Matt Mattox - "The Rumble" from Pepe - excerpt

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Pepe was a 1960 film starring the Mexican comedic actor Cantinflas, along with cameos from many top Hollywood film stars. A major dance scene (ten minutes long) was "The Rumble." Shirley Jones (more well known from the film Oklahoma and the television show The Partridge Family) plays a cafe waitress/dancer who befriends Cantinflas. He arrives at the cafe to see her, not realizing that her dance is actually the floor show of the cafe. First she dances with Michael Callan (who played Riff in West Side Story), but he is not her main romantic interest. In this excerpt from the full dance scene, Matt Mattox (who portrays Jones' secret lover) meets her in a back alley for a tryst. Callan discovers the two together, and starts a fight with Mattox using a corkscrew as a weapon. A mad fight/dance scene ensues, complete with acrobatics and Matt's magnificent double air tour. Callan eventually pulls a switchblade, and at this point Cantinflas, thinking that this is reality and not a show, attempts to rescue Jones. After that, all mayhem breaks out.

The full ten minute dance scene is remarkable, as it begins with pianist Andre Previn playing the love theme melody and then singer Bobby Darin breaking into a cool jazz jive lyric about how "she" will reap what she sows - meaning that since Jones will be two-timing her man, her bad karma will come back to her in the end. At the final conclusion of the switchblade scene, it returns to Darin recapping the song, but with the flying objects of the fight crashing all about him.

The credits state that Eugene Loring was the choreographer, but obviously the choreography is based so strongly on the talents of Mattox that he must have had a strong contribution to the steps. I remember Matt once telling me how he was rehearsing a dance with Shirley Jones, and that she was "interested" in him. He played it cool, and Matt said that each day she came in to rehearsal wearing just a little bit less clothing than the day before!