Pepe - Was kann die Welt schon kosten

Now that I have read some put downs, I need to respond.

This movie 'PEPE' (1960) George Sidney, was just what tens of thousands of other movies is, and are supposed to do, that is to give you an escape.

Give you an escape from everyday blaze. It's funny, musical, short on a fabulous plot but wonderful to watch especially if you like to dream that maybe some small unknown would be able to brush elbows with the stars of the era, and save his ('son' as he says) to boot. What's so bad about that??

I'm sorry "Mario Moreno Reyes" Cantinflas did not get a fair shake from Hollywood he had such potential. In my book this is a must see.

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.

I have fond memories of this movie. I remember along with my brother Alan, begging our parents to take us to the drive-in to see Pepe. I don't know anyone who did not like Cantinflas. With the advent of DVD, I don't know why this title has not surfaced.

While this film doesn't especially take advantage of Mexican actor Cantinflas's talent, it's not nearly the bomb that other IMDB reviewers might indicate. True, the plotline isn't particularly compelling (in fact, it's a bit absurd), there are many memorable moments in the film. Shirley Jones is particularly appealing, and we get vocal performances by Bobby Darrin AND Judy Garland (what's not to like there), as well as a rare screen performance by jazz pianist/composer/conductor Andre Previn. Together with cameo appearances by Edward G. Robinson, Billy Burke, and tons of other 30s/40s/50s luminaries, this film is well worth the 2-1/2 hours or so to watch.

Now any film with as many stars as they gathered together for bit parts as Pepe will automatically get me watching it in any event. There's no way I'd give this a bad review.

But in terms of the film itself, it might well have been oversold back then. Cantinflas got rave notices for his performance as Passepartout in Around the World in 80 Days, but failed to win audiences in the English speaking world. So this time Cantinflas played the title role and Columbia Pictures gathered together just about every star who had a free minute or so to appear in this. When you consider that Around the World in 80 Days was also such an all star extravaganza, did any other performer in history ever command such support?

Not that he didn't deserve it. In Latin America, especially in his native Mexico, Cantinflas was a national icon. I think that it was no accident that all these stars wanted to appear with him, it certainly would boost their market value in the Latin American area to be identified with him.

Seeing this film again 46 years after it first came out and I did see it in the theater back in the day, I was struck with how similar the Pepe character was to Forrest Gump. Tom Hanks who got an Oscar for his performance of someone as guileless as Pepe also during that film ran into as many famous folks as Pepe managed to.

Columbia cheated a little bit by going to Las Vegas for part of the story. This was the height of the Rat Pack era and a whole lot of the cast from Ocean's 11 took time from filming that to do some ring-a-ding walk-ons here.

There are some nice musical numbers. Shirley Jones is in good voice singing the title song. A real treat is Cantinflas, Dan Dailey, and Maurice Chevalier doing a reprise of Mimi. My favorite though is a star that appears only by voice, but Judy Garland's The Faraway Part of Town which is heard over a radio should rank as one of the best songs she ever sang.

Seen almost a half a century later, I'd say Pepe was undeservedly panned by the critics back then and is worth looking at whenever it gets broadcast.