| | | | Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
(1985) |
efore we were crying tears of laughter from Jim Carrey... Before we were being shocked by the controversial actions of Tom Green... Before we were bursting out in fits of giggles from Andy Dick, there was... Pee-Wee Herman!
“ | | I know you are, but what am I?! | ” |
Famous for his child-like image and infectuous laugh, Pee-Wee Herman ruled the 80's. He starred in his own HBO special opposite Phil Hartman as Captain Carl. He had his own t.v. show which starred, among other characters, an aqua colored chair named Chairy and a girl named Penny who had pennies for eyes. He even had hiw own doll which was the spitting image of Pee-Wee himself (I have to admit, I used to own this doll "back in the day"). He was the answer to a lot of kids prayers: an adult who lived and acted like a 10-year old boy. A real life Peter Pan, if you will.
This entertaining comedy classic begins in France. A professional bike race is about to begin and the competitors are excited. On your mark,set,go! They are off, and our friend Pee-Wee is in the lead. He is riding a tassled, red from-the-60's-looking bike which is his pride and joy. Pee-Wee wins the race! What an awesome feeling... What a wonderful sensation... What a dream.
Pee-Wee wakes up in his house which rivals any dream you could imagine. A 50's-esque furnished home with a fireman pole to slide down from, a machine that cooks breakfast, and a shute which shoots out dog food for Pee-Wee's adorable pet puppy Speck. Pee-Wee lives in a world of chu-chu trains, fuzzy slippers, and Mr.T cereal. But his prized possession lives inside his garage... his tiger embossed bicycle.
Eager to take his beloved bike out for a joyride, he runs into Francis(Mark Holton), a chubby jumpsuit wearing daddys boy who, like Pee-Wee, is an adult kid, or more precisely, an adult brat. He lives in a mansion with his father and a bunch of servants, but all he wants is Pee-Wee's bike. Tough luck. Pee-Wee would never part with his treasure, and so he leaves the pouting Francis behind as he rides his bike to the shopping center.
Once in town, he immediatly chains his bike up to keep it safe. His first stop is Mario's Magic Shop where he stocks up on such supplies as trick gum, headlight glasses, and a red boomerang tie. Then he stops off at Chuck's Bike-O-Rama where teh adorable Dottie(Elizabeth Daily) asks him out on a date. His excuse for shutting her down?
“ | | I'm a loner, Dottie. A rebel. | ” |
After leaving Chuck's shop, Pee-Wee happily skips back to where he chained his bike, but... it's gone! Hysterical, he faints, and when he comes to it seems that everybodies riding a bike and taunting him. He tries to retrace his steps, but he can't seem to figure out who would steal his bike! Who wanted it that badly... Francis!
Pee-Wee breaks into Francis's house, but even a fight in Francis's indoor pool is to no avail. Francis wont admit to stealing Pee-Wee's bike (although, of course, he did). Pee-Wee works hard putting up signs offering $10,000 for the safe return of his bike, but it's no use. He must retrieve his bike back himself.
Distraught, he leaves in the rain and comes across a fortune teller who tells him his bike is in the basement of the Alamo in Texas. Pee-Wee decides to hitchhike and gets picked up by Mickey(Judd Omen) who was ridiculously imprisoned by cutting the tage off of a mattress. Mickey feels he's too "dangerous" to be with Pee-Wee, and so Pee-Wee has to find another means of transportation. He gets into a big Mac truck with a spooky woman named Large Marge who drops him off at a diner. Turns out that Large Marge was really a ghost, a deceased friend of the people at the diner, and they all look at him like he's crazy.
All except Simone (Diane Salinger). She befriends Pee-Wee and takes him inside a statue dinosaur at the busstop to watch the sunset. Her boyfriend, Andy, a burly Bluto-from-Popeye-type, is extremely jealous by this and chases Pee-Wee to an oncoming train.
Pee-Wee jumps on the train and meets a hobo named John. John is a nice guy, but Pee-Wee can only take his "Jimmy Cracked Corn" singing for so long, and then jumps off the train landing in San Antonio Texas, home of the Alamo! Once inside the Alamo, a very annoying tour guide informs him ther's no basement in the Alamo and he leaves more depressed then ever.He accidently runs into Simones boyfriend again and is chased into a rodeo where he rides a bucking bull and gets amnesia.
