Pépé

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.

It's really hard to rate this movie. On the one hand, it's a true time capsule of 1960..every mega star is here..including practically the whole rat pack. On the other hand , this is a an extremely corny movie about a man and his donkey.

What is really painful to watch is what the movie does to the Cantinflas persona. In his Mexican movies, he is street smart but with a sentimental side. Sort of a Mexican Little Tramp. In his Mexican movies this persona became more and more sentimental and less street smart as years went by. But nothing can prepare you for this movie. In it, the Cantinflas persona becomes a virtual moron. He is such an ignorant fool it is almost painful to watch.

I remember seeing this movie with my grandmother and mother at the old Radio City theater in Santurce. I was a boy expecting a Cantinflas movie and was surprised to see a movie like this.

Still I have fond memories and I feel that the movie deserves a DVD release. In fact this movie doesn't even show up on AMC or TCM. And its a shame because this movie is an interesting way to go back to 1960.

It seems as if the 195-minute print of this all-star oddity has forever been pulled from circulation. However the remaining 157-minute version is quite long enough. This movie has always been made fun of, but as misguided as it is, it is still entertaining, if only because it is so crammed full of guest appearances.

Here's who you get: Greer Garson trying to buy a prize horse; Edward G. Robinson playing himself though he is seen here as a famous film producer; Ernie Kovacs as an immigration inspector; William Demarest as a studio gate keeper; Zsa Zsa Gabor reading a copy of "The Interns" to promote Columbia's upcoming film version; Bing Crosby signing Cantinflas's tortilla and joining him in a few lines of "South of the Border"; Jay North playing Dennis the Menace; Billie Burke hitting Charles Coburn with a slingshot; Jack Lemmon dressed as Daphne from "Some Like It Hot" in a bizarre sequence involving a parking lot; Andre Previn at the piano while Bobby Darin sings a terrific number called "That's How It Went, All Right"; Michael Callan, Shirley Jones, and Matt Mattox doing a sizzling dance called "The Rumble"; Judy Garland (heard but not seen) singing "The Faraway Part of Town" on the radio; Ann B. Davis playing her "Shultzy" character from "The Bob Cummings Show" but here assigned to working as Edward G. Robinson's secretary; Donna Reed making cutesy banter with Dan Dailey about her then-current TV series; a trip to the Sands Casino in Las Vegas where we see Peter Lawford and Richard Conte standing around in the lobby, Sammy Davis Jr. doing impressions to "Hooray for Hollywood", Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin gambling, Cesar Romero hanging out at the slot machines, a dejected Jimmy Durante losing at cards, and Joey Bishop saying "son of a gun"; Hedda Hopper boarding a plane; a ghastly sequence in which a miniature Debbie Reynolds drunkenly dancing with Cantinflas on Dan Dailey's desktop to "Tequila"; a delightful moment when Dailey and Cantinflas join Maurice Chevalier in dancing to "Mimi"; Janet Leigh being surprised in the bathtub the same year as her "Psycho" shower; Tony Curtis getting pushed into an indoor pool; and Kim Novak giving advice on buying a wedding ring.

Somehow I find this hodgepodge strangely irresistible.

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.

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.