Pee-wee's Big Adventure

Paul Reubens was another of the stars who died in 2023 and who got a one-film tribute in December as part of their annual night where they honor some of the people who didn't merit a full programming salute. For Reubens, the movie they ran was his film debut, Pee-wee's Big Adventure.

Now, I assume most people know a bit about the Pee-wee Herman character already. Pee-wee, created by Paul Reubens, was a goofy kid who never grew up. In this movie, adult Pee-wee lives in a house that's part mid-century modern and part Rube Goldberg, the entirety being the sort of thing that you wonder how someone like Pee-wee could afford to live in. Indeed, what he does for a living seems to be left for the viewer to guess.

The one thing Pee-wee loves is his tricked-out bicycle. And he's not the only one to love it. As with 1980s teen movies, there's an antagnoist who grew up about as much as Pee-wee did, Francis Buxton, who still lives with his wealthy father (Ed Herlihy in a bit part). Francis has the money to buy the bicycle, but Pee-wee has no intention of selling it.

So when Pee-wee goes shopping one day, stopping at among other places, the bike shop, where employee Dottie is trying to make Pee-wee see how much she loves him, he comes out of the store to find that his bike is missing. The logical conclusion is that Francis stole it, although to the police, this is a small enough crime that they've got bigger things to worry about. Pee-wee's hunch is of course right, but when Pee-wee offers a reward for the return of his bike, Francis is worried enough that he sells the bike to someone who will take it out of town.

Pee-wee visits a psychic who suggests that the bicycle was taken to the Alamo, where he'll be able to find it in the basement. This really sets off the adventure, as Pee-wee has to make his way to San Antonio. Of course, there's a big plot hole in that if Pee-wee could afford the reward money, why couldn't he fly or take a bus to San Antonio instead of having to hitchhike? But if that were the case, he wouldn't meet the assorted strange but mostly good-hearted people that he does.

Watching Pee-wee's Big Adventure, it's easy to see why it's a movie that divided critics when it was first released. Some people are going to find a feature-length film of the Pee-wee character too much to take, even if the movie is a relatively short 90 minutes. But the movie is another of those good-hearted movies that's utterly harmless. The material works in fits and starts, but I think what works does outweigh what doesn't.