“ | | I don't have to see it, Dottie. I lived it. | ” |
He walks, more disoriented then ever, into a bar where he meets a gang of angry bikers and does his classic dance to "Tequila". he wins the bikers over and they befriend him, taking him to the hospital after he crashes his motorcycle through a billboard. In the hospital he sees a special on t.v. where a child actor is Warner Bros studio is being presented with....Pee-Wee's bike!
Pee-Wee gets to Hollywood and become sthe target of a cat and mouse game after he retrieves his treasured bike. The new owners of the bike are after him, and he almost escapes, but a burning pet store catches Pee-Wee's eye and he doesn't have the heart to let the animals die. He easily saves the pets, but leaves the snakes for last (for obvious reasons). I always think it' so hilarious when he finally gets the snakes and runs out of the store screaming and faints.
The authorities catch him, but they make a deal. They wont arrest him if the can make his story into a movie, thus the creation of "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure". And does Pee-Wee take Dottie to the premier of his new movie?
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Classic film. Very entertaining from begining to end. Paul Reubens is one of the greatest comedian actors of our time and he prooves it with this film which is enjoyable to people of all ages.
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I believe it is when Pee Wee is getting chased in Hollywood, he cuts in front of a music video being shot by Twisted Sister, for their song "Burn in Hell". Dee Snider of Twisted Sister was a good friend of Paul Reubens at the time.  -Thanks to Mike
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Jan Hooks of SNL played the annoying Alamo tour guide. -Thanks to Jeff Ostfeld
The Pee-Wee Herman show (1981) ran for 5 sellout months at the Los Angeles's Roxy nightclub, HBO taped the performance and aired it as a special.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure cost $7 million to make and grossed $45 million at the box office.
Pee-Wee's PlayHouse ran from 1986-1989 on CBS and it had a budget of $325,000 per episode--- the same as a prime time sitcom.
When Pee Wee goes to WB Studios, as the camera pans down on the security gate. Look for the Munster's Coach entering the studio and the Batmobile making a left turn just beyond the security gate. -Thanks to Albert
Phil Hartman co-wrote the script, he is best known for his roles on Saturday Night Live.
The woman in the biker gang was played by Cassandra Petersen", she also played Elvira" -Thanks to Allan
Look for Phil Hartman playing a news reporter in a crowd scene at the end of the movie.
Phil Hartman also played Captain Carl in the Pee-Wee Herman stage show. -Thanks to Teri
Watch for Morgan Fairchild barely able to keep from laughing when James Brolin looks in her eyes and says, "I know you are, but what am I?" -Thanks to Patrick Fogerty
Lawrence Fishburne starred as the original "Cowboy Curtis" on Pee-Wee's playhouse during its' tenure.
Paul Reubens also voiced "Max", the computer alien in another popular 80's flick, Flight of the Navigator. There is even one part in that movie where "Max" does the Pee-Wee Herman laugh. -Thanks to Matt M
Elizabeth Daily sings the title song at the school dance in "Better Off Dead." -Thanks to Raj Mehta
Elizabeth Daily (aka E.G. Daily) who plays Dottie, is also the voice of Tommy Pickles on the cartoon show Rugrats. She also voices a few other characters on television. -Thanks to J.G.
I believe that the dinousaur Pee Wee runs around in, is also used in the classic videogame tale "The Wizard" . -Thanks to Richart Ruddie
The guy at the diner that tells the story about Large Marge makes another small appearance in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. He is the guy that is mopping the floor in the dark hallway and he tells Barbara and Adam that "that's the lost souls room..." -Thanks to Jen
During the scene where Pee-Wee briefs his friend on his missing bike, the map behind him is of San Francisco, California.
Paul Reubens is a former United States Marine. He was dishonorably discharged after serving 4 years in the Corps. -Thanks to Jessica Powers
Some of the similarities between this movie and the Blues Brother movie released 5 years earlier, with Reubens playing a waiter:
- They both have a scene with someone dancing on the bar/counter.
- They both have single-minded missions (PeeWee to find his bike, Jake and Elwood on a "mission from God" to save the orphanage.)
- Jake and Elwood are orphans, while PeeWee is a manchild in the world with never a mention of parents. He is "a loner."
- Both movies end with a chase scene.
