Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

This is How Movies Should Be Made

A lot of fun.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

It's just such a shame that all this talent goes to waste in one of the worst all-star films ever made. Cantiflas had made a huge splash just a few years before in Hollywood with the film version of "Around the World in 80 Days", and American audiences took the innocent Mexican comic to their hearts. But his follow-up English speaking film was a disaster, and has practically disappeared.The story focuses on his desperate attempts to get to Hollywood to find his mule which was taken from him by mistake in Mexico. Along the way, he encounters a ton of Hollywood stars who, as themselves, aid him in his search. Then, there's Shirley Jones as a juvenile delinquent he hooks up with. Obviously, she was determined to get away from the sweet parts she played in "Oklahoma!", "Carousel" and "April Love" by playing tougher characters, and while she scored with an Oscar for "Elmer Gantry", in this case, she ended up with a real "Pepe Le Peu". Dan Dailey, a former movie star playing a current fictional movie star, ends up with Cantiflas's best friend, but unfortunately, there's nobody there to sweep up after the invisible stench the film leaves behind.A few of the cameos are amusing (elderly Billie Burke shooting Charles Coburn with a slingshot; Jack Lemmon confusing Cantiflas by dressing up as his "Some Like It Hot" drag character), but most of them are silly and seem self-gratifying. Edward G. Robinson provides the heart for the film's cameos as himself, showing great sympathy to Cantiflas who deserves it for putting up with this lame script that could have been wrapped up in 90 minutes rather than its more than three hours. For some reason, this ended up with a ton of technical Oscar nominations, as well as one for the not bad "Far Away Part of Town" which Judy Garland is heard singing on a radio program. Books on Hollywood's biggest disasters usually list this, and I can't think of any other award that it deserved as much.

Although loosely based on a play by Leslie Bush-Fekete, "Pepe" is really a Hollywood showcase for Mexico's reigning comedy clown Cantinflas, who had been so good in "Around the World In Eighty Days" four years prior. However, Cantinflas doesn't have the chops to carry a lengthy movie all on his own, and nothing (not even an eye-popping art direction) can save the floundering results. Director and co-producer George Sidney appears to be trying to top "Eighty Days" in the star-cameos department; unfortunately, whereas that earlier film dropped in celebrity faces in the guise of different story characters, Sidney utilizes this group of celebrities as themselves in and around Hollywood. Sometimes this works (Jack Lemmon, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak) and sometimes it backfires (Judy Garland, who sings but doesn't even appear; Debbie Reynolds, who dances but only in long-shot; Bobby Darin, who sings but doesn't even get properly introduced). Edward G. Robinson, playing himself as a tough sonuvabitch one minute and an old softie the next, looks completely unsure of himself, and with good reason: this script is a mess. Cantinflas opens the picture with some fancy footwork in a Mexican bullring, but once he lands in Los Angeles (in search of the horse he brought up from a colt) he turns into a comical dummy. The team of screenwriters are not sure who they want Pepe to be: gallant hero, bighearted animal lover, or clueless flunky who keeps getting in the way (even interrupting a dramatic dance sequence because he actually thinks someone might get hurt!). The Las Vegas sequence is simply there to show off the Sands and Sinatra's Clan, but it gets the film nowhere. Shirley Jones tries her best with a ridiculous role of a waitress/dancer with a grudge against Hollywood, while Dan Dailey looks and acts sour as a director on the comeback trail. Worst of all is Cantinflas, who has Sidney to blame for what amounts to a disastrous starring performance. Acting stupid for a laugh doesn't create a character--and it doesn't create laughs for long--yet Cantinflas keeps milking the same, dumb one-note: the ignorant peasant who doesn't even know Americans say "Cheers" when they toast drinks. This is a picture so blind to the real world that even the fantasy bits are bummers. *1/2 from ****

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.

I would really love to get a copy of this movie because I saw this movie as a child and I am 51 years old and although I can't remember a lot of the movie, I remember the Name of it, and Debbie Reynolds singing the song "pepe" and thinking that was the Best Movie I had ever seen. They Do Not Make Movies Like They Used To. A Lot of Wonderful Actors & Actresses in this Show.