History WesternAnimation / RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown

''Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown'' is a 1977 animated film directed by Bill Meléndez. It is the third of the feature-length movies based on the ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' comic strip by Charles Schulz.

** Before that, Schroeder asks Charlie Brown where he could pack his piano on the raft, and Linus says they don't have room for something impractical for a raft race. Schroeder calls him out on this, saying if he thinks so, the maybe he shouldn't pack his blanket either. Linus quickly points out a space for the piano.

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[[caption-width-right:300:[[TalkingIsAFreeAction Wow, that's quite a promotional spiel to yell as you go over a waterfall, Chuck!]]]]

Known mostly as the most action-filled ''Peanuts'' adventure, with some scary kids' stuff, like being separated in the wild and the many hazards kids alone in the woods along a river would face. It was also one of the first videodiscs released in the early 1980s, though it took until 2014 for the film to make it onto DVD.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Snoopy comes into the girls' tent to kiss them all good night. When he jumps on Peppermint Patty's waterbed, the resulting waves send both Patty and Snoopy bouncing uncontrollably, making a great deal of noise.

* YouBastard: The audience, after really enjoying the good clean fun of a dangerous raft race with kids not even 10, even if it's a cartoon.

* Jackson Beck - Evil Cat

* TheBully: A whole gang of them (including a bully cat) serve as the movie's antagonists.

* TheBigRace: The raft race takes up about 70% of the movie's time.

* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Rafts going high-speed down a slide wouldn't suddenly stop on a dime atop a waterwheel. And if they did, the kids would ''not'' still be ''inside'' as it stopped...

* HypocriticalHumor:
** Peppermint Patty and her ballots. When Charlie Brown protests that the girls unanimously voted to throw the boys out of the cabin, she yells at him because he "doesn't believe in democracy." Note that they ''didn't give the boys a chance to vote and they'd found the cabin in the first place''.

* {{Jerkass}}:
** The bullies for endlessly boasting about being number 1 while blatantly cheating and talking down to everyone else.

* ShoutOut:
** Snoopy's ComicBook/CaptainAmerica bike is a reference to ''Film/EasyRider''.

** At one point Peppermint Patty angrily tells Charlie Brown, "Another fine mess you've gotten us into!", derived from the Creator/LaurelAndHardy catchprase.
* StrawFeminist[=/=][[GirlsHaveCooties Boys Have Cooties]]: The fact that Peppermint Patty and the other girls never give the boys a chance to vote and always rule against them in their "elections" could be taken as this.

* CheatersNeverProsper: PlayedWith. The boys are forced to build their own raft out of tire tubes and sticks. The girls get an inflatable raft. The bullies' raft is a streamlined pontoon boat with not only all kinds of directional gear, but an ''outboard motor''. [[spoiler:'''Everyone's''' raft is wrecked by the time they get within sight of the finish line, but the bullies are still in the lead, so their cat slashes up the rafts that try to pass them. The cat gets the boys' and the girls' rafts, but when the cat tries to take a swipe at Woodstock's, Snoopy beats him up, leaving the bird as the winner.]]
%%* TheChewToy: Short of finding [[spoiler:the cabin]], the whole ''Peanuts'' gang in this one, really.

* ComedicSociopathy: The ''Peanuts'' gang face some pretty ugly opposition downriver, with [[spoiler:the waterfalls and the construction site among the bigger ones. A few more feet and the ''Peanuts'' gang could have been killed]]. And the river race is a yearly event!

* DarkHorseVictory: [[spoiler:Neither the bullies nor the Peanuts gang win the race. Not even Snoopy wins; ''it's actually Woodstock who wins.'' Didn't see that one coming, did you?]]

** The girls turning back to retrieve the boys near the finish line after [[spoiler:they accidentally knock them all out of the raft in their excitement]].

* LaserGuidedKarma: The waterfall near the end of the race. [[spoiler:Snoopy and Woodstock drop safely without even going underwater, and Charlie Brown and everyone in the girls' raft simply end up underwater for a few seconds before resurfacing. The bullies also end up going down, but they resurface only to wreck their boat on top of a huge rock.]]

** Snoopy's [[Film/EasyRider Captain America bike]].

** At one point Peppermint Patty angrily tells Charlie Brown, "[[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Another fine mess you've gotten us into!]]"

* TalkToTheFist: Near the end, [[spoiler:Snoopy punches out Brutus when he tried to attack Woodstock]].

* XMustNotWin: Where X equals – [[ButtMonkey who else?]] – Charlie Brown; his team is set to win the river race, but the girls get a little excited and knock the boys out of the raft before they can cross the finish line. Snoopy? The bullies sabotage his boat, allowing [[spoiler:Woodstock]] to win.

* AdultsAreUseless: The fact that the bullies' cheating never gets them in trouble proves either this trope or the fact that there are no adults at the camp, or no kind of rules enforcement (unless the bullies themselves have assumed that role). Maybe the main adult who runs the camp is the parent of a bully.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The boys invite the girls into the cabin and are promptly kicked out.

