Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985 First Feature)
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Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985 First Feature)

1:10:20 Feb 25, 2026
About this episode
The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1985 features our pick for a notable debut feature, Tim Burton’s Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Directed by Tim Burton and starring Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily, Diane Salinger and Mark Holton, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure is the first movie featuring Reubens’ long-running Pee-wee Herman character.The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Michael Wilmington in the Los Angeles Times (https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-pee-wee-big-adventure-review-19850809-story.html), Pauline Kael in The New Yorker, and Vincent Canby in The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/09/movies/screen-pee-wee-s-big-adventure-a-comedy.html).Check out more info and the entire archive of past episodes at https://www.awesomemovieyear.com and visit us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/awesomemovieyearYou can find Jason on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/JHarrisComedy/, on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/jasonharriscomedy/ and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/goforjason/You can find Josh online at http://joshbellhateseverything.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/, on Bluesky at signalbleed.bsky.social and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/signalbleed/If you’re a Letterboxd user and you watch any of the movies we talk about on the show, tag your review “Awesome Movie Year” to share your thoughts.You can find our producer David Rosen and his Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod, on Bluesky at piecingpod.bsky.social and on Letterboxd at
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