Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 adventure comedy film directed by Tim Burton in his full-length debut and starring Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman. Reubens also co-wrote the script with Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol. Supporting roles are played by Elizabeth Daily, Mark Holton and Diane Salinger. Pee-wee's Big Adventure tells the story of Pee-wee Herman embarking on nation-wide adventure in search of his stolen bicycle.
Plot
Pee-wee Herman is a man boy who lives in a house filled with toys and pop culture artifacts and loves his bike more than anything else in the world.Francis Buxton a spoiled neighbor is celebrating his birthday and wishes Pee-wee´s bike as his present but Pee-wee refuses to sell it.
Pee-wee rides his bike and vists a shoping district. After visiting two shops the bike is stolen, resulting in Pee-wee visiting a psychic who lies and tells him that the bike is hidden in the basement of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas. Along the way, he meets Simone, a waitress with a yearning to see Paris. Her jealous boyfriend Andy thinks Pee-wee and Simone are romantically linked, and causes Pee-wee to flee in a boxcar of a moving train. Making it to San Antonio, he finds that the Alamo has no basement. Disappointed, Pee-wee visits a bar to use the telephone, but disturbs a biker gang after accidentally knocking over their motorcycles. Fearing they are going to kill him, Pee-wee asks for one last request and dances to "Tequila", winning the respect of the bikers. The bikers give him a motorcycle, but Pee-wee quickly crashes it, ending up in the hospital. There, he learns from that his bike now belongs to Kevin Morton, a child star who is currently filming a movie with the bike as a prominent plot device.
Pee-wee sneaks into Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, disguises himself as a nun, and steals the bike back. In a wild chase scene, he flees from the Warner Bros. security staff through a variety of sets, causing havoc throughout the lot. Various actors and props, including a boat-shaped car, a Santa Claus sleigh, and a man in a Godzilla costume, get swept into the chase. He also interrupts the shooting of a Twisted Sister music video for "Burn in Hell" from Stay Hungry. Using the gadgets on his bike, Pee-wee manages to evade the guards and escape the studio. As he blissfully rides away, however, Pee-wee discovers a pet shop in flames. After heroically saving all the animals, Pee-wee faints on the store's doorstep, just as the fire department and police arrive. Though the firemen consider Pee-wee a hero, the police place Pee-wee under arrest.
Pee-wee escapes from the Warner Bros.
backlot in a climactic chase
Pee-wee is brought before a Warner Bros. studio executive who offers to buy the rights to Pee-wee's story in exchange for dropping all charges. Pee-wee attends the premiere at his local drive-in theater, but it turns out to be a James Bond-style action film involving James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild fighting ninjas. Pee-wee has a cameo appearance as a bellhop, but his voice is dubbed over. After watching for a few minutes, Pee-wee decides to leave, having already lived the real story. Reunited with his bike, he rides away with best friend Dottie, happily ever after.
Cast
- Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman: A strange man who acts like a child. He sports a tuxedo with a red bow tie and clean-cut hair. He is very obsessive over his bicycle, traveling across America in search of it.
- Elizabeth Daily as Dottie: She has a major crush on Pee-wee, though Pee-wee declines to be her boyfriend. Pee-wee thinks of himself as "a loner, a rebel". Dottie helps run a bike shop.
- Mark Holton as Francis Buxton: A fellow man-child like Pee-wee. He is obese and very spoiled. He offers to buy Pee-wee's bike for a large amount of money, but Pee-wee refuses. Francis hires someone to steal the bike before it is purchased by Warner Brothers.
- Diane Salinger as Simone: A waitress that Pee-wee meets in Texas. She develops an attraction towards Pee-wee and yearns to live in France. Her violent boyfriend Andy flunked French in High School, and therefore dislikes France. At the end of the film, Simone is dating a French man named Pierre.
- Judd Omen as Mickey Morelli: A convict Pee-wee meets on his way to Texas. Mickey is a fugitive on the run from the law because he cut off a "do not remove under the penalty of law" mattress tag. He also has a bad temper and abandons Pee-wee in "the middle of nowhere" for his safety. However, Pee-wee ends up inviting Mickey to his movie.
Writers Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol cameo as a reporter and photographer. Cassandra Peterson appears as "Biker Mama". James Brolin portrays Pee-wee Herman and Morgan Fairchild is Dottie for the scene when Warner Bros. turns Pee-wee's life in a full-length film. Dee Snider and Milton Berle cameo as themselves.
