Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
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Pee-wee's Big Adventure is a 1985 film directed by Tim Burton and written by Paul Reubens, Phil Hartman, and Michael Varhol. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman.
This film is number 11 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.
Tagline: The Story Of A Rebel And His Bike.
Main Cast
- Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman
- Elizabeth Daily as Dottie
- Mark Holton as Francis Buxton
- Diane Salinger as Simone
- Judd Omen as Mickey
Plot Summary
Pee-wee Herman, a bizarre man-child, loves his bike more than anything else in the world. One morning he runs into his nemesis Francis, a fellow man-child and neighborhood rich "kid," who tries to buy Pee-wee's beloved bike at any cost. Pee-wee refuses to even name a price. He takes his bike to town and leaves it elaborately chained to an animated clown statue while he shops. He browses a magic shop to pick up some "supplies," then picks up a bike horn from his friend Dottie and resists her attempts to date him. When he finishes shopping, he discovers that his bike has been stolen despite his significant precautions.Knowing that Francis was behind the theft, Pee-wee breaks into his mansion and attacks him in the bath. After Francis' father breaks them up, Pee-wee is forced to admit that he has no proof. Later on, we learn that Francis does in fact have the bike, but no longer wants it knowing how determined Pee-wee is to find it. He pays a minion to dispose of it.
That night, Pee-wee brings his friends to his basement for a meeting, where he loses control of himself as he presents evidence that makes no sense to the actual crime. He then lashes his anger on Dottie when she offers to get him a new bike. Despondent, he visits a fake psychic who tells him that the bike is hidden in the basement of the Alamo. As Pee-wee leaves for the Alamo, Pee-wee tries to hitchhike a ride to Texas, but is unsuccessful until a man named Mickey picks him up. Mickey reveals that he is actually a fugitive on the run from the law because he cut off a "do not remove under the penalty of law" mattress tag. Some viewers interpret this as an attempt by Mickey to avoid frightening Pee-Wee with his actual crime (which is never revealed), while others believe that Mickey is telling the truth and the scene itself is a satire of the typical "criminal on the run" movie cliche. Pee-wee and Mickey run into a police blockade, but avoid confrontation by disguising themselves as a married couple. That night, Pee-wee takes over driving and nearly gets them killed. Mickey forces him out of the car, giving a lame excuse remarkably similar to one Pee-wee used to spurn Dottie, although he does admit that he does not want to drag Pee-wee into his crime spree life.
Pee-wee is left in the dark on a desert road, but soon gets picked up by a trucker called Large Marge. In one of the movie's most memorable and widely imitated scenes, the trucker frightens Pee-wee with a vivid description of a terrible car-wreck, finishing the story by briefly distorting her face. Afterwards, at a truck stop diner, Pee-wee learns that Large Marge was actually a ghost, and that her story was about herself. At the diner, Pee-wee meets Simone, a friendly waitress with a yearning to see Paris. The two watch the sunrise inside one of Claude Bell's dinosaurs. As Pee-wee convinces her to follow her dream, Simone's large bearded boyfriend, Andy (who is the person keeping Simone from going to Paris because of his belief that that country makes people like him look dumb), catches them together and tries to kill Pee-wee. Andy chases Pee-wee around the dinosaurs but never speaks a line, instead screaming "AAAAHHH!" repeatedly at Pee-wee.
Pee-wee flees into the boxcar of a moving train. There he collapses and has a nightmare about a dinosaur eating his bike. He is woken by a hobo, with whom he passes the time singing folk songs such as She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain, Oh Susanna, Skip To My Lou, and Jimmy Crack Corn. Eventually the constant singing becomes tedious and Pee-wee throws himself from the train.
Pee-wee then finds that he has made it to San Antonio, and hastens to the Alamo, where he takes a tour guided by Tina, played by Jan Hooks. On the tour, he discovers to his humiliation that the Alamo has no basement. Pee-wee realizes that his whole trip was a sham, and goes to the bus station to return home. There he meets up with Simone, who tells him that he has inspired her to see Paris (it turns out that she and Andy had an arguement after he had run off Pee-wee). She in turn urges Pee-wee not to give up hope. After a phone call to Dottie, Pee-wee tries to buy a bus ticket, only to encounter Simone's boyfriend Andy, who again chases Pee-wee while screaming "AAAAHHH!" Pee-wee disguises himself as a cowboy and gets swept into a rodeo, where he inadvertently breaks the world record, but unfortunately gets thrown off and knocked out cold.
On his way home, Pee-wee stops off at a rowdy biker bar to make a phone call and runs afoul of the "Satan's Helpers," a motorcycle club. After he accidentally knocks over their bikes, the Satan's Helpers threaten to kill Pee-wee, but first allow him a final request. Pee-wee performs his Big Shoe Dance to the song "Tequila" and wins the respect of the bikers. They give him a motorcycle and wish him luck in finding his bike. As Pee-wee rides away, he almost immediately loses control of his new motorcycle and crashes into a billboard.
