Pepe

Pepe (1960)

A New Excitement in Screen Entertainment!

Mario "Cantinflas" Moreno is a hired hand, Pepe, employed on a ranch. A boozing Hollywood director 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 take off to Hollywood. There he meets film stars including Jimmy Durante, Frank Sinatra, Zsa Zsa Gabór, Bing Crosby, Maurice Chevalier and Jack Lemmon in drag as Daphne from Some Like It Hot. He is also surprised by things that were new in America at the time, such as automatic swinging 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, the last scene shows both him and the stallion back at the ranch with several foals.

Date of release
1960-12-21
TMDB
6.4 / 10 (52)
Runtime
3h 0m
Genres
Comedy, Music
Director
George Sidney
Collection
Cantinflas Collection

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 6

Pepe is a 1960 American musical comedy film starring Cantinflas in the title role, directed by George Sidney. The film contained a multitude of cameo appearances, attempting to replicate the success of Cantinflas' American debut Around the World in 80 Days.

Production

In August 1957, George Sidney Productions announced Leonard Spigelglass was working on the screenplay of a vehicle for Cantinflas called Magic. In November of that year Sidney announced the film was called Pepe.

The film was based on an Austrian musical revue, Broadway Zauber ("Broadway Magic"), whose debut in Vienna in 1935 was reviewed by Variety.

In April 1959, contracts were signed with Columbia to produce and release the film. George Sidney was to direct and co produce, under his own banner, along with Jacques Gelman, head of Posa International films.

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 with two sets of crew down there posed problems.

It was Judy Garland’s first film work since A Star is Born was 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.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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