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).

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