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fHE BARB - 6 with Steve Warren The Bash-of-the-Month for May was the premiere United Artists had for “The Return of the Pink Panther” at La Costa Resort Hotel and Spa in Carlsbad. Ca., near San Diego. Among the celebs not directly connected with the picture, but wearing their badges and enjoying the weekend, were Carol Lawrence and Robert Goulet (setting tongues anti-wagging about split rumors); Fred MacMurray and June Haver (They must have arrived by Greyhound, but 1 didn’t see it. She looked fresh enough for a comeback; is anyone casting “No, No, Nanette”?) Dick Martin without Dan Rowan); Barbara Eden; Leslie Nielsen; Bob Crane; Carl Betz; Ross Martin; and Johnny Mathis, who did a guest spot in Henry Mancini’s fabulous concert. Some of the journalists covering the event were themselves celebrities. Peter Sellers, who stars in the film, was there, as was director Blake Edwards, whose wife, Julie Andrews, had gone to Switzerland with Return of the fink Panther” if I’d seen it at a neighborhood theater — as I probably will, before long. If you’ve seen either of tfie first two films, you know the Glouseau character, the Flench cop who bumps into everything-mentally, if not physically. This picture is completely built around him, letting Sellers be funnier than he ha&in a long, long time. The script is a trifle., and the supporting cast appears to have been chosen to make the star look good; but it’s Sellers’ picture, and his every gag seems to work-however early it’s telegraphed, however trite, corny and or obvious. K you like to laugh don’t miss “The Return of the Pink Panther.” You’ll need it, after “The Day of the Locust.” I don’t toss out superlatives easily; but this is the maximum downer, the most depressing film I’ve ever seen. Because it had such a powerful impact on me, I assume it must have been well made (by director John Schlesinger); but I’m going to have to see it again to judge the children, * ^ At the “Return of the Pink Panther” premiere in La Costa, Associate Producer Tony Adams stood by star Peter Sellers. Mancini did the music for “The Return- of the Pink Panther” and “A Shot in the Dark.” Sellers’ co-star, Catherine Schell (no relation to Max and Maria), was alsoon hand. She looks remarkably like Catherine Deneuve, especially on screen. The decor was Pink Pan ther everywhere; they really took over the hotel. The staff wore Pink Panther shirts; Pink Panther statues pointed the way to everywhere; we were all given bagful of Pink Pantherized souvenir?. They needn’t have gone to all that trouble -1 would have laughed myself silly at “The it fairly-- and I dread doing so. “The Day of the Locust” is about Hollywood in-the late thirties. Instead of con centrating on the stars and the glamour, it’s about the people who never make it, who follow a dream to a rude awakening. The thesis of author Nathaniel West was that these people harbor a grudge which can erupt in the form of mob violence, as it does in the picture’s climax. William Atherton plays the central character, an artist just arrived in town. We see the city and the picture business through his eyes, and lose our own illusions as Female impersonator Paul Jabara (1.) wrecks Donald Sutherland by sitting in his lap, as Karen Black and William Atherton look on, in “The Day of the Locust.” he sheds his. Tod (Atherton) is young enough to have illusions about love, too. Karen Black knocks those out of him. She plays a would-be starlet working as an extra. She keeps a number of men on a string, including Donald Sutherland as Homer, an oversized hick with an oversized heart. He’s ex cellent in this pathetic role. For a gayer look (yes, in that sense) at the old Hollywood, you can see “The Wild Party’ ’; but I don’t recommend it. There’s a lot of camp in this distorted retelling of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, and not all of it’s intentional. The* picture is a real sleep- inducer, predictable at every turn. A narration-in-verse is dreadful; some of the songs are good, but many are not. Raquel Welch (who is awful!) dances (?) (Where is Cybill Shepherd when we need her?) to a tune about her character, “Queenie,” which describes her as “Lucrezia Borgia of Sunnybrook Farm.” James Coco is okay as the Arbuckle character, “Jolly Grimm”; but the role is poorly written, as is the whole picture. The openly gay people in the story are a Lesbian ac-: tress (Clara Bow?) and a piano-playing brother/ lover act. In the orgy sequence-to which an unseen voice warbles “Ain’t Nothin’ Bad about Feelin’ Good” —the actress has a love scene with another woman; the brothers are nowhere to be seen; and the activities of various groups of. people are left to the imagination.. Coro glances at one foursome and comments, “Looks like a can of worms! ” So does 4 ‘The Wild Party’ ’; and as the cliche says, no one should have opened it. For better-made trash, try “Mandingo.” It’s had the most devastating reviews of any picture in a long time, because it’s easy to write that way about; but it’s hot really all that bad-well, not quite. Perry King, who is also in “The Wild Party,” plays the son of James Mason, owner of Falconhurst plantation. Perry marries Susan George (whose performance makes Raquel Welch look like an actress!) and buys Brenda Sykes. He likes Brenda because they live on ashes. Producer William Castle has done better; but he’s done worse, too. Clint Eastwood hasn’t done Perry King and Ken Norton is "Mandingo.’ better, but that was un thinkable in 1840. Susan turns to another slave, Ken Norton, for sex. (Also unthinkable-- this was before women had sex drives!) When she finally gets it, if you saw “Young Frankenstein,” you’ll expect her to break out into “Ah Sweet Mystery of Life’ ’! With all this race-mixin’, everybody comes to a bad end; but the end of “Man dingo” is no worse than the beginning or the middle. Perry King, who displayed his wares in two scenes, is quoted in a press release as saying, “I’m not self- conscious..I have a perfectly alright body I would think everyone’s interested in another person’s body without it being homosexual.” There’s not much to rave about this month. “Bug” is a horror flick which has its moments, but needs help in between. Some roaches were trained to play the villiams, and they do well. Bradford Dillman isn’t bad as an anti-hero, a professor trying to communicate with the insects, which threaten to bum most of California (and tomorrow the world!) much worse than “The Eiger Sanction.” If you like mountain-climbing, go see the last half-hour, which is okay. The rest is a poorly- COntrived spy story with enough cliches to fill 90 minutes, but not enough to fill the holes in the plot. Jack Cassidy gives some depth to a character which was written as a bad fag joke. Against competition like this, “The Other Side of the Mountain” looks pretty good. It is pretty good, actually, but strictly for the “Love Story”/ “Brian’s Song” set who won’t go to a movie unless Kleenex is outselling popcorn at the concession stand. Lovely Marilyn Hassett stars as Jill Kinmont, who was on her way to the 1956 Winter Olympics when a skiing accident nearly took her life, and left her paralyzed from the neck down. Beau Bridges is the man whose love gave her the strength to start living again. For a switch, he dies in teh end. “The Other Side of the Mountain” is not a picture to wear mascara to! Next month: Playing “Rollerball” with James Caan. Richard GiUiand [L.] as the student who captures Bradford Bill man’s interest by telling him about the “Bug.”