Big Top Pee-wee

Big Top Pee-wee
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Randal Kleiser
Produced by	Debra Hill Paul Reubens Richard Gilbert Abramson
Written by	Paul Reubens George McGrath
Starring	Paul Reubens Kris Kristofferson Susan Tyrrell Valeria Golino Penelope Ann Miller
Music by	Danny Elfman
Cinematography	Steven B. Poster
Editing by	Jeff Gourson
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	July 22, 1988 (1988-07-22)
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$15,122,324

Big Top Pee-wee is a 1988 American adventure comedy film and the sequel to Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), and stars Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Valeria Golino, and Kris Kristofferson. The original music score is composed by Danny Elfman. The film is marketed with the tagline "Hero. Lover. Legend."

Plot

3 years after the events of the previous film, Pee-wee Herman has a dream of being a famous singer. He makes his exit by disguising himself as Abraham Lincoln. One of the fans asks him for his autograph, but his disguise is promptly exposed. They chase after him and he flies off to his ranch. Pee-wee finally awakens from his dream that morning to work on his farm with Vance the pig. Later, he has lunch with his fiancée, schoolteacher Winnie Johnson. Next, he races Vance to a general store owned by Mr. Ryan to order a cheese sandwich with a pickle.

The sheriff warns everyone of a big storm approaching town. After the storm ends, Pee-wee emerges from his storm shelter to discover that an entire travelling circus has been blown into his backyard. Befriended by Cabrini Circus manager Mace Montana, Pee-wee is hoping to impress Gina Piccolapupula, a trapeze artist and the circus' star attraction, thereby incurring the jealousy of his Winnie until she meets Gina's older brothers: The Piccolapupula Brothers. Gina leaves Pee-wee when she finds out about Winnie, but later returns to him when she realizes that Pee-wee actually loves her.

Pee-wee wants to join the circus, but his attempts fail. Gina then tells Pee-wee about her deceased father, Papa Piccolapupula, who was a famous aerialist who suffered a fall performing the Spiral of Death, and that Pee-wee should try walking the tightrope in his honor.

Mace comes up with a brilliant idea: to stage a three-ring spectacular saluting the American Farm. The problem is that the majority of the town's residents are disgruntled, uncaring elderly people who have been demanding the circus Pee-wee is helping leave town. The townspeople attempt to arrest Pee-wee for various crimes including defacing public property. The sheriff agrees to drop the charges however provided that the circus leaves town. The circus does so, but Pee-wee saves the day when he sneaks genetically modified cocktail weenies from his hot-dog tree to the townspeople, causing them to become children once again. Now grateful to have extra years of life and without any memories of what happened, the children watch Mace's circus and Pee-wee perform.

Cast

• Paul Reubens as Pee-wee Herman, an eccentric, childish farmer and scientist living on the outskirts of a small rural town.
• Kris Kristofferson as Mace Montana, the owner and operator of the Cabrini Circus that is blown onto Pee-wee's farm by a huge storm.
• Susan Tyrrell as Midge Montana, Mace's extremely small wife, who often leads the members of the circus when her husband is not around.
• Valeria Golino as Gina Piccolapupula, a trapeze artist in Montana's circus with whom Pee-wee falls in love.
• Penelope Ann Miller as Winnie Johnson, a schoolteacher and Pee-wee's former fiancée.
• Albert Henderson as Mr. Ryan
• Wayne White as the voice of Vance the Pig, Pee-wee's talking pig.
• Frances Bay as Mrs. Haynes
• Kenneth Tobey as Sheriff
• Benicio del Toro as Duke the Dog-Faced Boy
• Lynne Marie Stewart as Zelda the Bearded Lady
• Vance Colvig as Clownie
• Randal Kleiser (uncredited) as Popcorn vendor

Production

The Paramount Pictures production was directed by Randal Kleiser and written by Paul Reubens and George McGrath. Reubens also co-produced the film with Debra Hill. Filming locations include Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Newhall, California, USA and the auditorium at Hart High School. This was Kleiser's first movie for Paramount since 1978's Grease.

Release

During a 1988 television special, Herman acknowledged the long hours of circus training undertaken by the film's actors and that they spent a year and a half working on the movie. He also humorously compared himself as an actor to James Cagney and Spencer Tracy and ended by saying that Big Top Pee-wee is "at least as good as Police Academy."

The film received generally negative reviews. It currently has 35% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews (7 positive; 13 negative). Roger Ebert greeted the film with two stars and also rated it (along with colleague Gene Siskel) thumbs down on their television program, stating that Pee-wee entered the real world, and, comparing it to Pee-wee's Playhouse, dubbed by the duo as "the television show" and Pee-wee's Big Adventure (by claiming that the characters in those have absolutely no connection with reality whatsoever). The negative reviews reflected the action at the box office; where it grossed $15,122,324, suffering from competition with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A Fish Called Wanda, Bambi (which was being reissued at the time), among other summer releases.

External links

• Big Top Pee-wee at the Internet Movie Database
• Big Top Pee-wee at AllRovi
• Big Top Pee-wee at Box Office Mojo
• Big Top Pee-wee at Rotten Tomatoes