Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Pee-wee's Big Adventure
Theatrical release poster by John Alvin
Directed by	Tim Burton
Written by	Phil Hartman Paul Reubens Michael Varhol
Produced by	Robert Shapiro Richard Gilbert Abramson Tim Burton (uncredited)
Starring	Paul Reubens E.G. Daily Mark Holton Diane Salinger Judd Omen
Cinematography	Victor J. Kemper
Edited by	Billy Weber
Music by	Danny Elfman
Production company	Aspen Film Society
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	August 9, 1985 (1985-08-09)
Running time	91 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$7 million
Box office	$40.9 million (domestic)[2]

Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 American adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his feature film directing debut. It stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. It co-stars E.G. Daily, Mark Holton, Diane Salinger, and Judd Omen. Described as a "parody" or "farce version" of the 1948 Italian classic Bicycle Thieves,^[3][4] it tells the story of Pee-wee's nationwide search for his stolen bicycle.

After the success of The Pee-wee Herman Show, Reubens began writing the script for Pee-wee's Big Adventure when he was hired by the Warner Bros. film studio. The producers and Reubens hired Burton to direct when they were impressed with his work on the short films Vincent and Frankenweenie. Filming took place in California and Texas.

The film was released on August 9, 1985, grossing over $40 million in North America. It became a cult film and continued to accumulate positive feedback. It was nominated for a Young Artist Award and spawned two sequels, Big Top Pee-wee (1988) and Pee-wee's Big Holiday (2016). Its financial success, followed by the equally successful Beetlejuice in 1988, prompted Warner Bros. to hire Burton as the director for the 1989 film Batman.

Plot[]

Pee-wee Herman has a heavily accessorized bicycle that he treasures and that his neighbor and enemy, Francis Buxton, covets. Dottie, bike shop employee, has a crush on Pee-wee, but he does not reciprocate. Pee-wee's bike is stolen while he is shopping at a mall, but the police tell Pee-wee they can't help him find it. Pee-wee thinks Francis took it, and confronts him. Francis' father convinces Pee-wee that Francis did not steal the bike. Pee-wee offers a $10,000 reward for the bike. Francis, who did indeed pay to have a friend steal the bike, is frightened by Pee-wee's relentlessness and pays to have the bike sent away. Pee-wee holds an unsuccessful meeting of friends and neighbors to find the bike, then angrily rejects Dottie's offers of help. He visits Madam Ruby, a phony psychic. Ruby, spying Al and Moe's Bargain Basement across the street, tells Pee-wee his bike is in the basement of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio. He hitchhikes to Texas, getting rides from Mickey, a fugitive convict, and from Large Marge, the ghost of a storied truck driver.

At a truck stop, Pee-wee finds his wallet is missing, and pays for his meal by washing dishes. He befriends Simone, a waitress who dreams of visiting Paris. As they watch the sun rise from a dinosaur museum, he encourages her to follow her dreams, but Simone tells him about her possessive boyfriend, Andy, who disapproves. The lumbering, jealous Andy arrives and tries to attack Pee-wee, who escapes onto a moving train, where he meets Hobo Jack. Pee-wee eventually arrives at the Alamo, but learns at the end of a guided tour that the building does not have a basement. At a bus station, Pee-wee encounters Simone, who tells him she and Andy broke up and she is on her way to Paris. She tells Pee-wee not to give up finding his bike. Pee-wee calls Dottie at the bike shop and apologizes for his behavior. Andy spots Pee-wee and resumes chasing him. Pee-wee evades Andy at a rodeo by disguising himself as a bull rider. Forced to ride for real, Pee-wee does surprisingly well but receives a concussion.

Pee-wee enters a biker bar to make a phone call, but the outlaw motorcycle club threatens to kill him after he accidentally knocks over their motorcycles. He makes a last request, dancing to the song "Tequila". His energetic bartop performance wins over the bikers, who give him a motorcycle for his journey, which he crashes immediately. He awakes in a hospital, and sees a television news report where his bike is being used as a prop in a movie starring a bratty child actor, Kevin Morton. Pee-wee sneaks into Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank and grabs the bike. Security guards chase him across the studio lot, and through several active sets, before he escapes.

Later, Pee-wee discovers a burning pet shop and rescues the animals. Although the firefighters declare Pee-wee a hero, the police arrest him for his disruption at the studio. The president of Warner Bros., Terry Hawthorne, decides to drop the charges and return Pee-Wee's bike in exchange for the rights to adapt his story into a movie. The resulting movie is a James Bond-style film starring James Brolin as "P.W. Herman" and Morgan Fairchild as Dottie. They must retrieve their stolen motorbike–the X-1, which contains an important microfilm–from the Soviets. Pee-wee has a bit role as a hotel bellhop, though his voice has been dubbed.