Production
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. Reubens' original idea was to do a remake of Pollyanna with Pee-wee Herman in the Hayley Mills role. Reubens claims that Pollyanna is his favorite film. Half-way through writing the script, Reubens noticed everyone at Warner Bros. had a bike with them, which inspired Reubens to start on a new script.[1]
Having left The Walt Disney Company 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 Burton would be an excellent director for their film.[2] Burton felt he connected with Reubens's personality and the humor of Pee-wee's Playhouse.[3] After hiring Burton to direct, Reubens, Phil Hartman and Michael Varhol reworked the script again.[4]
Filming locations included Glendale, California, Pomona, Santa Monica, Burbank, Cabazon, and San Antonio, Texas.[5] Burton and Reubens had tensions with Warner Bros. studio executives over the shooting schedule.[6] Burton hired CalArts classmate Rick Heinrichs for scenes involving stop-motion animation.[6]
Soundtrack
To compose the film score, Burton brought in Danny Elfman, who had not composed a film before.[7] Elfman already had the main title theme written before he signed on.[8] At the time, Elfman was the lead singer of Oingo Boingo, but the working relationship between Burton and Elfman would continue for most of Burton's films.[7][9]
- Track listing
- "Overture" / "The Big Race" (3:07)
- "Breakfast Machine" (2:36)
- "Park Ride" (1:14)
- "Stolen Bike" (1:44)
- "Hitchhike" (0:56)
- "Dinosaur Dream" (0:48)
- "Simone's Theme" (1:35)
- "Clown Dream" (1:58)
- "Studio Chase" (1:24)
- "The Drive-In" (2:02)
- "Finale" (3:12)
Also in the film appeared "Burn in Hell" by Twisted Sister and "Tequila" by The Champs.
Release and legacy
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. The film went on to gross $40,940,662 domestically, recouping five times of its $7 million budget, making it a financial success.[10] At the time of release in 1985, the film received mixed reviews.[11] Gene Siskel gave it a rare zero-star rating, and called it one of the worst films of 1985,[12] but Pee-wee's Big Adventure developed into a cult film.[11] Based on 23 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, Pee-wee's Big Adventure received a highly rare 100% overall approval rating.[13] By comparison Metacritic calculated an average score of 47 from 13 reviews collected.[14] The film was nominated with a Young Artist Award for Best Family Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical).[15]
Christopher Null gave positive feedback, calling it "Burton's strangest film."[16] Variety compared Paul Reubens to Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton,[17] while Empire called the film "a one-comic masterpiece" and "a dazzling debut" for Burton.[18] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon 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."[19] Burton had no interest in directing Big Top Pee-wee,[20] and the financial success of the film prompted Warner Bros. to hire him to direct Batman.[21] Warner Home Video releasd Pee-wee's Big Adventure on DVD in May 2000. The release included audio commentary by Tim Burton, Paul Reubens and Danny Elfman as well as deleted scenes.[22]
References
- ^ Paul Reubens, Tim Burton, audio commentary, 2000, Warner Bros.
- ^ Mark Salisbury; Tim Burton (2006). Burton on Burton. Faber and Faber. pp. 42. ISBN 0-571-22926-3.
- ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.43—4
- ^ Salisbury, Burton, p.47
- ^ "Filming Locations of Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Platial. http://www.platial.com/hundredflowers/map/3027#Pee_Wee's_Big_Adventure. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.49
- ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.48
- ^ Danny Elfman, audio commentary, 2000, Warner Bros.
- ^ excluding Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=peeweesbigadventure.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ a b Salisbury, Burton, p.50
- ^ Gene Siskel, Roger Ebert, "The Worst of 1985," At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert. Tribune Entertainment
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/peewees_big_adventure/. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/peeweesbigadventure. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "PAwards for Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Internet Movie Database. http://imdb.com/title/tt0089791/awards. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ Christopher Null (2005-06-13). "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". FilmCritic.com. http://www.filmcritic.com/misc/emporium.nsf/reviews/Pee-wees-Big-Adventure. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Variety. 1985-01-01. http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117793920.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=132257. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ Stephanie Zacharek. "Pee-wee's Big Adventure". Salon. http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/dvd/review/2000/10/10/peewees_big_adventure/index.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
- ^ Salisbury & Burton 2006, p. 52
- ^ Tim Burton, Batman audio commentary, 2005, Warner Bros.
- ^ "Pee-wee's Big Adventure (Widescreen) (1985)". Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0790749408/imdb-button/. Retrieved 2008-09-22.
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