A Boy Named Charlie Brown
It was also the final time that Peter Robbins voiced the character of Charlie Brown. (Robbins had voiced the role for all the Peanuts television specials up to that point, starting with the debut of the specials, 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas.)
Plot
Prior to the credits, Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy look at some clouds on a hill.
After hearing Linus' thorough description, Charlie Brown had second thoughts about seeing a "duckie and a horsie".
Then, after the credits, we first see him flying a kite into the air. However, no sooner does he get it in the air, then it crashes.
He angrily decries his obtained bad luck, and throws it to Lucy who is passing by. "Anyone who can fly this kite is a genius", he angrily proclaims.
As she carries it off, Lucy tosses it to Snoopy, and no sooner does the kite string touch his paw, then it is carried aloft.
Soon afterward, Charlie's first little league baseball game of the season approaches, and Charlie Brown eagerly goes to the local baseball field, only to find the pitcher's mound covered with dandelions. The girls on the team demand that he not cut them down, proclaiming that they have a right to live and they also make Charlie look cute.
Soon, the game starts, and the team sadly loses the game of the season for the very first time. Dejectedly, Charlie Brown walks home and takes a bath, thinking on his mysterious bad luck.
As if to add insult to injury, he places a sailboat in the bathtub, which ultimately sinks due to punching a hole in it.
Later on that day, Linus shows up, and plays tic-tac-toe in the dirt by the front porch of Charlie Brown's house. "I guess that makes me the smartest person in the whole world", Charlie replies, sarcastically.
Linus takes the tone of voice, and tells Charlie Brown that if he keeps thinking he's a loser, it won't help. Positively, Linus tells Charlie Brown that he's sure that someday he will win.
Walking off, Lucy mutters, 'wait until you get my bill.'
On the way to school the next day, Linus encounters Charlie Brown, who tells him about the slideshow that Lucy showed. As they near the playground, Lucy jokingly comes up to Charlie Brown, and explains that the school is having a spelling bee, and laughs at the thought of him volunteering.
Linus, however, thinks that entering the spelling bee is a good idea. His opinion is met by more laughter by Lucy, Patty & Violet.
Later in class, Charlie Brown nervously volunteers, and manages to beat the other kids in the class. Filled with determination, he, Linus & Snoopy go home and study through the dictionary.
Charlie's feelings about his victory slowly subside, as he finds himself once again reading the dictionary, his feelings about his bad luck once again eating away at him.
Soon afterward, Charlie Brown boards the bus for the trip to New York City. They check into the hotel.
Back at home, Linus is beginning to suffer terribly from withdrawal after giving his blanket to Charlie Brown.
Finally unable to take it anymore, he pleads with Snoopy to help him go to New York to find Charlie Brown and get his blanket back.
Soon afterward, Charlie Brown hears a knock on his door. Charlie tells him that he isn't sure where the blanket could be.
As Charlie Brown shines his dress shoes, Linus stares in shock: the cloth he's using is Linus' blanket, Linus greedily grabs it, very relieved to have it back. Back at home, the rest of the gang are tuning into the spelling bee, which is being broadcast on television.
One-by-one, the losing contestants leave the spelling bee, until it's just Charlie Brown and one other boy. The gang, Linus, Snoopy & even Charlie Brown let out huge screams of anguish as it was a relatively easy word for him to spell, as well as it was a breed of Snoopy.
When they get home in the nighttime, no one is there to greet them.
As they go their separate ways, Linus tells Charlie Brown good night, but he doesn't respond. When Linus asks if he can come in, Charlie Brown replies morosely, 'I don't care.' Linus opens one of the shades, and sees Charlie Brown lying in bed.
Charlie Brown rolls his eyes at this: his team won a game, and he was hardly there. "But did you know something, Charlie Brown? The world didn't come to an end."
As Linus shuts the door, Charlie Brown thinks for a moment, and then turns on the light.
As she walks over to him, she smiles and says 'Welcome home, Charlie Brown."
Production
The film was partly based on a series of Peanuts comic strips originally published in newspapers in 1966. The music consisted mostly of uptempo jazz tunes that had been heard since some of the earliest Peanuts television specials aired back in 1965; however, for A Boy Named Charlie Brown, they were given a more "theatrical" treatment, with lusher horn-filled arrangements.
Instrumental tracks used in the film included Skating (first heard in its original form in 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas), Baseball Theme (first heard in its original form in 1966's Charlie Brown's All-Stars), and others. A segment during the middle of the film, in which Schroeder plays the second movement of Beethoven's Pathetique Sonata, had piano performed by Ingolf Dahl.
The film also features a Jew's harp, which Snoopy plays to help Charlie with his spelling.
Art Design
A Boy Named Charlie Brown, while directed and produced by the same team of Bill Meléndez and Lee Mendelson, who were responsible for all the Peanuts television specials (Phil Roman directed later TV specials starting around the mid 1970s), has many different aspects that the specials did not explore in a visual sense.
TIME Magazine praised its use of "subtle, understated colors" and its scrupulous fidelity to the source material, calling it a message movie that "should not be missed".
Awards
The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score.
DVD release
This film made its Region 1 DVD debut in anamorphic widescreen on U.S.