"A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is One F*ed up Movie.

[Rilchiam]

@Guinastasia

The football – I remember reading somewhere that Shultz thought it would be a cheap shot to do so for the last strip. Later, however, he said he regretted it.

Really? He didn’t have much “later” after he drew the last strip, you know.

[dwc1970]

@Zebra

The football? I wanted him to kick LUCY in the face!

Charlie Brown did something like this in MAD magazine. I don’t know if he kicked her in the face necessarily (this was never shown), but whatever he did, it was with enough force to kill Lucy, as she was shown lying on a gurney with a toe tag that read “D.O.A.” As someone who oftentimes felt like Charlie Brown as a kid, it was quite gratifying, even if it wasn’t “officially” shown in any of the TV shows or printed comics.

[Guinastasia]

@Rilchiam

Really? He didn’t have much “later” after he drew the last strip, you know.

Here

Schulz had been asked if, for his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick that football after so many decades. His response: “Oh, no! Definitely not! I couldn’t have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century.” Yet, in a December 1999 interview, holding back tears, he recounted the moment when he signed the panel of his final strip, saying, “All of a sudden I thought, ‘You know, that poor, poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick — he never had a chance to kick the football!’”

I was wrong – it seems he was asked somewhat BEFORE he retired. Still, it seems he regretted it a few months later.

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Wow…I watched it, too, on almost the same day you posted this (sometime in late November).

I think it’s a wonderful movie. I’m tired of movies with happy, feel-good endings. This movie couldn’t be made today.

I thought the best part of the movie was Linus going through heroin withdrawals from missing his blanket. It was dark and sinister yet still humorous. I loved how “Linus and Lucy” are given different versions, especially slowed down versions, until he is reunited with his blanket and then that wonderful original version of the song comes ringing through.

And I especially loved the ending. Most people aren’t “winners.” There aren’t enough competitions around for all of us to be winners. And of course, the point isn’t being a “winner.” That’s what Linus is saying to him when he notes that the world didn’t come to an end. And at the same time he was saying, “Get over yourself.”

Wonderful movie from a man who simultaneously created one of the best comic strips…and one of the worst.