At the hospital, Pee-wee has another nightmare of his bike being destroyed, this time by evil clown doctors, and a figure of Francis dressed as the devil. After waking in his hospital room, Pee-wee learns from the television that his bike now belongs to Kevin Morton (played by Jason Hervey), a spoiled child star who is currently filming a movie with the bike as a prominent prop.
Pee-wee sneaks into Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California and searches for his bike, soon locating the set on which Kevin is acting. Pee-wee disguises himself as a nun in order to infiltrate the set and steal his bike back. Another nun in this scene is played by Lynne Marie Stewart, who also plays Miss Yvonne on Pee-wee's Playhouse. In a wild chase scene, he flees the Warner Bros. security staff through a variety of sets, causing havoc wherever he goes. 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 and is apprehended by the police.
Pee-wee is brought before a Warner Bros. executive, who offers to buy Pee-wee's life story in exchange for not pressing charges. Pee-wee agrees and attends the premier at his local drive-in. He greets all the various friends he made on his trip, who have all come out to see the movie. He ends with Dottie, having finally fulfilled her demands for a date at the drive-in. As a final act of vengeance, Pee-wee invites Francis to sit on his bike, then triggers the ejector seat on him by surprise. The movie turns out to barely resemble what actually happened. It is a cheesy James Bond-style action movie involving soap opera stars James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild fighting ninjas. Pee-Wee has a cameo appearance as a bellhop, but his voice is comically dubbed. After a few minutes of watching, Pee-wee decides to leave, having already lived the real story. Rejoined with his bike, he rides away with Dottie, happily ever after.
Latterday Musical References
The popularity of Pee-wee's Big Adventure has led a number of bands to make references to it in their music. Notable examples include:- Gatsbys American Dream released a song called "Shhhhhh! I'm Listening to Reason" on their 2005 album, Gatsbys American Dream and the Volcano. The title of the song is a reference to a line that Pee-wee says to Francis during their first encounter early in the movie.
- The Get Up Kids have a song called "I'm a Loner, Dottie, a Rebel," which references the excuse Pee-wee uses to avoid going to the drive-in with Dottie. The line is later repeated by Mickey. The song was first released on a 7" in the Post-Marked Stamps series on Tree Records. It was later re-recorded and included on the band's 1999 album, Something to Write Home About.
- Au Revoir Simone is the name of a Brooklyn-based indie pop band. Their name comes from the scene in which Pee-wee says goodbye to Simone at the bus station.
- Amazing Larry is the name of a Colorado pop-punk band. In the movie, Amazing Larry is a character who appears briefly in the basement meeting scene. He has no lines, but is chastised by Pee-wee for interrupting the meeting. Amazing Larry also appears in the extended version of the "Mario's Magic Shop" scene that was deleted from the final film, but can be viewed on the DVD. A radio DJ who played indie rock on WLFM in Appleton, WI and WHPK in Chicago, IL also used the name Amazing Larry circa 1997-2001.
- There is a pop-punk band from California named Large Marge, after the kind yet dead trucker Large Marge that picks up Pee-wee while hitch-hiking.
Trivia
- After working on short films such as Vincent and Frankenweenie, this was director Tim Burton's first feature film. It was a hailed success and gave Burton a name in Hollywood. He would go on to make more memorable feature films including the 1989 film Batman, and the 1996 Si-fi flop Mars Attacks
- The band that is recording a music video when Pee-Wee passes them during the Warner Bros. chase sequence is Twisted Sister. The song they were recording the music video for is "Burn in Hell" from Stay Hungry.
- Reubens and Diane Salinger would reunite for a cameo role in Burton's 1992 hit movie, Batman Returns, playing The Penguin's parents.
- Paul Reubens also had a role in a Cheech and Chong movie as a bellhop, and another where he did a stand up act as Pee-wee Herman.
- In addition to the aforementioned appearances by James Brolin, Morgan Fairchild, Jason Hervey, and Jan Hooks, personalities Milton Berle, Tony Bill, Professor Toru Tanaka, Carmen Filpi, Ed Herlihy and Reubens fellow Groundling Phil Hartman (who also co-wrote the story) have cameos.
- Reubens' good friend Cassandra Peterson has a cameo as the "Biker Mama" in the bar. Reubens was to return the favor with a cameo in her film Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, but scheduling conflicts arose and he did not appear.
- The music from Pee Wee's Big Adventure was featured in an episode of Family Guy. It plays when Peter's breakfast machine is shown; a large, over-complicated machine which ends up shooting him.
Other Taglines
- "Don't touch his bike"
Online Clips
[Trailer]
External links
| Tim Burton |
|---|
| Director |
| The Island of Doctor Agor | Stalk of the Celery | Vincent | Frankenweenie | Pee-wee's Big Adventure | Beetlejuice | Batman | Edward Scissorhands | Batman Returns | Ed Wood | Mars Attacks! | Sleepy Hollow | Planet of the Apes | Big Fish | Charlie and the Chocolate Factory | Corpse Bride | Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd | Believe It or Not |
| Producer |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas | James and the Giant Peach | Batman Forever |
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