Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

 

Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)

 

Children’s films aren’t actually all that nice, or at least the good ones aren’t.

 

Any Children’s film worth its salt has a scene or two that scared the pants off the little kiddies. The Great Animator, Producer, Voice Actor, and Entrepreneur Walt Disney understood this, and his first four Animated Features all have landmark sequences of Horror and Disorientation (so from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” (1937) with the Wicked Stepmother transformed into an Old Crone, through “Dumbo” (1941), with the title Character Hallucinating after getting drunk), and though his fifth Animated feature, “Bambi” (1942), might not have a Horror scene, but does have a child grieving over his Murdered mother.

 

Decades later, “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” is no different. It is as joyous as the above listed Disney Classics, and though it’s live action and using a surprising lot of location footage, is more self-indulgently artificial than the Disney’s Animations, and is all the better for it. It also some moments that scared the pants off the little kiddies.

 

Before I dig into the film itself, let me address its Creator and the History of the Character:

 

Actor Paul Reubens created the Character of Pee Wee Herman over a long period. He’d joined an Improv-Comedy Troupe, the Groundlings, in the 1970s. For a 1977 live-performance Reubens played and incompetent Stand-up Comedian proved the first internation of Pee Wee. “Almost all the character came out that night. I had the suit; I had a little tiny kid’s black bow-tie. (I found a red one maybe a week after that.) The voice was a voice I had used in a repertory play many years before that. Some of the behavior was based on a couple of kids I knew growing up, and some of it was me … I think the character was born very fully hatched.”

 

Later, Reubens chose to audition for “The Dating Game” (1979) in that Character, was cast, and in fact, appeared three-times, so that became his first paying Hollywood gig. Pee-Wee then became a popular night-club act, an exuberantly awkward man-child, chock-full of Sexual Innuendos (the Sexual Innuendos would mostly be purged from the Persona over time). Soon, the Groundlings alumni started making in-roads with the Producers of Saturday Night Live (TV show, first aired 1975) but not Reubens, in 1980 he was rejected after audition in favor of Comic Gilbert Gottfried. He later said, “‘The Pee-wee Herman Show’ [a stage-show inspired by TV Variety Shows] was 100% created out of spite for not getting ‘Saturday Night Live.’”

 

While Reuben’s was working on the stage show, Character Pee-Wee made his first film appearance in “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” (1980). Then, “The Pee-Wee Herman Show” was aired on HBO (1981). “When I look back at that original HBO special … I’m struck always by how sweet Pee-wee is. He was never that sweet again. He got snarkier and snarkier.”

 

That success led to several appearances on the “Late Night with David Letterman” (TV Talk Show, first aired 1982, Pee-Wee’s first appearance was 1983) wherein Reubens started his habit of giving all his interviews in-Character. And that led directly to the greenlighting of this film. The success of this film led directly to his now legendary Children’s TV show, “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse” (first aired 1986).

 

Critic Jeff Sheldon, who grew up with the TV show, nicely summarized the Magic of Pee-Wee, “He’s funny, but if you had to deal with him in real life, you know you’d find him annoying. He’s selfish, oblivious, and is a child trapped in an adult’s body. Perhaps that’s why as kids, we all loved him. He was just like us but had the freedom that comes with being an adult.”

 

Critic Michael Wilmington, addressing this film, captured another side of the Pee-Wee Character, and before you read the following, understand, Wilmington really enjoyed the film, “Is he even, perhaps, something darker, more dangerous and pathological? Peter Lorre at his crawliest, poured into Pinky Lee? [Actor Lorre was most famous for his Horror Villain roles, while Pinky Lee (real name Pincus Leff) was a Children TV Host who helped inspire the Pee-Wee Character] … Pee-wee manages sometimes to be supremely disturbing, to make your teeth itch. Consider his appearance: suit three sizes too small, effete crew cut, clamp-on red bow tie. Consider his manner: the eternal 8-year-old, swinging between manic glee and the petulant, infantile pout of a fastidious child avoiding dog droppings. Consider his enthusiasm: bicycles, toys, Rube Goldberg contraptions. Here is a fellow whose most blood-curdling vice would seem to be a banana split royale with five toppings, followed by five straight Godzilla movies.”

