Pepe - What can the world cost
Pepe - What Can the World Cost Anyway is a three-hour American-Mexican comedy film with a star cast directed by George Sidney . The Mexican comedian Cantinflas in the lead and title role is supported by 35 Hollywood stars in guest appearances.
action
The Mexican farm worker Pepe works at a horse breeding hacienda near Acapulco , where wealthy Americans spend their vacation days. All his love belongs to a white stallion named "Don Juan". One day the noble steed is to be auctioned. Pepe is deeply dismayed when Hollywood director Ted Holt buys the white horse and takes it across the border to the film metropolis Hollywood. Holt plans to ring in his comeback as a filmmaker with "Don Juan" and for this purpose only has to convince one producer. Meanwhile, Pepe, a paragon of modesty, amiability and friendliness, is on the way to Los Angeles, in the vague hope of buying back "Don Juan" from the dream manufacturers with his own saved money.
In Tinseltown he stumbles from one mishap into the next and meets a plethora of Hollywood stars who cross his paths. In Las Vegas, Pepe meets a casino owner and wins a whopping $ 250,000 with a stake of just three dollars. Of course, Pepe Holt wants to buy “Don Juan” again (which Holt refuses) and at the same time co-finance the director's next film. At the same time, a blonde named Suzie Murphy appears, who really wants to make it big as an actress. The good-hearted Pepe doesn’t have to be persuaded to give her a lead role. Pepe proves to be a real inspiration with his warming nature - both for "Don Juan", who has drooped his ears since it was sold in the USA, as well as for the young woman who actually achieved her breakthrough as a film star thanks to Pepe's commitment. In the end, Pepe is allowed to take his “Don Juan” back to the Mexican ranch to thank him.
Production notes
Pepe was composed in 1959/60 in Mexico (including Acapulco ) and the USA (in Los Angeles and Las Vegas ) and was premiered on December 20, 1960. The German premiere took place on March 24, 1961. The box office profits amounted to 4.8 million US dollars.
Cantinflás had become internationally known four years earlier with his role as Phileas Fogg's servant, Passepartout, in another all-star film, Around the World in 80 Days . Judy Garland can be heard with her voice in a radio sequence.
Jacques Gelman was the production manager. The buildings were designed by Ted Haworth and Jack Martin Smith , while Philip Q. Abramson, William Kiernan and John McCarthy provided the furnishings. Edith Head designed the costumes . The later successful director Walter Hill was one of three assistant directors to George Sidney.
For the German version of Pepe , Willy Hagara sang his own single, "Pepe", in 1961.
Music track
The following music tracks were played:
- That's How It Went, All Right
- Text: Dory Langdon
- Music: André Previn
- Sung by Bobby Darin
- Text: Dory Langdon
- Music and conductor: André Previn
- Sung by Judy Garland (radio recording)
- Dance: Shirley Jones and Dan Dailey
- Pepe
- Text: Dory Langdon
- Music: Hans Wittstatt
- Arrangements: Johnny Green
- Presented by Shirley Jones
- The Rumble
- Music and performed by André Previn
- Lovely Day (Concha Nacar)
- Music: Agustín Lara
- original spanish text: Maria Teresa Lara
- English text: Dory Langdon
- tequila
- Text: Chuck Río
- Mimi
- Music: Richard Rodgers
- Text: Lorenz Hart
- Sung by Maurice Chevalier, Cantinflas and Dan Dailey
- September song
- Music: Kurt Weill
- Text: Maxwell Anderson
- Sung by Maurice Chevalier
- Hooray for Hollywood
- Text: Johnny Mercer
- Music: Richard A. Whiting
- Let's fall in love
- Text: Cole Porter
- Sung by Bing Crosby
- South of the Border
- Text: Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr
- Sung by Bing Crosby
- Pennies from Heaven
- Music: Arthur Johnston
- Text: Johnny Burke
- Sung by Bing Crosby
Film awards (nominations)
This film was nominated for seven Academy Awards in 1961 :
- Best film constructions and equipment ( Ted Haworth and William Kiernan )
- Best Cinematography ( Joseph MacDonald )
- Best Costumes ( Edith Head )
- Best Editing ( Viola Lawrence and Al Clark )
- Best Score ( Johnny Green )
- Best Original Song ( Faraway Part of Town )
- Best tone ( Charles Rice )
- Cantinflas received 5th place in the list of the best actors in a comedy
- The soundtrack also stayed in 5th place in the awards.
Pepe also received three nominations for the Golden Globe Award :
- Best Film (Category Musical)
- Best Actor (Comedy / Musical)
- Best original composition
Reviews
The film received almost consistently bad, sometimes very harsh reviews. Below are some from Germany and abroad:
“The rare and wonderful talents of the Mexican comedian Cantinflas, who was presented in a charming way to the general public as servant in Around the World in 80 Days , are painfully squandered and wasted in the midst of a huge mass of Hollywood junk in the oversized and overcrowded [film ] "Pepe". "
“The praises of the Mexican comedian Cantinflas (Chaplin: 'The Greatest Comedian in the World') spread by the rental commercials are not confirmed by this film. In the role of a clumsy man with a feminine demeanor and dubious erotic orientation - after an unfulfilled affection for a dancer he finds his 'true love', a stud stallion - he resembles the US cinema clown Jerry Lewis. The sweetish and slow-flowing plot is not helped by the mostly laboriously motivated guest appearances by renowned stars (Maurice Chevalier, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Kim Novak). "
“The film is a Cinderella tale in which a man - the Mexican comedian Cantiflas - plays the title role. And since it is an American Cinderella fairy tale, it is not the prince (or here the princess) that plays the main role, but money. Still, the fairy tale is magical; it's a kaleidoscope of humor, drama, burlesque, music, and song. The film zealously violates the dramaturgical laws of its genre, but it is nonetheless a highly entertaining encounter between reality and fantasy. In the courses of the film seminars it is taught that a film must be believable: You don't believe anything in this film! Another principle demands that the uniformity of the style must be preserved: "Pepe" slides from one style to the other. "
"Long star comedy with parodic swipes at the film city and some nice show numbers."
"... almost endlessly long, largely empty comedy."
"An incredibly long and aimless film wastes the talent of Cantinflas and many, many others ... That's only something when you're desperate."
"Weak and seemingly endless extravaganza in which the boring sequences by far surpass the others."
Web links
- Pepe - What can the world already cost in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Variety, Jan. 8, 1964, p. 69.
- ↑ Pepe - What can the world cost in the lexicon of international films