Smash & Grab - The Story of the Pink Panthers

Just how exciting is it to be part of the Pink Panthers, the gang of diamond robbers operating all over the globe? We hear from the members themselves as they tell about sealed-tight safes, capers that are years in the making, constant physical transformations, and the beautiful and intelligent woman who is indispensable to any such organization. The stories are all real, as are most of the voices, but the appearance of the gang members is skillfully replaced by animation. They are wanted worldwide. "It's like a game," explains the chief inspector of the Swiss police, while a life-sized Pink Panther dangles from a rope behind him. "They know we are hunting them." Fast-paced editing and frenzied music render this reality just as sensational as the movies that have been based on it. Wouldn't we all like to break into a jewelry store and grab all the diamonds in there, just like we see happen on the security cameras? We also learn how this originally Yugoslavian gang got its start during the political chaos of the 1990s. As one Pink Panther points out, "There were no real jobs." Perhaps even more disenchanting are the words of a gang member who isn't exactly relaxed about retirement: "This is the consequence of this job: paranoia."