 

But the astounding success of Pee-Wee came at a cost. Before getting any recognition, Reubens was an out-of-the-closest homosexual in the middle of the worst of the AIDS-era (the Pandemic entered public knowledge in 1981, unleashing a panic; though the disease is still with us and still killing many, it was downgraded to Endemic sometime in latter half of the 1990s). But, because of Pee-Wee, Reubens changed. "I was out of the closet, and then I went back in the closet. I wasn't pursuing the Paul Reubens career; I was pursuing the Pee-Wee Herman career ... I was secretive about my sexuality even to my friends [out of] self-hatred or self-preservation. I was conflicted about sexuality. But fame was way more complicated."

 

Reubens lived with a lover in the 1970s, and that man proved another inspiration for the Pee-Wee Character. After that relationship ended, they remained close until the man’s death of AIDS, and decades later Reubens claimed to have had no serious romantic relationships for the rest of his life. He became intensely private while becoming a larger-and-larger Public Figure, an obvious driver in his choice to only give interviews in-Character.

 

Then, in 1991, his career was derailed by an embarrassingly trivial Sex-Scandal. Sitting alone in a Porn Theater in Florida, he was arrested for masturbating. That led to the canceling of his hugely popular TV show and a shunning by much of the Entertainment Industry, though he also had strong supporters from others in the same Industry. This career slump took him most of a decade to pull out of, but he did re-establish himself, notably earning an Emmy nomination (not his first) for his Recurring Role (not as Pee-Wee) on the TV show “Murphy Brown” (first aired 1988, Reubens’ first appearance 1995). He started doing interviews not as Pee-Wee, but as Reubens, but remained evasive regarding both his personal sexuality and the arrest.

 

Then in 2002, while he was out of town, Reubens’ California home was searched by Police in connection to Child Pornography accusations leveled by Actor Jeffery Jones. Jones, himself, was facing, and later convicted, of Child Pornography charges; it appears Jones handed over the names of others as part of a Plea-Deal. Pornography was found, but apparently no Child Porn, as Reubens was charged only with a Misdemeanor.

 

In 2007, Reubens began reviving the Pee-Wee Character for short cameos and finally made the third Pee Wee film, “Pee Wee’s Big Holiday” (2016) which was successful. He’d already re-established himself, now his most popular Character was back. Reubens admitted in an interview, “People have argued I’ve done everything consciously or unconsciously to destroy [the Character], but it’s the brand that won’t die. It’s still around.” In a separate interview he said that after seeing the final cut, “I was so buoyed by that, I realized, I could do [Pee-Wee] for 10 more years if I wanted to.”

 

Unfortunately, no.

 

In 2017 Reubens was diagnosed with cancer. He did not go public with it. In 2023 he succumbed. Shortly before his death he agreed to a series of interviews which became the Documentary, “Pee-Wee as Himself” (2025, so released after his death), in which he came out of the closet again regarding his homosexuality (the above quote “I was out of the closet …” is from that film).

 

The Character can be seen in most portrayals Arrested Adolescence that followed, one can see Pee-Wee influence almost everywhere, like Actor Adam Sandler’s ruder comedies and the title Character of “Napoleon Dynamite” (2004).

 

Okay, back to this movie.

 

Reubens co-Wrote the script with Phil Hartman (another alumnus of the Groundlings and would have a same part in this film), and Michael Varhol. For the script, the trio followed a recipe in a book, Syd Field’s “Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting: A Step-by-Step Guide from Concept to Finished Script” (1979). Reuben again, “It’s a 90-minute film, it’s a 90-page script. 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’ … It’s really a good example of how anybody could write a movie if you follow the rules.”

 

The original idea was a remake of “Pollyanna” (1960), one of Reubens’ favorite films, but one day on the Warner Bros Studio Lot, Reubens rented a bicycle because so many others were using them to tool around the giant acreage, and a new idea began to form:

 

A parody of “The Bicycle Thieves” (1948), the cornerstone film of the Italian Neo-Realist cinema. The original film was a richly compassionate, keenly observant of how Economic Challenges shape Human Characters, and its deeply melancholy was captured in mournful B&W. In Reubens, Hartman & Varhol’s version, friendliness and snark replace compassion, there is no Socio-Economic Messaging (Pee-Wee seems jobless, but always has all the money he needs), and there’s not a hint of melancholy in the riotous explosion of mayhem and bright colors.

