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Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)
In director Tim Burton's garish first major feature
film - a road film:
- the normal outfit of the quirky and nerdy man-child
Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) character (tight and small gray flannel
suit, white shoes, a large red bow tie, with lipstick, etc.)
- the cartoon-like toy/contraption-filled environment
of Pee Wee's home and the Rube-Goldberg breakfast routine he had
created - in which he woke up and had breakfast completely made for
him (pancakes, two eggs and bacon shaped like a happy face), topped
off with Mr. T cereal
Pee Wee's Rube-Goldberg Breakfast Devices
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- Pee-Wee's worship of his ridiculously over-gadgeted,
over-decorated beloved bicycle (customized and complete with plastic
lion's head on the handle-bar)
Bicycle with Plastic Lion Head on Handle-Bar
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- the scene of Pee Wee's argument with his covetous
neighbor Francis Buxton (Mark Holton): ("I know you are but
what am I?"), and "PeeWee!" ("That's my name,
don't wear it out!")
- his famous remark after tumbling when he attempted
to perform too many tricks on his bike, and told a group of young
male onlookers: "I meant to do that!"
- his Rebel Without a Cause
(1955)-inspired warning to love interest Dottie (Elizabeth
Daily), a bicycle shop employee: "There's things about me
you don't know, Dottie. Things you wouldn't understand. Things
you couldn't understand. Things you shouldn't understand...You
don't want to get mixed up with a guy like me. I'm a loner, Dottie.
A rebel"
- his delighted perusal of Mario's Magic Shop (trying
on X-Ray Spex, and at one point putting on an oversized ear and yelling, "WHAT?
WHAT?")
- his anguished realization that his overly-chained
red bike had been stolen - and collapsing in a bike store - causing
a row of bikes to topple over
- his feverish questioning of Francis in an oversized
bathtub - and PeeWee's offer of gum - that turned out to be "trick
gum," and then his long over 3-hour meeting with his friends
to discuss the loss of his bike, including a large detailed map and
scaled model, and exhibits to look at
- Pee Wee's search for his bicycle during a tour of
America after a sham fortune-telling gypsy named Madam Ruby (Erica
Yohn) told him it was in the Alamo's basement, in San Antonio Texas
- while hitchhiking across the country from LA to Texas,
Pee-Wee's helping of a fugitive con Mickey (Judd Omen) to escape
the law by pretending to be his wife, and telling an officer when
asked to step out of the car: ("Why don't you take a picture?
It will last longer")
- his crashing the car and strolling around in total
darkness (cartoonishly, only his eyes were seen)
- Pee-Wee's startling and hysterical encounter with
the ghost of deceased fat trucker Large Marge (Alice Nunn); she was
transformed into a bug-eyed ghostly victim of a horrendous auto accident
- Pee-Wee's nightmares about the fate of his bike (e.g.,
eaten by a T-Rex, destroyed by clown surgeons)
- Pee-Wee proving over the phone that he was in Texas
(he shouted "The stars at night are big and bright...",
and a crowd sang back: "...deep in the heart of Texas!")
- Pee-Wee's visit to the Alamo, the tour, and his question
to the guide: "Where's the basement?...Aren't we gonna see the
basement?"
and his astonishment when informed: "There's no basement at the
Alamo"
- in a movie being filmed at the Warner Bros. studio
(using Pee Wee's bike as a prop), bratty and spoiled child actor
Kevin Morton (Jason Hervey) growled at his director: ("Doesn't
it look like I'm ready? I am always ready! I have been ready since
first call! I am ready! ROLL!")
- Pee-Wee's escape from the Warner Bros. studio lot
- ensnaring Santa Claus, Godzilla, and swinging across a ravine on
a bike and yodeling like Tarzan
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Pee Wee's Role in a Film of His Bike Retrieval
Story as a Bell-Hop
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Pee Wee: "Come on, Dottie. Let's go."
Dottie: "Let's go? Don't you wanna see the rest of the
movie?"
Pee Wee: "I don't have to see it, Dottie. I lived it."
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- appearing in a Hollywood movie about his own bike-retrieval
story (a James Bond-style film with James Brolin as PW Herman and
Morgan Fairchild as Dottie), Pee Wee took a role (a small cameo)
as a red-uniformed bell-hop; he delivered a PA announcement, with
an hilarious deep voice that was dubbed: ("Paging Mr. Herman,
Mr. Herman, you have a telephone call"); with his friends,
Pee Wee watched his own big screen debut at a drive-in theater
- the evocative closing shot as the silhouettes of
Pee-Wee and Dottie bicycled sedately in front of the silhouetted,
kissing Hollywood versions of themselves on the drive-in theater
screen; as he departed, Pee Wee quipped to Dottie: "I don't
have to see it, Dottie. I lived it."
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Pee Wee's Outfit
Pee-Wee's Argument with Neighbor Francis: "I know
you are but what am I?"
"There's things about me you don't know, Dottie"
In Mario's Magic Shop
Pretense of Being the Wife of a Fugitive Con
Ghost of Large Marge
At the Alamo: "Aren't we gonna see the basement?" The
reply: "There's no basement at the Alamo"
Tarzan Swing on Bike,
With Yodel Yell as He Escaped Warner Bros. Studio
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