Big Top Pee-wee ** (1988, Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Valeria Golino, Susan Tyrrell) – Classic Movie Review 12,598

In the 1988 comedy film Big Top Pee-wee’s storyline, Pee-wee Herman soon gets obsessed with the circus – and, understandably, especially its sizzling Italian trapeze artiste (Valeria Golino).

A travelling circus comes to stay on land belonging to Paul Reubens’s character Pee-wee Herman, in director Randal Kleiser’s 1988 comedy film Big Top Pee-wee. It follows his financially and critically successful 1985 feature film, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, directed by Tim Burton. but this sequel was less successful.

In Big Top Pee-wee’s storyline, Pee-wee soon gets obsessed with the circus – and, understandably, especially its sizzling Italian trapeze artiste (Valeria Golino).

Simple and good natured it may be, but, unless you are a diehard Pee-wee fan, this weird family comedy may be a total turnoff, and, sad to say, time and life haven’t been kind to Pee-wee either.

The worst bits involve Pee-wee’s pet hog and the longest kiss in screen history.

The cast are Pee-wee Herman, Penelope Ann Miller, Kris Kristofferson, Valeria Golino, Susan Tyrrell, Albert Henderson, Kevin Peter Hall, Kenneth Tobey, Terrence Mann, and Stephanie Hodge.

Big Top Pee-wee runs 90 minutes, is released by Paramount, is written by Paul Reubens and George McGrath, is shot by Steven Poster, is produced by Paul Reubens and Debra Hill, and scored by Danny Elfman, and designed by Stephen Marsh.

The 70-year-old American actor Paul Reubens, who came to fame in the 1980s as children’s TV star Pee-wee Herman and had a movie hit with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, died on July 30, 2023 after a six-year battle with cancer.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,598

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