''Pepe'' is a 1960 American

musical comedy film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as break ...

starring Cantinflas in the title role, directed by George Sidney. The film contained a multitude of

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s, attempting to replicate the success of Cantiflas' American debut '' Around the World in 80 Days''. The film received generally unfavorable reviews from critics and failed to match the box-office success of his previous American film. The movie was issued on VHS tape in 1998; to date, a DVD and a Blu-ray have been released in Spain, but none in the United States.

Plot

Pepe is a hired hand, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director, Mr. Holt, buys a white stallion that belongs to Pepe's boss. Pepe, determined to get the horse back (as he considers it his family), decides to go to Hollywood. There he meets film stars, including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór,

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor and entertainer. He is perhaps best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank H ...

and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from '' Some Like It Hot''. He is also surprised by things that were new in the U.S. at the time, such as automatic doors. When he finally reaches the man who bought the horse, he is led to believe there is no hope of getting it back. However Mr. Holt offers him a job when he realizes that Pepe brings new life to the stallion. With his luck changing, Pepe wins big money in Las Vegas, enough that Mr. Hold lets him be the producer of his next movie. Most of the movie centers around his meeting Suzie Murphy, an actress on hard times who hates the world. Just like with the stallion, Pepe brings out the best in Suzie and helps her become a big star in a movie made by Mr. Holt. The last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. When the foa ...

Cast

* Cantinflas as Pepe * Dan Dailey as Ted Holt * Shirley Jones as Suzie Murphy * Carlos Montalbán as Rodríguez (auctioneer) * Vicki Trickett as Lupita * Matt Mattox as Dancer *

Hank Henry Hank Henry (July 9, 1906 – March 31, 1981) was an American comedian, known for his stage work on the Las Vegas Strip for decades. He was also a film and television actor. Henry got his start in American burlesque and was the comic to straight ...

as Manager * Suzanne Lloyd as Carmen * Carlos Rivas as Carlos * Michael Callan as Dancer * William Demarest as Movie Studio Gateman

Cameos

* Joey Bishop * Billie Burke *

* Charles Coburn * Richard Conte *

* Tony Curtis * Bobby Darin *

Ann B. Davis Ann Bradford Davis (May 3, 1926 – June 1, 2014) was an American actress. She achieved prominence for her role in the NBC situation comedy ''The Bob Cummings Show'' (1955–1959), for which she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outs ...

as her TV character Schultzy * Sammy Davis Jr. * Jimmy Durante * Zsa Zsa Gabór *

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. While critically acclaimed for many different roles throughout her career, she is widely known for playing the part of Dorothy Gale in '' The ...

(voice only) * Greer Garson * Hedda Hopper *

Ernie Kovacs Ernest Edward Kovacs (January 23, 1919 – January 13, 1962) was a Hungarian-American comedian, actor, and writer. Kovacs's visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years afte ...

* Peter Lawford * Janet Leigh * Jack Lemmon * Dean Martin * Jay North as his TV character Dennis the Menace * Kim Novak *

André Previn André George Previn (; born Andreas Ludwig Priwin; April 6, 1929 – February 28, 2019) was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor. His career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music. In each he achieved ...

* Donna Reed * Debbie Reynolds *

Edward G. Robinson Edward G. Robinson (born Emanuel Goldenberg; December 12, 1893January 26, 1973) was a Romanian-American actor of stage and screen, who was popular during the Hollywood's Golden Age. He appeared in 30 Broadway plays and more than 100 films duri ...

* Cesar Romero * Frank Sinatra

Production

George Sidney later recalled "there were problems dealing with the logistics of making a picture in two countries with a writer's strike going on at the same time. It was difficult trying to schedule around this person and that person and getting all of the people together. Shooting in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

with two sets of crew down there posed problems. I was moving back and forth and any time I was in one place I needed to be in another place." Sidney says that because of the writers strike, Durante and Cantiflas had to ad lib their scene together. "It turned out to be pretty funny," said Sidney. "The studio thought we had hired writers on the black market." It was

first film work since '' A Star is Born'' released in 1954. She was slated to make an onscreen appearance. However she was still recovering from illness and the producers decided to limit it to a song.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' was not impressed. "The rare and wonderful talents of Mexican comedian Cantinflas, who was nicely introduced to the general public as the valet in ''Around the World in 80 Days'', are pitifully spent and dissipated amid a great mass of Hollywooden dross in the oversized, over-peopled ''Pepe'', which opened at the Criterion last night."

Soundtrack album

The soundtrack was issued in 1960 by

Colpix Records Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia (Col) and Pictures (Pix). CBS, which owned Columbia Records, then sued Columbia Pictures for trademark infringement o ...

in the U.S. (CP 507) and Pye International Records in the UK (NPL 28015). The tracks were: Side One # " Pepe" sung by Shirley Jones # " Mimi" / September Song sung by

# " Hooray for Hollywood" sung by Sammy Davis Jr. # "The Rumble" (

) – orchestral version Side Two # "That's How It Went, All Right" ( Dory Langdon Previn / André Previn) sung by Bobby Darin # "The Faraway Part of Town" (Dory Langdon Previn / André Previn) sung by

# "Suzy's Theme" ( Johnny Green) – orchestral version # " Pennies from Heaven" / Let's Fall in Love / South of the Border sung by

# "Lovely Day" ( Agustín Lara / Dory Langdon Previn) sung by Shirley Jones

Awards and nominations

Comic book adaption

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

#1194 (April 1961)

References

External links

* * * {{George Sidney 1960 films 1960 musical comedy films American musical comedy films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by George Sidney Films scored by Johnny Green Films set in Los Angeles Films adapted into comics 1960s English-language films 1960s American films