Lavish sets, thousands of extras, and cameos by virtually every big star in 1960 Hollywood can't save this disaster, done in by its stupid story, witless script, and endless running time -- originally 3 hours and 15 minutes! What were they thinking?!! I turned on TCM and discovered Shirley Jones, of all people, playing a sexy, bitter, beatnik hoofer. Huh??? I was hooked. I had to watch it to the bitter end.They made several super-duper "cavalcade of stars" films like this around the same time: IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS, and so on. None of them were great, but this may be the worst of the pack.Jones looks radiant and Cantinflas's charm and talent are obvious, but both are done in by the stupidity of their roles and of the story. Jones, one of the finest singers in movies, cast as a DANCER who hardly gets to sing? Dailey, a great dancer, cast in a downbeat dramatic role where he barely gets to dance? Casting doesn't get much more perverse.Don't miss the WEST SIDE STORY rip-off, a lengthy Apache-dance sequence featuring a comely, half-naked Jones trying to make like Cyd Charisse without being given a single note to sing ... all of this with loud faux-Bernstein music on the soundtrack.Even weirder is Judy Garland's "appearance" -- actually she doesn't appear, but the characters hear her voice singing a song, supposedly on the radio. As Alice would say, PEPE just gets "curiouser and curiouser ..." This must have been one of the overblown, elephantine messes that helped kill the Movie Musical in the 1960s.

This movie might be pointless, meaningless fluff but it was entertaining enough to warrant a DVD release. I remember seeing a much shortened version on late night TV a long, long time ago and laughed myself silly, especially at the scene w/ Jack Lemmon in drag trying to make it to a dental appointment in between takes of a "Some Like It Hot" kind of movie, while Cantinflas, mistaken for a carhop, wreaks havoc in the parking lot w/ Lemmon's girlfriend's Jaguar. "There goes my girl's car!", he exclaims and then as the car crashes, "There goes my girl!". By the way, I don't think the preceding was a spoiler. It's fun to enjoy mindless entertainment from time to time, too bad it had to be at the expense of the talented Mario Moreno/Cantinflas who was presented as a racial stereotype. If you can get past that, there is a whole parade of stars who were THE stars during that period which, I'm sure, we all look back to w/ nostalgia. If only for nostalgia's sake, I vote for a DVD release of this movie.

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.