 

In the film, Pee Wee has not only one, but two, female, Romantic Interests, Bike Shop Employee Dottie (Elizabeth Daily) & Waitress Simone (Diane Salinger), perhaps two-and-a-half, if one includes Biker Mama of the Outlaw Gang Satan's Helpers (Casandra Peterson, another Groundlings Aluminous, unrecognizable to those who know her only by the Character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark), but through it all, it remains obvious that Pee-Wee’s heart belongs only to his bicycle and nothing will stop him from rescuing her (it?).

 

One couldn’t call “The Bicycle Thieves” a Coming-of-Age story, though maturity is achieved at hard cost by the two leads. Meanwhile “Pee-Wee’s Big …” undeniably is, but it subverts the Trope because Pee-Wee’s maturation across the story is only minimal and from the start he not a child, only a man who insists on acting childishly. It’s a Road Movie, which “The Bicycle Thieves” was not, and therefore part of the Bildungsroman tradition, and it should be noted that after Pee-Wee returns home, he does have a greater appreciation of his true friends. This Bildungsroman is strung together by vignettes that once seen, are never forgotten.

 

The film opens with Pee-Wee waking from a dream about the Tour de France, exiting his bedroom via a fire-pole and, just like in the old Batman TV show (first aired 1966), he’s fully dressed when he lands in his kitchen. Settling in for his breakfast, he sets off a delightful Rube-Goldberg-style device (Goldberg was a USA Newspaper cartoonist, his most popular series was “The Inventions of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts, A.K.” first appearing in 1929) in which the progressive actions of candle under a string, pulleys,  an anvil, a vacuum, golf ball, miniature Ferris wheel, Abraham Lincoln statue, a drinking bird toy, a garden gnome, and a flying dinosaur toy, prepare Pee-Wee’s eggs, bacon, pancakes, and toast, and feeds his dog Speck. When the meal is delivered to Pee-Wee, it’s laid out on the plate so that the pancake has a bacon smile and the sunny-side up eggs are two eyes. Pee-Wee then pours “Mr. T” brand cereal on top of it.

 

Next came Pee Wee’s visit to a Strip Mall. The film is obsessed with Pop-Culture references, and specifically mixes 1950s nostalgia with the hippest 1980s styles in almost every image. As the 80’s are now longer ago than most of us want to admit, the film has become a double-scoop Ice Cream Sunday of Cultural Memory. The Movie Theatre marquee featured “Cartoon Cavalcade” (referring to the cartoon-shorts that were Saturday Morning movie fare for USA children starting sometime before 1928, and only disappearing with the triumph of TV in the mid-1950s) and there were also Mario’s Magic Shop, Bookworm’s Book Shop, and, most importantly, Chuck’s Bike-O-Rama. Chuck’s signage was perfect expression of the then-popular Memphis Milano style, with clashing pastel colors, contrasting geometric and organic shapes, and mixing patterns and asymmetric forms.

 

We’re introduced to almost every shop and several colorful Characters. Though most don’t reappear, a whole film could’ve been built around any of them. One who does reappear later is Character Dottie, who has a crush on Pee-Wee, but at this point in the film, he’s dismissive of her attentions:

 

Pee-Wee: “There's a lotta things about me you don't know anything about, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand.”

Dottie: I don't understand.

Pee-Wee: “You don't wanna get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel. So long, Dott.”

 

It is also the most important scene in the film because it when Pee-Wee’s beloved bicycle, a heavily-customized, Schwinn DX Cruiser (built out of fourteen vintage Schwinns, manufactured between 1948 & 1953) is stolen by an Evil Villian, Francis Buxton (Mark Holton) another man-child and Pee-Wee’s hated rival.

 

Pee-Wee goes on his Epic Journey to save the Schwinn and there are two great, back-to-back, scenes involving Pee-Wee Hitch-Hiking and being picked up by Truck Drviers of dubious character.  

