Peanuts-Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

DVD Talk 7 of 10
First aired on November 20, 1973, the short is now widely regarded as one of the "Big Three" of the classic Peanuts specials...And while A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving isn't the equal of either the superlative A Charlie Brown Christmas and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (nor even the underrated Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown), it's relatively amusing while conveying enough of the "Schulz touch" to be recognizable as one of the "classic" outings with the Peanuts gang...The Snoopy craze of the early 70s was really peaking at this point, so it's not surprising he has a much more central role here than even Charlie Brown. His centerpiece sequences including the fight with the folding lawn chair and his efforts to make toast and popcorn never fail to get the kids squealing with laughter, while the film's final "gotcha" gag - Snoopy and Woodstock had a huge turkey and pumpkin pie in his dog house all along, while poor Charlie Brown suffered - fits in nicely with Schulz' essentially pessimistic world view. Finally, despite the drawbacks of the short's script, it's almost impossible to dislike A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving when Peanuts composer Vince Guaraldi lays down some sweet, mellow autumnal sounds, along with the decidedly un-Thanksgiving-sounding Little Birdie song that comes out of nowhere and almost lifts the short up with the best of the Peanuts classics...Not in the top tier of the classic Peanuts animated TV specials, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving resembles the superior A Charlie Brown Christmas too much for my comfort. But there's no denying that Snoopy, as usual, makes the show worthwhile - as does the beautiful score by Vince Guaraldi. - Paul Mavis