A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Dir. Bill Melendez. 1969, 85 mins. U.S. 35mm. The beautifully animated A Boy Named Charlie Brown was the first theatrical Peanuts feature, and it remains the best. Directed by Disney and Looney Tunes animation veteran Bill Melendez, whom cartoonist Charles M. Schulz had first entrusted with bringing his characters to life on the groundbreaking television specials A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, this gentle musical comedy follows our eternally disappointed “blockhead” as he navigates baseball losses, kite-eating trees, and his own anxieties while preparing to compete in the National Spelling Bee championship in New York. Linus and Lucy, Schroeder and Snoopy—the whole gang—is here, as is the great Vince Guaraldi, supplying a jazzy, Oscar-nominated score, plus a musical centerpiece dream sequence set to Beethoven’s Sonata Pathétique, which expands the animated world of the Peanuts into uncharted realms of visual experimentation.

Tickets: $17.50 / $12 senior and students / $10 youth / free for MoMI members. There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership.

Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.