Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Tell 'em Large Marge Sent Ya!

The last month or so of frigid weather has made me want to take in some movies. When the temperatures are in the negatives, I just want to cover up with a bunch of blankets and bust out the DVDs! I had a certain movie on my mind lately. Some recent conversations have been reminding me of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.

The first time I saw this movie would have been around when it came out. Then about 15 years later I saw it on the big screen at one of those midnight movie nights in an old theater. It was a lot of fun. I remember people yelling out the famous lines along with Pee-Wee. Some parts, like the Large Marge scene, are experienced best on the big screen.



Good old Large Marge. That claymation moment where her face morphs scared me so much when I was a kid. That part is pure Tim Burton. Pee-Wee's Great Adventure was one of Tim Burton's earliest movies. It was also the first movie Danny Elfman wrote a score for. According to the DVD commentary, it took a lot of coaxing to get Elfman to take part in the project. Good for him that he did, because it started him on a really successful path in composing movie scores.

This third time around watching the movie turned into more of a fifth time around. I ended up watching the movie again to hear Tim Burton and Paul Reubens do their commentary. Then I played it again for the Danny Elfman commentary. I learned some fun trivia and was surprised that I was still interested in watching the same movie that many times in a row.

I have to share one piece of trivia I learned. I'm sure nearly everyone reading this is an Elvira fan. Did you know that Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) has a role in this movie? I didn't even recognize her.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0scrdYXEP1qgjvrso1_500.jpg

She's in more of a biker babe role here. I think she looks just as cool like this! I might actually prefer her biker look. You'll see her at the end of this clip:



Back to Large Marge. There are a series of events that lead up to her scene. It starts with Pee-Wee hitchhiking to Texas. Pee-Wee has the fortune or misfortune to be picked up by Mickey who is an escaped convict. I don't think I'm doing a whole lot of plot spoiling here, considering what this movie is like and how you've very likely seen it already.



So Mickey strands Pee-Wee on the side of the road in the middle of the night and along comes...



Isn't that a classic ghost story moment?

I was surprised to find that I am far from the only person Large Marge made an impression on. In fact, I ran into several tributes to her scene on YouTube! The videos ranged from cute to confusing. (The Cutest one)
 
I watched Big Top Pee-Wee next, but I wouldn't bother with that one! The only funny thing about that is the series of negative reviews online... It was really missing Tim Burton's vision! OK, to be fair, Kris Kristofferson was hilarious as Mace Montana, the circus manager. I'm not sure if he was supposed to be funny, but he was to me. I think I was just amused by watching someone basically be his normal self while surrounded by a bunch of craziness.

http://schlockwave.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/bigtoppeeweemidgeandkris.jpg

So my advice is to skip Big Top Pee-Wee and check out Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. If you're a fan of Tim Burton and Danny Elfman, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure is definitely worth revisiting. It's interesting to watch the beginning of a film partnership and two amazing careers.  And when you're done watching it, be sure to read this:

14 Things You Probably Never Knew About "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure"

I bet you'll learn something!



9 comments:

  1. Large Marge was one of the few things in movies that was scary enough to make me cover my eyes when I was little.

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  2. Also, I've been to Cabazon, eaten in the diner that Marge drops Pee Wee off at, and been inside the brontosaurus.

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    1. Mantan ~ Oh, I get that! The scary moment in the truck when her face changes is totally unexpected the first time you see the movie. Even now, with all the scary movie moments I've seen, that's still pretty freaky! Now I laugh while jumping back because it's one of those nostalgic scary moments.

      How cool that you've been to the same diner! I bet that place became even more of a landmark after Pee-Wee's Big Adventure came out. So you've been inside the Brontosaurus! What's it like in there? I remember hearing on the DVD commentary that you can't really go inside the T-Rex, so they had to imagine what it would like in there with all those teeth. That was a creative way to show Pee-Wee watching the sunrise with Simone - through dinosaur teeth. Now I'm thinking of Simone's jealous boyfriend chasing Pee-Wee around the dinosaurs. :)

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  3. I've never seen Pee Wee's Big Adventure. I've always imagined that it was good. I frequently use the phrase "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" to characterize my own adventures, just to be cute. I always liked Pee Wee Herman.

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  4. Matt ~ Oh! Hopefully I didn't spoil all that much for you with this post. I thought about that while writing this, but I really don't think it matters with the kind of movie this is. There aren't exactly any shocking plot twists to spill. :) I really recommend watching it since you're a fan of Pee-Wee. I'm guessing that you know him more from his TV show since you haven't seen this movie?

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  5. So there WERE Pee Wee Herman fans... I never would have guessed! Tried to watch one of his shows on TV once but I just hated everything about his character and switched it. Maybe I should give this one another chance...

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    1. Mark ~ No? I'm as surprised to hear about non-fans! I guess it stands to reason that for any entertainer one person likes, another person won't like them. Pee-Wee was an extreme character, so he's likely to inspire some kind of reaction. If you hated everything about his character, you might as well skip Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. He's present throughout the movie. :) You might enjoy some of the many other characters. Pretty much every scene in the movie involves Pee-Wee meeting someone new.

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  6. My granddaughter and I watched this movie a couple of times. Large Marge scared her at first, now she just laughs at her.

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    1. Julie ~ I can relate to the being scared and then laughing. Large Marge is that fun kind of scary for me now. The first time you see her as a kid - Yikes! Did you watch the video I linked to of the kids reenacting the Large Marge scene? It's up there listed as (The Cutest One). I guess those little kids were past being scared since they were playing out the scene! That video would be a cute keepsake.

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