Gord and Kev watch Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure!

We all know this clip. We’ve seen it a million times on countless VHS tapes growing up. I’m just curious to see if everyone connects this intro with a specific movie.

For me, hands down, it’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. The first time I saw this clip it was before Pee Wee, and to my very young ears it seemed the cheezy intro music was specific to the movie because it sounded enough like the rest of Danny Elfman’s classic soundtrack. In the following year or two I would always be confused why different Warner Bros VHS tapes used “the Pee Wee music,” until I came to the conclusion that Warner Bros just really liked the Pee Wee “version” and decided to always use it, regardless of the movie, as we had a big tv with a corner mount tv installation, so it was great to watch TV here.

Yeah, I came to a lot of dumb conclusions as a kid. Regardless, later in life I would always associate that intro with Pee Wee. Always. A while back, I was saddened to pop in the Pee Wee’s Big Adventure dvd and not see it. It’s just not the same.

(This may be a weak entry to the annals of “Thank God For YouTube,” but the fact alone that this clip lives on YouTube means I’m not unique in my nostalgia for it. If you also have a fond memory attached to it, please leave a comment and let us know. I’ll be back in a bit with more at-home movie nostalgia–only next time it’ll be much more epic.)

Honorable mentions: Coming to America, Field of Dreams, Pumping Iron, Ghostbusters, Private Parts, Manhattan, Good Fellas.

15. The Naked Gun (1988 – 1 hour, 25 minutes)
Logline: You’ve read the ad, now see the movie!
Favorite Character: Lt. Frank Drebin
Favorite Scene: Frank Drebin as the Ump at the baseball game
Favorite Quote: “Nice beaver!”

14. Old School (2003 – 1 hour, 31 minues)
Logline: All the fun of college, none of the education.
Favorite Character: Frank the Tank
Favorite Scene: The one with Vince Vaughn coughing, “Don’t do it!” at the wedding
Favorite Quote: “… Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don’t know, I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.”

13. Anchorman (2004 – 1 hour, 34 minutes)
Logline: His news is bigger than your news.
Favorite Character: Rob Burgundy
Favorite Scene: When Ron meets Veronica at the party
Favorite Quote: “I’m in a glass case of emotion!”

12. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (1985 – 1 hour, 30 minutes)
Logline: The story of a rebel and his bike.
Favorite Character: Mickey
Favorite Scene: When Pee-Wee gives Francis and his father the trick gum
Favorite Quote: “I know you are, but what am I?”

11. The Birdcage (1996 – 1 hour, 57 minutes)
Logline: Come as you are.
Favorite Character: Agador (Spartacus)
Favorite Scene: When Sen. Keeley finds out his GOP buddy died in bed with an underage black whore
Favorite Quote: “Oh yes… Coldeman. The ‘d’ is silent in America.”

10. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988 – 1 hour, 50 minutes)
Logline: Nice guys finish last. Meet the winners.
Favorite Character: Freddy Benson
Favorite Scene: Freddy Benson trying to remember Lawrence Jamieson’s name in jail
Favorite Quote: “May I go to the bathroom?”

9. Rocky (1976 – 1 hour, 59 minutes)
Logline: You have a ringside seat for the bloodiest bicentennial in history!
Favorite Character: Paulie
Favorite Scene: When Mickey tells Rocky breaking legs for a loan shark is a “waste of life!”
Favorite Quote: “You’re gonna eat lightnin’ and you’re gonna crap thunder!”

8. Major League (1989 – 1 hour, 37 minutes)
Logline: When these three oddballs try to play hardball, the result is totally screwball.
Favorite Character: Lou Brown
Favorite Scene: Rick Vaughn fighting with Roger Dorn in the locker room
Favorite Quote: “Suck my dick.”

7. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993 – 1 hour, 34 minutes)
Logline: n/a
Favorite Character: Larry Lipton
Favorite Scene: When Larry wakes up in the middle of the night after dreaming about ring card girls
Favorite Quote: “Claustrophia and a dead body – this is a neurotic’s jackpot!”

6. Back to School (1986 – 1 hour, 36 minutes)
Logline: Registration starts Friday, June 13, at theaters everywhere.
Favorite Character: Thornton Melon
Favorite Scene: Professor Turgeson!
Favorite Quote: “Why don’t you call me sometime when you have no class.”

5. Office Space (1999 – 1 hour, 29 minutes)
Logline: Work Sucks.
Favorite Character: Michael Bolton
Favorite Scene: Joanna quits her job at Chotchkies
Favorite Quote: “We get caught laundering money… We’re going to federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.”

4. The Highlander (1986 – 1 hour, 56 minutes)
Logline: There can be only one.
Favorite Character: Connor McCloud
Favorite Scene: Kurgan & Connor in the church.
Favorite Quote: “Are you going to turn off the tape or shoot me with the .45?”

3. Swingers (1996 – 1 hour, 26 minutes)
Logline: Coctails first. Questions later.
Favorite Character: Trent
Favorite Scene: Trent dancing on the table in the diner
Favorite Quote: “She was smiling at how money I was.”

2. Star Wars (1977 – 2 hours, 1 minute)
Logline: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
Favorite Character: Obi Wan Kenobi
Favorite Scene: The swing across
Favorite Quote: “… everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now…”

1. Back to the Future (1985 – 1 hour, 57 minutes)
Logline: He was never in time for his classes . . .Then one day he wasn’t in his time at all.
Favorite Character: Marty McFly
Favorite Scene: Skateboard chase
Favorite Quote: “Hey you, get your damn hands off her.”