You're in Love, Charlie Brown

Charlie is in love with 'the little red-headed girl', the very one he fancied in 'Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown'. But he's not got the courage to talk to her and frequently makes a laughing stock of himself with every attempt. Plus, everybody is making fun of him and Snoopy is not lending a sympathetic ear, as usual.

The emotional turmoil Charlie suffers is alarmingly true. Everybody remembers their first crush and how awkward it made them feel. It's little touches of reality like this in the far-fetched but wonderful world of Peanuts that make it so timeless. Though it was made in 1967 there is nothing in this TV special that dates it in any way.

It's springtime, and love is in the air, as Charlie Brown tries to muster up the courage to talk to the Little Red-Haired Girl. This video is a laugh riot, due to physical humor and several good scenes. Lucy, told by Charlie Brown how the Little Red-Haired Girl's pretty face makes him nervous, goes on a tirade: "Why doesn't MY face make you nervous? I have a pretty face! Wasn't I the Christmas queen? You haven't answered me!" Also funny is an odd "tryst" between Lucy and Charlie Brown: Peppermint Patty, hearing Charlie Brown's frustrations over love, arranges a meeting between the two, mistakenly thinking she's Charlie Brown's object of affection. Upon seeing each other, the two, shocked, in unison, yell "YOU?! BLECCCH!!" (It actually seems as if this subplot was made just to write Peppermint Patty into the special, in her animated debut).

Though some (unintended) humor comes from odd animation: in one scene with children boarding a school bus, several characters can be seen boarding twice. More bizarre is a scene of Linus walking, as if he were a ghost, through 3 girls swinging in their schoolyard. I guess the animator though no one would notice.

At times the story takes strange turns, like with the previously mentioned Charlie Brown-Lucy tryst. Were it not for some sloppy animation, this would probably rank as a classic. Overall, though, this 1967 special, well scored by Vince Guaraldi, is cute, watchable, and often uproarious. I can't remember the last time a Peanuts cartoon made me laugh out loud!

This third "Peanuts" TV special broke new ground -- the previous two, of course, were the classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", but this one doesn't deal with a holiday. Well, technically it does, as it's set on the last days before summer vacation, but while children doubtless view that as a holiday, it really isn't. Instead of being a new story, it was largely composed of adaptations of various "Peanuts" strips, including part of one that was also incorporated into "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown".

Perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that it is clearly a "try-out" of sorts for "A Boy Named Charlie Brown". In both that feature-length animation and in this half-hour special, we see Lucy, Violet and Patty dancing around Charlie Brown singing a mocking song. I suspect that the dance in "You're In Love" was done to see whether the animators could make such a musical sequence "work". It's notably less effective here, but the practice made perfect.

This was also the TV introduction of the newest member of the "Peanuts" family, Peppermint Patty. In this one, as yet unaccompanied by Marcie, she's very much as she was in her introduction, and the other characters aren't quite sure what to make of her -- "Chuck?" wonders Charlie Brown aloud, while Lucy is perplexed by her reference to her as "Lucille".

Probably the worst part of it is the frankly creepy scene where Charlie Brown crawls, spider-like, over the school fence as he tries to sneak into school. This is a kid who's supposedly one of the worst athletes in history, and he's able to do that? Come on. Also, why does the Little Red-Haired Girl sign her note to him, "The Little Red-Haired Girl"? (On the other hand, considering the low quality of one of the few episodes that featured her as an active character, 1977's "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown", maybe I should be more thankful that the animators didn't see fit to give her a name yet ...)

'You're in Love, Charlie Brown' is pretty good and pretty cute.

Given it was released in the 1960s it is still finding itself with some of the characters, but this special is a pretty good tone setter for decades to come. Bringing the comic strip characters to life is no easy feat but this special succeeds with charm.

Charlie Brown is in love with the Little Red Haired Girl and after realizing it he must get the courage to talk to her even when faced with outside actors not making it easy.

To put it simply, this special is lovable and too endearing to not feel for Charlie Brown. This was the first special to deal with love and certainly sets the standard for the Peanuts and poor ol' Charlie Brown.

Its cute! Its a classic! Give it a watch!

I used to pretend I was the little red headed girl....seriously=o) Who doesn't feel an "ouch" moment when thinking back to that first crush. Well Charlie Brown's life is one huge "ouch" moment. But that's why we LOVE him!