talk often turns to movies, watched, gonna be watched, what was crap and what are gems. today, at lunch, the conversation steered toward pee-wee herman aka paul reubens, who got himself into an embarrassing jam back in 1991, if you recall that imbroglio [blogger, for whatever reason is not letting me link. however if you google pee-wee herman the first thing that pops up is his infamous mugshot with the cut-line that reubens was busted for wacking-off in a porn theater.].

that probably doesn't need to be repeated at all. i recall most of my friends at the time wondered what the big deal was about it. except that reubens had a critically aclaimed children's show, pee-wee's playhouse, and that his persona was of a man-child. so even being seen near a porn theater was not a good career decision for him, much less being in one.

still, the actor continues to work. yet for me his best film will always be pee-wee's big adventure, directed by tim burton. it is slap-ass silliness at its finest, and the movie is, if i recall correctly, burton's first feature. the two were made for each other. reubens as herman concocted a brilliant comedic shill for his antics, and burton's love of grade-z cinema combusts onscreen to a gorgeous show. recall that the reluctant herman's love interest, played by elizabeth dailey [whose most recent role was as a hooker in rob zombie's the devil's rejects], only wanted to be taken on a date to the drive-in theater.

pee-wee's big adventure is the story of a man and his bicycle, which gets stolen, as herman shops for 'supplies' like whoopie cushions and dribble glasses. distraught he consults a psychic who tells him that his bike is stashed in the basement of the alamo. so off he goes, and it is road movie galore. my favorites scenes are 'large marge' and the dancing tequila interlude. to be sure herman and bicycle are reunited, and yet, as the sages remind us, it is the journey not the destination that enlightens.

burton works best, i think, with films about man-childs. movies like edward scissorhands, a nightmare before christmas, beetle juice, and ed wood are, in a way, fables. burton is possessed of an acidic imagination that roald dahl would consider a kindred spirit. and yet, burton's films that are mostly pastiches of exploitation films, such as mars attacks!, or remakes of goofy sci-fi like planet of the apes, fail his imagination, and therefore suffers from too much dross without any of the zaniness a foil like a character such as ed wood had to focus burton's abilities to tell his terrible, wonderful stories. both reubens and burton together created a film that is at once stupid, goofy, beautiful and almost timeless. the universe created within its frames is both wonderful and terrible, with a terrific visual style and a child-like glee that animates pee-wee's big adventure. it is one of my all-time favorites.

i read a couple of years ago that burton was going to direct the latest superman film, with nicholas cage as superman.

what a shame that didn't get the green light. at least burton would've made the superman franchise a little more interesting to me.