 

The first is Mickey Morelli (Judd Omen) with whom Pee-Wee became fast friends. Pee-Wee soon learns Mickey did Jail Time for ripping tags off mattresses. Then Pee-Wee learns Mickey wasn’t actually released from Prison, but Escaped and is now a Fugitive. Then Mickey lets Pee-Wee drive. Then Pee-Wee gets sleepy. And then, well, things happen. 

 

Pee Wee gets abandoned by the side of the road, Mickey’s last words to Pee-Wee echoed Pee Wee’s hurtful words to Dottie. Then Pee-Wee is scared by animal noises and glowing eyes in the dark. Soon, he’s surrounded by both real animals (example: a cougar) and fake ones (example: a stuffed deer). He’s rescued from this by another Truck Driver, Large Marge (Alice Nunn).

 

Marge proves a sullen woman who insists on telling Pee-Wee a story, “On this very night, ten years ago, along this same stretch of road…” This proves to be a Horror Story with one hellofva “BOO!”

 

Pee-Wee escapes her and finds himself at a Truck Stop Diner. There he leans there’s even more to Marge’s story.

 

That Diner is also where Pee- Wee meets Simone. As they connect, she tells him of her frustrated dream. Her boyfriend doesn't want to go to Paris, ''He flunked French in high school and now thinks everybody over there is out to make him look dumb.''  

 

Next to the Diner is the real-world Roadside Attraction, the Cabazon Dinosaurs, and in one of the film’s sweetest moments, Simone and Pee-Wee climb to the top of the red T-Rex and watch the sunrise. Critic Sheldon again, “Because of this movie, I’ve always wanted to sit in a dinosaur’s mouth and watch the sun come up.” Sheldon added, “Because of this movie, I’ve also always wanted to visit the Alamo.”

 

And Pee-Wee also visits the Alamo. The Tour Guide, Tina (Jan Hooks, another Groundlings Alumnus) is both terrible at her job and hilarious to the Audience, “There are thousands and thousands of uses for corn, all of which I’ll tell you about right now.” (Hooks improvised all her Tour Guide patter). Pee-Wee, who is in hurry, exaggeratedly rolls his eyes.

 

Then there’s the scene where Pee Wee runs afoul with the Outlaw Biker Gang, is pinned down on a table by the aggressively amorous Biker Mama, and saves himself by preforming a dance number while the jukebox blasts the Champs’ song “Tequila” (1958).

 

The climax unfolds in the Warner Bros Universal Backlot, a place that is devoted to creating artificial sets, but here treated as location footage. It’s a homage to the end of the Mel Brook’s film “Blazing Saddles” (1974) with Pee-Wee trying to escape Security on his now-recovered bicycle, crashing through several on-going productions, like Godzilla-style  Monster movie (the first “Godzilla” was 1954), a video of the Twisted Sister song “Burn in Hell” (released 1984), plus a quick visual nod to the flying bicycle scene from “E.T.: The Extraterrestrial” (1982).

 

The film closes with Pee Wee back home, starting to date Dottie, and somewhat famous as his adventures have been made into a Hollywood Movie starring James Brolin and Morgan Fairchild as Pee-Wee and Dottie, though now the story has mutated into a James-Bond-Style Action Film (the Fictional Character Bond was created by Novelist Ian Flemming in 1953, first TV movie was “Casino Royal” (1954), but no one remembers that, but then became World Famous with the release of the first feature film “Dr. No” (1962), beginning what is now the 7^th longest-running Film Franchise in history).

 

There is string of celebrities in cameos and small parts. In addition to those cited above one will see: Comic Milton Berle; Ed Herlihy who was the Announcer for TV’s “The Tonight Show” immediately before Ed McMahon  (first aired 1954, Herlihy’s tenure was in 1962) as Francis Buxton too-indulgent father; Professional Wrestler Professor Toru Tanaka, as the Buxtons’ Butler, an obvious reference to the Character Oddjob from the Bond film “Goldfinger” (1964, and played by Actor Tosh Togo, another Professional Wrestler).

 

This is Reubens’ film through-and-through, which is demonstrated by the linear connectivity between his Night Club Act, stage-show, HBO Special, this film, and finally Children’s TV Show. But Reubens accomplished that through-and-through because of his collaborative skills, born of his work within the Improv-Comedy Troupe and reflected in how many of that Troupe were involved in this film as well as several members of the stage-show that became an HBO special. And there was a new Collaborator, this movie was the Feature-Length Directorial debut of Tim Burton, a person unknown to Reubens before making this film.

