Sally Dryer Movies
The lovable characters from the popular comic strip by Charles M. Schulz appear in this full-length feature. The perennial failure Charlie Brown attends the National Spelling Bee and manages the worst sandlot team in the history of baseball. Linus loses and retrieves his security blanket. Snoopy the beagle dances wildly and plays shortstop. The irascible Lucy Van Pelt tricks Charlie Brown into kicking the football, but at the last minute she pulls it back and sends him flying onto his back. Although he loses the spelling bee, his friends gladly welcome Charlie Brown back to town upon his return. Nearly two-dozen songs are included. The characters remain true to the original works of Schulz, and great care was taken in matching the appropriate voices to the character's personalities. This is the first of many successful animated features of the gang from Peanuts. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Peter Robbins, Pamelyn Ferdin, (more)
As incredible as it seems, CBS head man James Aubrey originally vetoed his network's presentation of the animated A Charlie Brown Christmas on the grounds that Charles M. Schultz's round-headed protagonist was a "loser" who wouldn't attract an audience! The story proposes that Charlie Brown is convinced that the true meaning of Christmas has been forgotten by his Peanuts friends, not to mention the rest of the world. "Psychiatrist" Lucy advises Charlie Brown to get into the holiday spirit by directing the kids' upcoming Christmas play. Despite his utter lack of control over his cast, Charlie Brown takes his job seriously, even setting out to find a genuine Christmas tree to decorate the set instead of the usual aluminum job. But Charlie Brown's tree is a scrawny, pathetic thing, and all seems lost. That is, until the rest of the Peanuts gang decide to pitch in and decorate the woebegone tree. An instant hit when first telecast December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been rebroadcast virtually every year since. It was produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, the latter providing the squeals and growls of Charlie Brown's hyper-intelligent dog, Snoopy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
