Woodyanders Review of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown (1975 TV Short)

Charming Peanuts TV special

[8/10 · 9 February 2011]

Few people caught the joy, angst, triumphs, sadness, and disappointments of childhood with the same winning blend of gentle wit, bittersweet warmth, and delicate whimsy as Charles M. Schulz and his beloved Peanuts characters. This Valentine's day special is an excellent example of this: Charlie Brown anxiously waits for a Valentine's day card in the mail from the little red-haired girl and doesn't get any cards from anyone, Linus develops a crush on a teacher, Lucy pines for Schroeder to no avail, and only Snoopy seems to be having any fun playing cupid and making a music box out of red paper. Of course, there are plenty of hearty laughs to be had amid all the touching pathos: Lucy getting covered with mud, water, and garbage while watching a puppet show performed by Snoopy rates as a definite hilarious highlight and the gag with Linus throwing away candies which are secretly eaten by Snoopy and Woodstuck who are hiding behind a bush is simply priceless. Moreover, there's something extremely moving and admirable about Charlie Brown keeping a constant vigil at the mailbox for a Valentine's card that never arrives (naturally, we get a nice pay-off with an amusing closing joke with Snoopy kissing Charlie when he opens the mailbox the day after Valentine's day). And the scene with Schroeder going to bat for Charlie is truly wonderful. Vince Guaraldi's groovy-jammin' jazz score keeps things bubbling along. A real treat.