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

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

From Awesome Movie Year by Awesome Movie Year

February 25, 2026 · 1h 10m · Season 24 · Episode 2

About this episode

This episode discusses Tim Burton's debut feature film, Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and its significance in 1985 cinema.

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/awesomemovieyear You 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…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jason Harris, Josh Bell

Topics covered

  • film debut
  • 1985 movies
  • Tim Burton
  • Pee-wee Herman
  • comedy

Keywords

  • Pee-wee's Big Adventure
  • Tim Burton
  • Paul Reubens
  • 1985 film
  • comedy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, The New York Times

Books & works: Pee-wee's Big Adventure

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