A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

Charlie Brown makes his way to the national spelling bee finals.

Director:

Bill Melendez

Writers:

Charles M. Schulz (created by), Charles M. Schulz

Stars:

Peter Robbins, Pamelyn Ferdin, Glenn Gilger

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Peter Robbins	...	Charlie Brown / Linus' scream (voice)
Pamelyn Ferdin	...	Lucy Van Pelt (voice)
Glenn Gilger	...	Linus Van Pelt (voice)
Andy Pforsich	...	Schroeder (voice)
Sally Dryer	...	Patty (voice)
Ann Altieri	...	Violet (voice) (as Anne Altieri)
Erin Sullivan	...	Sally (voice)
Lynda Mendelson	...	Frieda (voice) (as Linda Mendelson)
Christopher DeFaria	...	Pig Pen (voice)
David Carey	...	2nd Boy (voice)
Guy Pforsich	...	3rd Boy (voice)
Bill Melendez	...	Snoopy (voice)

Storyline

Poor Charlie Brown. He can't fly a kite, and he always loses in baseball. Having his faults projected onto a screen by Lucy doesn't help him much either. Against the sage advice and taunting of the girls in his class, he volunteers for the class spelling bee...and wins! Next, it's the school spelling bee. Once again, a winner! Good grief! Now the pressure is on as he is off to New York City for the televised national spelling bee. With Snoopy and Linus present for moral support, can Charlie Brown spell his way to a national championship?

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Plot Keywords:

cartoon | new york city | elementary school | 1960s | peanuts | 

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Taglines:

The Peanuts' Gang in their First Movie!

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Drama | Family | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was Peter Robbins's last voice-acting role as Charlie Brown before leaving the series.

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Goofs

In the "I Before E Except after C" song, two displayed words are misspelled: FINANCEIR, which should be FINANCIER, and LEIZURE which should be LEISURE.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Lucy Van Pelt: Aren't the clouds beautiful? They look like big balls of cotton. I could just lie here all day and watch them drift by. If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud's formations. What do you think you see, Linus?
Linus Van Pelt: Well, those clouds up there look to me look like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean.
[points up]
Linus Van Pelt: That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that group of clouds over there...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

During the closing credits, not only are the crew members' names seen, but the crew members themselves are also seen! The images are seen one person at a time corresponding with whatever name appears on the screen.

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Alternate Versions

When the film was remixed in Stereo for its VHS release in July 1983, some sounds came from either the left channel, the right channel, or both channels. Example: The off-screen teacher's "trombone sounds talk" can only be heard on the left channel if the 1983 VHS is being played on a Stereo VHS VCR. These changes were intact on the 1984 (with 1983 tape master) and 1991 VHS reissues, as they also feature Stereo Sound, and the latter contains Stereo Surround sound.

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Connections

Features It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

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Soundtracks

Pathetique Sonata
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven (as Beethoven)
Performed by Ingolf Dahl

User Reviews

Charlie Brown in his first feature!

I saw this film first in 1969. I thought it was a cute little film then, as now.

This is the first Peanuts feature, and the last show using Peter Robbins as the voice of Charlie Brown.

In this film, Charlie Brown, our hero, has finally proved that he can do something right. He wins the spelling bee in his class. All the kids treat him with their usual lack of tact. He studies really hard and wins the championship at his school and gets to go to the "city" to be in the "National Elimination Spelling Bee" I will not spoil the ending.

Vince Guaraldi, the composer of the music for the six previous TV specials, is back for this one. There are new arrangements of the old music, plus several new songs by Rod McKuen. Guaraldi did not do the music for the next feature, Snoopy Come Home (1972) and that film suffers because of this.

Schroeder has a beautiful salute to Beethoven in this film. While the music plays, we see some beautiful abstract scenes and colors on the screen that look fantastic in Technicolor. Sadly, I have seen this sequence cut from TV showings.

Snoopy has a wonderful sequence while he and Linus are wandering around the city looking for his blanket that he sent with Charlie Brown for good luck. Snoopy discovers an ice skating rink and pretends that he is in a hockey match while he skates around the rink. He also has an encounter with the Red Baron that has some of the same animation that was used in "He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown! on TV.

One thing that I like about this film is when the closing credits are rolling, you get to see animated images of most of the principal creators of this film. Their names are on the right side of the screen, and their images appear on the left. Things like that entice me to sit through the credits instead of walking out as soon as they start.

If you have never seen this film, by all means rent it and see what you have been missing!

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 December 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Box Office

Gross USA:

$13,080,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Center Films, Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Bill Melendez Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min 79 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording) Stereo (1983 VHS release) Dolby Stereo (5.1 Surround) (1983 VHS release)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1