Seeing the film at a drive-in theater, Pee-wee gives refreshments to all the people he met along his journey, then joins Dottie at their bikes. He also encounters Francis, who tells reporters he is Pee-wee's best friend who taught him how to ride. Francis claims to be knowledgeable about Pee-wee's bike, but accidentally catapults himself into the air using one of the bicycle's gadgets. As Pee-wee leaves the drive-in, Dottie asks why he is not staying for the rest of the movie. Pee-wee answers, "I don't have to see it, Dottie—I lived it." He and Dottie then ride off together, silhouetted against the screen.

Cast[]

Michael Varhol, who co-wrote the script with Reubens and Hartman, cameos as a photographer. Director Tim Burton has an uncredited cameo^[5] as the street thug who confronts Pee-wee in a rainy back alley. Other minor roles include Ed Herlihy as Mr. Buxton and Cassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark) as the Biker Mama of Satan's Helpers. James Brolin portrays "P.W. Herman" and Morgan Fairchild is Dottie in the in-movie production about Pee-wee's life. Heavy metal band Twisted Sister and veteran comedy star Milton Berle cameo as themselves.

The film contains numerous "conceptual continuity" links to other Tim Burton films and other productions:

• Several cast members from The Pee-wee Herman Show (who went on to appear in Pee-wee's Playhouse) have cameo roles. John Moody (Mailman Mike in The Pee-wee Herman Show) appears as the bus clerk in the movie studio sequence, Lynne Marie Stewart (Miss Yvonne) plays the Mother Superior, John Paragon (Jambi the Genie) plays the high-voiced studio extra in red armor from whom Pee-wee asks directions, and the reporter interviewing Francis in the final scene at the drive-in is played by Phil Hartman (Cap'n Carl).
• Jan Hooks (Tina) was a fellow member of The Groundlings comedy troupe with Reubens, Hartman and Paragon, and went on to co-star on Saturday Night Live with Hartman. She also had a cameo role as a publicist in Burton's Batman Returns.
• Paul Reubens and Diane Salinger (Simone) were reunited in the opening sequence of Burton's Batman Returns, in which they portrayed the parents of the Penguin. They appeared together again in Pee-wee's Big Holiday.

Production[]

One of the prop bicycles used in the film on display at Bicycle Heaven

The success of The Pee-wee Herman Show prompted Warner Bros. to hire Paul Reubens to write a script for a full-length Pee-wee Herman film. His original concept was a remake of Pollyanna with Pee-wee Herman in the Hayley Mills role. (Reubens says that Pollyanna is his favorite film.) While writing the script, Reubens noticed everyone at Warner Bros. had a bike to get around the backlot, and requested one of his own. This inspired Reubens to start a new script.^[6]

Having left Walt Disney Productions and with Frankenweenie receiving positive reviews within film studios, Tim Burton was looking for a full-length film to direct. When Reubens and the producers of Pee-wee's Big Adventure saw Burton's work on Vincent and Frankenweenie, they decided to hire him.^[7] Burton felt he connected with Reubens' personality and the humor of the Pee-wee Herman Show.^[8] After hiring Burton to direct, Reubens, Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol revised the script.^[9] They purchased Syd Field's classic book Screenplay, and wrote the script as faithfully as to what the book advised. "It's a 90-minute film, it's a 90-page script," Reubens explained. "On page 30 I lose my bike, on page 60 I find it. It's literally exactly what they said to do in the book...There should be like a MacGuffin kind of a thing, something you're looking for, and I was like, 'Okay, my bike.'" ^[10]

Filming locations included Glendale, Pomona, Santa Clarita, Santa Monica, Burbank, Cabazon (at the Cabazon Dinosaurs^[11]), Port Hueneme, California, and San Antonio, Texas.^[12] Burton and Reubens had tensions with Warner Bros. studio executives over the shooting schedule.^[13] Burton hired CalArts classmate Rick Heinrichs for scenes involving stop-motion animation.^[13] Large Marge's claymation transformation was created by The Chiodo Brothers.

