Main Cast: Paul Reubens, Kris Kristofferson, Valeria Golino, Penelope Ann Miller, Susan Tyrrell
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Paul Reubens's followup to the box-office hit Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is just as outrageous and cartoonish, though not as good. This time, child-man Pee-Wee runs a colorful farm, chock full of talking animals and outsized produce. On the morning after a tornado of Wizard of Oz dimensions, Pee-Wee awakens to discover that a travelling circus has been deposited in his back yard. Befriended by circus owner Kris Kristofferson, Pee-Wee takes an acrobatic job, hoping to impress lovely trapeze artist Valeria Golino--thereby incurring the jealous rage of his hometown sweetie Penelope Ann Miller. When the circus is faced with bankruptcy, Pee-Wee comes up with a brilliant idea: why not stage a three-ring spectacular celebrating the wonders of agriculture? A partial takeoff of such earlier sawdust-trail flicks as Martin and Lewis' Three Ring Circus and Disney's Toby Tyler, Big Top Pee-Wee is generally entertaining, but goes off in too many directions at once, leaving a lot of loose plot ends and underdeveloped characters. Also, Pee-Wee's overactive libido (at least in this film!) is not all that suitable for his younger fans. Even so, there are plenty of hilarious set-pieces. Big Top Pee-Wee was produced and cowritten by Paul Reubens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Written by the real-life identity of Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens), the silly slapstick comedy Big Top Pee Wee pales in comparison to the surreal comic fantasy of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The problem partly comes from the lack of director Tim Burton, who excels at creating visually bizarre and fantastical worlds for eccentric characters to inhabit. Here, director Randal Kleiser shows little knack for creating the kind of comic book atmosphere necessary for a Pee Wee Herman movie. Also problematic is Pee Wee's supposed growth into adulthood. Where he remained naïvely asexual in the first movie, here he is engaged to be married, two-timing, and apparently loses his virginity. Especially in light of his real-world convictions of indecent exposure, these adult situations seem awkward and uncomfortable involving a character whose innocent delight in the world is what makes him so charming. The ludicrous plot and zany sight gags lose their humorous appeal in a film that literally poses Pee Wee as a circus freak. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Albert Henderson - Mr. Ryan; Terrence Mann - Snowball the Clown; Jack Murdock - Otis; David Byrd - Deke; Mary Jackson - Mrs. Dill; Frances Bay - Mrs. Haynes; Mihaly "Michu" Meszaros - Andy; Joey Arias - Shim the Half Man/Half Woman; Franco Columbu - Otto, The Strongman; Vance Colvig - Clownie; Benicio Del Toro - Duke the Dog-Faced Boy; Leo Gordon - Joe, The Blacksmith; Kevin Peter Hall - Big John; Stephanie Hodge; Matthias Hues - Oscar, The Lion Tamer; Jay Robinson - Cock; Anne Seymour - Pearl; Eve Smith - Bunny; Lynne Stewart - Zelda, Bearded Lady; Bunny Summers - Costume Woman; Kenneth Tobey - Sheriff; Wayne White - Vance the Pig; John Sherrod - Del, The Human Cannonball; Dustin Diamond - Child - Deke; Carol Infield Siff - Dot, Siamese Twin; Helen Siff - Ruth, Siamese Twin
Credit
Beala Neel - Art Director, Victoria Thomas - Casting, Debra Hill - Co-producer, Paul Reubens - Co-producer, Robert Turturice - Costume Designer, Roger Joseph Pugliese - First Assistant Director, Randal Kleiser - Director, Jeff Gourson - Editor, Richard Gilbert Abramson - Executive Producer, William E. McEuen - Executive Producer, Danny Elfman - Composer (Music Score), Stephen Marsh - Production Designer, Beala Neel - Production Designer, Steven Poster - Cinematographer, Richard Gilbert Abramson - Producer, William E. McEuen - Producer, Carl Aldana - Set Designer, Stephen Homsy - Set Designer, William J. Newmon II - Set Designer, Richard W. Pitman - Set Designer, Richard Edlund - Special Effects, Kirk A. Francis - Sound/Sound Designer, George McGrath - Screenwriter, Paul Reubens - Screenwriter, Richard Edlund - Visual Effects Producer
During a 1988 television special, Pee-wee Herman acknowledged the long hours of circus training undertaken by the film's actors and that they spent a year and a half working on the movie. He also humorously compared himself as an actor to James Cagney and Spencer Tracy and ended by saying that Big Top Pee-wee is "at least as good as Police Academy."[1]
Overall, Big Top Pee-wee was not as successful as its predecessor, making less than half its gross revenue.
Midge Montana-(Susan Tyrrell) Mace Montana's Wife Who Is Little
Vance The Pig - (Wayne White) Voice Of Pee-Wee's Talking Pig
Plot
On the morning after a tornadic whirlwind, farm boy Pee-wee Herman awakens to discover that a travelling circus has been deposited in his backyard. Befriended by circus owner Mace Montana, Pee-wee is hoping to impress Gina Piccolapupula, a lovely trapeze artist; thereby incurring the jealous rage of his hometown sweetie Winnie Johnston until she meets the four Piccolapupula brothers. But then Gina leaves Pee-wee when she finds out that Winnie was his fiancee. Pee-wee wants to join the circus but all his attempts to do so fail badly. Gina then tells Pee Wee about a famous tightrope walker who suffered a fall, and that Pee Wee should try walking the tightrope in his honor. Mace comes up with a brilliant idea: to stage a three-ring spectacular saluting the American Farm. The problem is that the majority of the town's residents are disgruntled, uncaring people in their sixties who hate Pee-wee, and have been demanding the circus Pee-wee is helping leave town. The old people frame Pee Wee after a humorous run-in with a hippo which they use to claim Pee Wee ordered to attack them, forcing Mace to tear down his circus. Pee Wee saves Mace and the circus, however, when he sneaks genetically modified cocktail weenies from his "hot dog tree" to the townspeople, causing them to become children once again. Now grateful to have extra years of life, the kids gladly watch Mace's circus and Pee Wee perform.
