Episode 2

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Published on:

25th Feb 2026

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

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 https://www.facebook.com/joshbellhateseverything/, on Bluesky at signalbleed.bsky.social and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/signalbleed/

If you’re a Letterboxd user and you watch any of the movies we talk about on the show, tag your review “Awesome Movie Year” to share your thoughts.

You can find our producer David Rosen and his Piecing It Together Podcast at https://www.piecingpod.com, on Twitter at @piecingpod, on Bluesky at piecingpod.bsky.social and on Letterboxd at https://letterboxd.com/bydavidrosen/

Join the Popcorn & Puzzle Pieces Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/piecingpod for more movie discussion and our Awesome Movie Year audience choice polls.

All of the music in the episode is by David Rosen. Find more of his music at https://www.bydavidrosen.com

Subscribe on Patreon to support the show and get access to exclusive content from Awesome Movie Year and Piecing It Together, plus music by David Rosen: https://www.patreon.com/bydavidrosen

Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in for the next 1985 episode, with the year’s biggest flop, Jonathan Lynn’s Clue.

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About the Podcast

Awesome Movie Year
All Points West
Awesome Movie Year is a podcast co-hosted by film critic Josh Bell and filmmaker and comedian Jason Harris. Each season looks at why a certain year was an awesome movie year. Each episode focuses on a different film from the year being investigated. Produced by David Rosen of the Piecing It Together Podcast for the All Points West Podcast Network
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About your host

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David Rosen

David Rosen is a music composer and podcast producer. He has scored feature films, commercials and more, as well as creating albums of instrumental music. He currently produced Piecing It Together which he hosts and Awesome Movie Year.