.S. bestows on the defeated.

Order The Mouse That Roared on Amazon.com

2.  Lolita

Sellers plays Clare Quilty in Kubrick’s adaptation of the classic Nabokov novel. You might guess that a film about two pedophiles fighting over an underage girl would not be funny. You would be very wrong.

Order Lolita [Blu-ray] on Amazon.com.

3.  Dr Strangelove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb

Produced and directed by Stanley Kurbrick and co-written with Terry Southern. Dr Strangelove is the greatest dark comedy of all time. Sellers again in three different roles. A masterpiece.

Order Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Special Edition) on Amazon.com.

4.  The Party

The world is far too P.C. to ever remake Blake Edwards’ The Party. Sellers plays Hrundi V. Bakshi a naive actor from India reeking havoc on a Hollywood party.

5.  Being There

Seller’s last great work, Hal Ashby’s Being There. Through a slew of misunderstandings “Chauncey” the gardener– a man child — rises to great influence in Washington DC.

Rent “Being There” on Amazon.com

6.  The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, and The Revenge of the Pink Panther

The Pink Panther series of films are Sellers most famous work and star his beloved character, Inspector Clouseau. Closuseau is a totally inept police detective causing chaos where ever he goes. Despite his bumbling incompetence he remains a confident egomaniac.

Rent A Shot in the Dark, Return Of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther (1963), Revenge Of the Pink Panther on Amazon.com.