 

On each step of this journey, Reubens held firm to his creative control, citing, of all people, Actor Sylvester Stallone as his inspiration. Stallone had famously pushed back on any attempts anyone to alter his creative vision regarding the “Rocky” films (first film 1979, the initial series ran across five-films up to 2006, and Stallone Wrote and Starred in all, and Directed three). After Reubens rejected the first Director assigned, he was informed by the Studio, “You have one week to find somebody who’s approvable, affordable and available — the three A’s.”

 

Warner Brothers Executive Lisa Henson (also the daughter of Puppeteer/Producer Jim Henson) and Actress Shelly DuVall (she was the Host of the TV show “Fairy Tale Theater” in which Reubens had starred as “Pinocchio” (first aired 1982, Reubens appearance was 1984) steered Reubens to the short film “Frankenweenie” (also 1984, and in which DuVall starred) made by Burton.

 

The studio was dubious. Burton had been approached repeatedly regarding other projects and had turned them all down, but when Reuben’s Manager got Burton to read this script, Burton wanted on.

 

It was kismet, Burton was as unique a creative spirit as Reubens, but came to the table sharing a lot enthusiasms: An attraction to Rube-Goldberg-style visual mechanics, a love of Halloween decorations, titled camera angles and moving doorways reminiscent of the opening credits of “The Twilight Zone” (TV show first aired 1959). Said Reubens, “Working together was like two people who could speak in short hand. We were very simpatico with each other and very kind of on the same page with everything.” Both were heavily involved in the Production Design and Burton joked, "I guess I'm just a frustrated interior decorator.”

 

The actual Production Designer, David Snyder, already famous for his Oscar Nominated work on “Blade Runner” (1982), should also be in the forefront of those receiving credit. The sets and decorations were enormously detailed, so one will see more with each viewing, and consistent with, but beyond, what Reubens and Burton’s previous work had provided. This was done on a modest budget of $7 million and a somewhat tight time-frame, requiring a thoughtfulness amidst the scramble, and the final product reflects both the thoughtfulness and scramble. Snyder’s motto was, “If it ain’t bright, it ain’t right.”

 

Burton brought in Composer Danny Elfman, from the Pop-band Oingo-Boingo. Elfman’s infectious score, ping-ponging between the Carnivalesque to the Hitchcockian and everything in-between, is one of this movie’s delights. Since then, Elfman and Burton have been consistent Collaborators.

 

Editor Billy Weber, a favorite of Art House Director Terrance Malik, proved again his skills assembling a Comedy film post-production. That same year also he also displayed his exceptional skills on “Beverly Hills Cop.”

 

“Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure” debuted with mostly positive Critical response and an even stronger Audience response, making back more than half the budget during its opening weekend and then $50 million domestically. Now a Cult-Classic, it remains a significant earner decades later. In 2005, Critic Christopher Null called this movie, "Burton's strangest film,” which is saying quite a lot.

 

The bicycle itself became a celebrity, the Alamo acquired one of the original, screen-used, stunt bikes for permanent display, and the main bike, which Reubens kept, was donated to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Hollywood after his death.

 

There were two film sequels, “Big Top Pee-Wee” (1988) and “Pee-Wee's Big Holiday” (mentioned above).

 

Burton was offered the Director’s chair for “Big Top Pee …” but was already working on his own pet project, “Beetlejuice”  (1988). “Pee-Wee’s Big …” and “Beetlejuice” secured Burton’s place in Hollywood, and Burton was then tapped to Direct “Batman” (1989).

 

Instead of Burton, “Big Top Pee …” fell into the hands of Randal Kleiser, famous for his success with “Grease” (1978) but in fact made far more bad films than good. Granted almost three times the budget of the first film, the final product was dismissed by the Critics and bombed in the Box-Office.

 

Reubens and Burton did collaborate again, but never as closely as in this film. Reubens had a small part in “Batman Returns” (1992) which also featured other “Pee-Wee’s Big …” cast members Hartman, Hooks, and Salinger. Reubens was also one of the Voice Actors for Burton’s “A Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993).

 Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhBxbUEIq1g