- Both make odd food choices, Jake asks for five chickens and a Coke, Elwood dry toast and PeeWee makes a huge pancake, bacon, egg and Mr. T cereal breakfast and takes just one bite. -Just a funny quote, while eating Mr. T cereal: "I pity the poor fool that don't eat my cereal." -Thanks to Ann
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check out this list: ..... Tootsie ..... Raising Arizona ..... Good Morning, Vietnam ..... Blues Brothers ..... Heathers ..... Fast Times At Ridgemont High ..... This Is Spinal Tap ..... Naked Gun ..... Adventures In Babysitting ..... Airplane ..... License To Drive ..... Money Pit ..... Porky's ..... Risky Business ..... Twins ..... Soul Man .....[More]
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Paul Reubens mentions on the commentary that during the scene in the movie where he is wheeled out of the bike shop on a gurney, Elizabeth Daily's face went completely white. After filming the scene, he asked her what was wrong... apparently she was having flashbacks of her boyfriend Jon-Erik Hexum being wheeled off of a movie set on a gurney. (He accidentally shot himself whilst filming Cover Up (1984) (TV)).
Paul Reubens drew inspiration for Pee-Wee from a kid he attended summer camp with and he derived his characters boyish voice from a character he played as a child actor.
Paul Reubens and Elizabeth Daily were a real life couple during the time of filming.
Paul Reubens had originally wanted Andre the Giant (from "The Princess Bride" for the role of Andy, Simone's boyfriend. He also wanted Sean Connery to play P.W in the movie-within-a-movie at the end.
Elizabeth Daily was depressed during the filming, prior to the death of her then boyfriend actor/model Jon-Erik Hexum in 1984. When they filmed the scene where Pee-Wee faints in the bike shop and is later on the stretcher, Elizabeth herself fainted at the sight of it, because it reminded her of Hexum's fatal accident on the set of 'Cover-Up.' -Thanks to Ginger
During the conclusion, when Pee-wee saves the pets from the burning pet store, the snakes were Tim Burton's idea. Much to the disagreement of Paul Reubens who hates or at least hated snakes at the time. After begging Burton to leave out the snakes and being refused, he filmed the scene. Although, the faint that appeared on screen is acting, Paul really did faint in rehearsals with the snakes.
When he locks up his bike to the clown he pulls what seems to be a never-ending chain out of his storage box on the side of his bike. If you look at the bottom of the box you can see there is a hole in it where the chain is coming through. -Thanks to Many Of You
When Pee-Wee is driving Mickey's car at night while Mickey sleeps, watch the road signs he passes. The signs clearly roll past on a platform with wheels. -Thanks to Carmen Rodriguez, Jennifer And Greg Rehl
In the scene where everyone is in the basement waiting on Dottie to show up, the camera cuts to Pee Wee's dog (Spot) lying on the ground. Right behind the Spot are Dottie's legs and feet and then shortly thereafter Dottie "officially" arrives. -Thanks to Rhona Creech
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|  |  |  | | Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Locations |
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 Featured Movie Location: Pee-Wee's House
Wanna see the real life filming location used for Pee-Wee's House in the movie? These scenes were actually shot at a private residence, located in South Pasadena, S. California. [New! Show Google Map]
[Thanks to Taylor Marshall]
The Warner bros. studio backlot in burbank, Calif. was used for the studio chase scenes and the bike shop where Pee Wee's bike is stolen is at the 3rd street promenade in santa monica, Calif. (no longer there). I think it's a wilson's leather store now.
Just a few doors down is where the store "Trax" was for the film "Pretty in Pink" (also no longer there) it's a bar now and across the street from that is the front of the Santa Monica place mall which was used in the opening of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and the inside of that was used in "Terminator 2" where both cyborgs meet for the first time. [Thanks to Mike Flores]
Dinosaurs/Diner Pee-Wee visits is the 'Wheel Inn Restaurant' on the I-10 Freeway in Cabazons, near Palm Springs.[Thanks to Clint Stoker]
Can you help? Do you know any of the S. California (or any other) filming locations used for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure? [Please send them in]
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The movie featured songs like Tequila by The Champs and Burn In Hell by Twisted Sister. However, the soundtrack is just comprised of the original score written by Danny Elfman. The songs are:
1. Overture/The Big Race
2. Breakfast Machine
3. Park Ride
4. Stolen Bike
5. Hitchhike
6. Dinosaur Dream
7. Simone's Theme
8. Clown Dream
9. Studio Chase
10. The Drive-In
11. Finale
12. Overture
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