%%* InstantWristwatch: During the blasting scene.

%%** The bullies, ''definitely''.
%%** Lucy and Peppermint Patty to a lesser extent than usual.

* OhCrap: Charlie Brown when he realizes that it's practically 10:00 AM, when the construction blasting in the river channel they are floating through is supposed to start.

* InevitableWaterfall: The poster doesn't lie.
* InstantWristwatch: During the blasting scene.

* LeafBoat: Woodstock constructs one.

* TokenMinority: Franklin. He has few lines in the movie before the race and isn't on the cover of the recent artwork for the movie since he basically gets forgotten about.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Snoopy comes into the girls' tent to kiss them all good night. When he jumps on Peppermint Patty's waterbed, the resulting waves send both Patty and Snoopy bouncing uncontrollably, making a great deal of noise.
-->'''Marcie:''' Sir, you're making too much noise. Can't you just kiss him good night and let it go at that?

* AdultsAreUseless: Aside from an unseen bus driver and radio reporter, there are no adults at all. Wonder whether the kids planned the dangerous raft race.
** Not only that, but the fact that the bullies' cheating never gets them in trouble proves either this trope or the fact that there are no adults at the camp, or no kind of rules enforcement (unless the bullies themselves have assumed that role).
** Maybe the main adult who runs the camp is the father of a bully.
* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Rafts going high-speed down a slide wouldn't suddenly stop on a dime atop a waterwheel.
** And if they did, the kids would ''not'' still be ''inside'' as it stopped...
* BewareTheNiceOnes[=/=]BigBrotherInstinct: Snoopy finally takes on Brutus when the latter threatens Woodstock. This is after spending the entire film being terrified of the cat; Snoopy couldn't defend himself, but he could defend his best buddy.

* CallBack: When the girls see that it has snowed outside, Lucy thinks about getting a Christmas tree "[[WesternAnimation/ACharlieBrownChristmas painted pink]]".

* CatsAreMean: Brutus is a prime example.

* TheChewToy: Short of finding [[spoiler:the cabin]], the whole ''Peanuts'' gang in this one, really.
* CollectiveGroan: Many times in the movie.

* {{Jerkass}}: The bullies, ''definitely'', with Lucy and Peppermint Patty to a lesser extent than usual.
** Also the girls as a group for keeping the boys out of the cabin.

* BlackComedy: As always, in ''Peanuts'' style.
* BootCampEpisode: The early camp scenes.

* HypocriticalHumor: Peppermint Patty and her ballots. When Charlie Brown protests that the girls unanimously voted to throw the boys out of the cabin, she yells at him because he "doesn't believe in democracy." Note that they ''didn't give the boys a chance to vote and they'd found the cabin in the first place''.

* SchmuckBait: Sort of.
* ShoutOut: Snoopy's [[Film/EasyRider Captain America bike]].

* SummerCampy

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* Catch22Dilemma: Discussed during the initial organization of the girls' tent in a "democratic fashion". Peppermint Patty wants to prepare ballots, but the girls have to decide first on who passes out ballots.
-->'''Lucy Van Pelt:''' Wait a minute! You can't vote unless we have ballots!\\
'''Marcie:''' If we can't vote to see who will pass the ballots, how can we have ballots to vote?

* LaserGuidedKarma: The waterfall near the end of the race. [[spoiler:Snoopy and Woodstock drop safely without even going underwater, and Charlie Brown and everyone in the girls' raft simply end up underwater for a few seconds before resurfacing. The bullies also end up going down, but they resurface only to wreck their boat on top of a huge rock.]]

* Bill Meléndez - Snoopy & Woodstock

* BewareTheNiceOnes / BigBrotherInstinct: Snoopy finally turns on Brutus when the latter threatens Woodstock.
** Brutus is a cat and Snoopy is a dog so therefore, cats and dogs fight.

* ComedicSociopathy: The ''Peanuts'' gang face some pretty ugly opposition downriver with [[spoiler:the waterfalls and the construction site among the bigger ones. A few more feet and the ''Peanuts'' gang could have been killed]]. And it's a yearly event—the river race!

* DarkerAndEdgier: The scarier moments of this movie push it into this territory and make it a little more harsh over other ''Peanuts'' entries. The only animated TV special that came close is ''WesternAnimation/WhatANightmareCharlieBrown''.

* NewSoundAlbum: This was the first ''Peanuts'' animated work made after the death of Music/VinceGuaraldi. Ed Bogas (who'd previously worked with Creator/RalphBakshi) took over the music and brought a contemporary sound that was much different from Guaraldi's familiar jazz stylings.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: The boys invite the girls into the cabin but are kicked out.

* WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys: Snoopy with his sweet motorcycle, enormous pop-up sail and (ridiculously expensive back in '77) portable TV in his ''own tent''.