Pepe (1960)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

It's pure magic. Despite anyone tries to convince you not. When I was 14-year-old this movie was among my top 5. Who can resist many stars, bright dances, droll sketches, great music, and so sizzling girls from the good old 1950s as well ?! You can say it got a thin plot. But as whole I discovered that that was the point ! It's a variety show. (Cantinflas), the Mexican comic star, wasn't that hot name in America. And the way to achieve that was by putting him in the middle of Hollywood hall of fame, through delightful colorful episodes with a plot (somewhat) like kind of (Charles Chaplin)'s tales yet about a man and not a kid.. but a horse. And for me all of that worked magically.I believe the TV at the moment was hitting the movies' industry badly. So Hollywood had to fight back with its heavy artillery. You can sense that rightly with Cantinflas's first American movie 4 years ago (Around the World in 80 Days). The many cameos of the stars, the episodic feel, and the international backgrounds all were the cinema's desperate weapons at its war. And Cantinflas's second American movie wasn't away from that. Still the parts that really entertained me much were Maurice Chevalier's Mimi, the bar's erotic dance, Dean Martin's cameo, and the scene of Cantinflas with Edward G. Robinson near the end as a walking broken heart (Cantinflas lost that year's Golden Globe of the best actor for Jack Lemmon in The Apartment). So it is a funny, sexy, and touching show.The title song is one of a few songs move my feeling to the highest degree. It's holy for me. Aside from perfect music, I ranked it as the best song ever made about the beauty of simplicity, the smiling clown in our life, or just the beauty of being simple smiling man. This was the end of the musicals' age on-screen, and to tell you the truth Pepe isn't a great musical itself, though it managed to give the good emotions that any great musical used to deliver. And remember folks; this was nominated for 7 Oscars. Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Original Song (Faraway Part of Town), and Best Music; Scoring of a Musical Picture. It's surely better than many musicals I watched from Hollywood's golden age.George Sidney's movies that I saw till now are all an absolute treat. Plus something else, the women in his movies are all sexy. So sexy at the least! It's clear that this man loved the showgirls along with the cabaret's dancing so much. And by the way I began to believe that (Sidney) was slightly having a passion for the butts (the good female butts!). Yes, you can believe that when you watch for instance his way of focusing on the dancing girl with Dailey (after Chevalier's number). And certainly in other movies like his next (Viva Las Vegas) and (The Swinger) !I know it gets weird at places (the dance as small people), but again this is a show with various spectacles, and that trick wasn't familiar only, but was kind of dazzling back then also. However still boring for a big fan of the movie like me! Plus I couldn't stand Dan Dailey most of the time. But still the final scene was the worst thing; it abstracted the Hollywood happy ending yet in the wrong way. It's a rare document about Hollywood at the end of the 1950s. You may catch on its value after experiencing Hollywood of the 1970s where movies like (That's Entertainment) were produced just to recall days like these! Although now it isn't among the top 5, but as this show was ultra-satisfying for me in my childhood, IT IS as satisfying after. So bad that it didn't serve its lead to be a Hollywood star. However Pepe (the movie, the character and the song) are real stars in my memories.

This movie might be pointless, meaningless fluff but it was entertaining enough to warrant a DVD release. I remember seeing a much shortened version on late night TV a long, long time ago and laughed myself silly, especially at the scene w/ Jack Lemmon in drag trying to make it to a dental appointment in between takes of a "Some Like It Hot" kind of movie, while Cantinflas, mistaken for a carhop, wreaks havoc in the parking lot w/ Lemmon's girlfriend's Jaguar. "There goes my girl's car!", he exclaims and then as the car crashes, "There goes my girl!". By the way, I don't think the preceding was a spoiler. It's fun to enjoy mindless entertainment from time to time, too bad it had to be at the expense of the talented Mario Moreno/Cantinflas who was presented as a racial stereotype. If you can get past that, there is a whole parade of stars who were THE stars during that period which, I'm sure, we all look back to w/ nostalgia. If only for nostalgia's sake, I vote for a DVD release of this movie.

It seems Hollywood just didn't know what to do with Cantinflas; after his appearance in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS, it took four years for him to appear in his next Hollywood movie - which was this train wreck that I'm sure had many of its participants licking their wounds for years to come! Upon seeing PEPE, it seems even its filmmakers weren't sure what to do with him, given the fact that a great deal of the movie is devoted to the ton of cameo appearances, appearances where Cantinflas is more or less made to simply blubber statements that you can barely make out, or just sit back stunned. In fact, even in the scenes where he appears with the regular characters, Cantinflas really doesn't have that much to do. Needless to say, he ends up being completely unfunny. There's nothing he does here that gives me a clue as to why he was so popular south of the border. (One other possible problem may be that reportedly his style of humor was geared towards the language and customs of his part of the world.) The whole movie is agonizing to sit through for its 158 minutes - the scary thing is that the movie was originally LONGER - over THREE HOURS LONG! (I am curious as to what was cut out - anyone know?) The only moment that provides anything of real entertainment is the "beatnik ballet" segment. Though it runs too long, and is somewhat goofy, some of the choreography is pretty spectacular.

Cantinflas meets every star in Hollywood, in an attempt to recapture the 80 Days magic. No such luck. Cantinflas was asked to carry Pepe and simply wasn't up to the task, though it's perfectly acceptable all-star entertainment. Cameos by Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, Dean Martin, Ernie Kovacs, and particularly Kim Novak, help make it more than watchable. In a way it's better than 80 Days, since Kim wasn't in that one. I stayed around for the next show to see Kim's cameo again. In those days you could remain in the theatre on one paid admission for as long as you wished.In San Francisco, PEPE played at advanced prices, on continuous showings, no reserved seats. On March 14, 1961 I spent nearly seven hours in the St. Francis Theatre on Market Street. PEPE runs 195 minutes. Us Kim Novak fans are durable, and loyal - she's still one of my favorite stars. Wow.