Pekka ja Pätkä

Pekka and Pätkä (Finnish: Pekka ja Pätkä) is the name of several comedy films produced by Suomen Filmiteollisuus in the 1950s in Finland, based on the popular Finnish comic characters Pekka Puupää (played by Esa Pakarinen) and Pätkä (Masa Niemi), who can be said to be the Finnish version of Stan and Ollie. The director of the first movie was Ville Salminen and the rest of the movies are directed by Armand Lohikoski, except for the last one which was directed by Aarne Tarkas based on the comic books. Screenplays were written mostly by Reino Helismaa.

Pekka Puupää is a tall and lanky man who lives in Helsinki with his strict and controlling wife Justiina (played by Siiri Angerkoski). He is a very kind man but probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer. In addition to his height, his most recognizable feature is the daisy attached to his hat. His last name translates to the Finnish equivalent of the expression "blockhead". In the films he speaks with a distinct Savo dialect which adds hilarity to his character.

Pekka's best friend Pätkä is a short and stocky man, whose past is not known. He knows many sayings and usually utters them whenever he has the chance to do so. He is the more intelligent member of the pair.

Though the films are very much beloved by Finnish audiences (and receive regular airings on the YLE) the overall quality of the series has often been put to question. In interviews Armand Lohikoski also noted that filming the comedies was far from easy and he feels that the overall quality of the films did suffer because they were made with a low budget and often with volume only in mind. Understandably the films have never been popular with critics.

Several incidents, particularly the less-than-believable Yeti costume from the 1954 film were some of the things that Lohikoski was never proud of. Also the alcoholic tendencies of Masa Niemi caused problems when he refused to come to shootings. The film series eventually ended after Niemi committed suicide.

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Wikipedia