Soundtrack[]

To compose the film score, Burton brought in Danny Elfman, who had composed the music for Forbidden Zone and who was at the time lead singer/songwriter of the new wave band Oingo Boingo.^[14] At first doubtful due to his lack of experience in film scoring, Elfman realized what an opportunity it would be to compose an orchestral score,^[15] and had written the main title theme by the time he signed on.^[16]

Elfman's original score draws inspiration from film composers Nino Rota^[17] and Bernard Herrmann,^[18] with the main title music paying homage to Rota's "Carlotta's Galop" from Fellini's 8½, and the tracks "Stolen Bike" and "Clown Dream" paying homage to music from Herrmann's scores for Psycho and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad respectively. "Studio Chase" pays homage to Miss Gulch's theme in The Wizard of Oz.

In 1986 Varèse Sarabande released an album on record, cassette and compact disc featuring cues from the movie and 1986's Back to School, also scored by Elfman. While both films had their original scores recorded in Hollywood, the album recording was made in London and performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Coleman. In 2010 many of the original tracks were subsequently released by Warner Bros. Records as part of The Danny Elfman & Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box.

Elfman went on to score nearly all of Burton's films,^[19] excluding Ed Wood, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

"Clown Dream" is also used in the video game Grand Theft Auto V. It is also often used as the opening music during Primus concerts.

The film also features "Burn in Hell" by Twisted Sister and "Tequila" by The Champs.

Reception[]

Pee-wee's Big Adventure opened on August 9, 1985 in the United States in 829 theaters, accumulating $4,545,847 over its opening weekend. It went on to gross $40,940,662 domestically.^[2]

Critical response[]

Pee-wee's Big Adventure received generally positive reviews on its release,^[20] before eventually becoming a cult film.^[20] As of May 2020, Rotten Tomatoes reported that 87% of 46 critics gave it a positive review, with an average rating of 7.85/10. The critical consensus reads: "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure brings Paul Reubens' famous character to the big screen intact, along with enough inspired silliness to dazzle children of all ages".^[21] By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 47 from 14 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[22] The film was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Family Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical).^[23]

Christopher Null gave positive feedback, calling it "Burton's strangest film."^[24] Variety compared Paul Reubens to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton,^[25] while Empire called the film "a one-comic masterpiece" and "a dazzling debut" for Burton.^[26] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon.com explained "Everything about Pee-wee's Big Adventure, from its toy-box colors to its superb, hyper-animated Danny Elfman score to the butch-waxed hairdo and wooden-puppet walk of its star and mastermind is pure pleasure."^[27] Burton was offered the opportunity to direct Big Top Pee-wee,^[28] but had no interest and was already working on his own pet project, Beetlejuice. Positive reviews of Beetlejuice and the financial success of Pee-wee's Big Adventure prompted Warner Bros. to offer Burton the director's helm for Batman.^[29]

Roger Ebert never officially reviewed Pee-wee's Big Adventure, but in 1987 it topped his Guilty Pleasures list, and he did mention it in his review of Big Top Pee-wee, saying the sequel was not as magical as its predecessor. The second paragraph of his review contrasted the two, explaining what he liked in Big Adventure that he didn't like in Big Top.^[30] Gene Siskel, however, gave Pee-wee's Big Adventure a rare zero-star rating in his print review, writing that he had enjoyed Herman's guest spots on Late Night with David Letterman but "Obviously, Pee-Wee is tolerable only in Pee-Wee doses ... You have to be a lot funnier on the big screen than on the tube to sustain a feature-length story."^[31] He included the film in his unranked year-end list of the worst movies of 1985.^[32] Vincent Canby of The New York Times was also negative, writing that apart from a couple of scenes it was "the most barren comedy I've seen in years, maybe ever."^[33] In a review for the Los Angeles Times, Michael Wilmington wrote, "The wrong crowd will find these antics infantile and offensive. The right one will have a howling good time."^[34] David Ansen of Newsweek described the film as "Mattel Surrealism, a toy-store fantasia in primary colors and '50s decor. Whoever proposed teaming up Pee-wee (a.k.a. Paul Reubens) with 26-year-old director Tim Burton knew what they were doing ... Together they've conspired to make a true original—a live-action cartoon brash enough to appeal to little kids and yet so knee-deep in irony that its faux naivete looks as chic as the latest retrofashions."^[35]

Home video[]

Warner Home Video released Pee-wee's Big Adventure on DVD in May 2000, with audio commentary by Tim Burton, Paul Reubens and Danny Elfman (the latter on a separate track, alongside an isolated score) and some deleted scenes.^[36]

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Pee-wee's Big Adventure

• Pee-wee's Big Adventure at IMDb
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure at the TCM Movie Database
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure at AllMovie
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pee-wee's Big Adventure at Box Office Mojo