You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown

Plot synopsis:
Sally Brown comes home and tells Charlie Brown that she is never going to school again out of frustration with opening her locker ("I can't get my stupid locker open!") The next day Charlie promises he will help with her locker. He tells her that some lockers are a little difficult and touchy, and she needs to make sure the numbers are just right. But Sally tells him that is not the problem, the problem is she cannot reach it to open it. He does not know what to say so Sally brings him into her classroom for something else: to use him as her show-and-tell presentation, much to his embarrassment. After this, Charlie sees a poster that says "Student Body President Election". Linus van Pelt thinks that would be a good job for Charlie, but Lucy van Pelt thinks Linus would be the better candidate. Also running is a student named Russell Anderson. Linus runs for the office with a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign, taking an early lead in the polls.
Unfortunately, he suffers a setback when, during his last address to the student body, he decides to ad lib a mention of The Great Pumpkin. Nonetheless he wins the election by one vote–84 to 83–the deciding vote cast from Russell, who has decided that Linus is, in fact, better for the job. Following his victory, Linus goes to the principal with the intention of keeping his campaign promises and laying down the law, only to be taken aback with the realization that he is still strictly subordinate to the faculty and in fact, like most student government positions, has no real power. After he reveals this to Sally then walks away sheepishly, Sally has a fit and accuses him of selling out like all other politicians. She then kicks the bottom of a locker and walks away, just to have it open and be Charlie Brown's.

Tags: psychedelic

Review:
Charlie Brown in Politics?
Polling results at '11:00'.
The cast of the "Peanuts" gang are getting caught-up in a world of politics, power and promises!!
Watch out!
Because, here comes Lucy, the campaign manager, adviser and publicist for her brother Linus's ill-fated political student body presidential career.
Well, maybe it's not that bad, but it is a whole lot of fun!!
And you can't exactly call Lucy and Linus a puppet regime either, because they're not Muppets, just cartoon characters after all.
This episode is truly another 'Peanuts' great.
Talking about the political process at the 'school' of Charlie Brown, who in this case, declines to take a verbal 'nomination' from his buddy Linus for student body Prez.
So Lucy hits the streets to meet the public and be a 'pollster'.
She figures after pre-stumping for her brother's 'popularity' that he looks like a shoe-in for the office and that things in that school are about to happened.
The timing and political climate is right, for 'change' or a tremendous political sun-burn.Everyone turns out for the campaign of Linus, even Snoopy and Woodstock.
A short 'cameo' appearance from 'Joe Cool' is in order.
The music score is worthy of praise, from a solid, stylish, Guaraldi.
Linus is in for a surprise when he learns that it's not always easy when you're 'Elected'.
This one makes the political grade.
Joe Cool, that's all I need to say....
"You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" includes one of jazz genius Vince Guaraldi's greatest compositions: "Joe Cool".
The short sequence is truly great and worth every Peanuts fan's attention.
The rest of the 25 minute long special is pretty unremarkable, but enjoyable nonetheless..
"I remember one time he gave me half of his peanut butter sandwich.
I'd vote for anybody who took me out to lunch.".
The Peanuts gang tackles politics as Linus (not Charlie Brown, despite the title) runs for student body president.
Lucy is his campaign manager.
Lots of funny bits of business to be had here.
Linus' campaign speeches are hilarious.
This is an underrated gem among the Peanuts specials.
Aside from the great political satire and all-around good fun that comes from Charlie Brown & friends, this one offers up the first animated appearance of Snoopy's best alter ego: Joe Cool.
Vince Guaraldi crafts a wonderful song to introduce him ("Joe Cool, back in school, hangin' around the water fountain actin' a fool").
The version currently being shown by ABC, following the Great Pumpkin, is edited.
Particularly the beginning and ending have been altered.
It's still enjoyable but try to catch the unedited version.
This is a very fun cartoon.
Peanuts fans will, of course, love it..
It's ElectionTime.
Eighth animated special based on the Charles M.
Schulz cartoon strips is one of the better ones, as Linus decides(with Lucy's help) to run for student body president, and how he makes nice speeches and many promises that he may have trouble keeping, especially when he mentions the Great Pumpkin again...
Meanwhile, Sally is having trouble with her locker, but has faith in Linus, who is facing stiff competition from a classmate who still seems undecided about who he'll vote for.
Amusing and thoughtful special about school life and political realities may be instructive to youngsters, and of course there's Snoopy as Joe Cool.
Nice continuity with the Great Pumpkin mention!.
Oh Good Grief.
I only say "Oh Good Grief" because any one who knows the Peanuts knows that the famous line of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and all the other members of the peanut gang.Normally the plots of these specials would focus on Charlie Brown for this time around the plot center around Linus as he runs for School President with Charlie Brown and Lucy serving has his campaign managers.
Plus Snoopy and his Joe Cool look and he does have a funny segment.Now this is not your normal every day Charlie Brown special as it doesn't have the focus on Charlie Brown.
With Linus as the center character it does make it different.The animation for this special is what you can expect from any Charlie Brown and it is very good as well as it is well time animation along with the traditions that makes The Peanut Gang special.
The voice acting is very funny as you can get a good laugh for each joke from the characters in the special plus with a interesting song for Snoopy in the film.The story for the film is very good as any fan of The Peanut gang can appreciate this film for kids and adults.There is just nothing that holds the greatness from making this fun for all ages.I give You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown an 8 out of 10.
Good, but.....
Still worth the full and solid 7 Stars I gave it, but I watched it the same night as I watched 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' and I just can't rate this one as high as I did for the Great Pumpkin.
I really like the Snoopy and Schroeder scene at the piano.
Snoopy is a funny character in this cartoon.
Still quite enjoyable and definitely a classic cartoon for the growing children..
The Peanuts Election..
This showcases the time when Linus Van Pelt (Stephen Shea) tried to run for class president.
Linus is backed by his best friend Charlie Brown (Chad Webber) and his sister Lucy Van Pelt (Robin Kohn).
This one doesn't really focus too much on Charlie and I think that's what makes it weaker than the others.
It's still good, but it doesn't really hold a candle to the other Peanuts films.
The story is all right, and the acting is good so it succeed there, and there certainly are some memorable moments like when Snoopy does the Joe Cool segment.
But overall it just doesn't seem to be as good or as memorable.
I actually watched this around the time of the 2008 election.
Certainly not my favorite Peanuts movie.
But overall it's just okay..
There's a reason the theme music mentions the wrong title.
"The song at the title screen, it sang: 'You're elected Charlie Brown!', but they should of sang: 'You're NOT elected Charlie Brown.'"There's a reason for this; the first time it aired, it was called, "You're Elected, Charlie Brown," and used the theme music with that title.
However, sometime after that, presumably somebody noticed that, as Charlie Brown wasn't actually elected, the title made no sense, so the title was changed, and the theme music changed to a different song without lyrics.
(It is possible that the on-screen title was changed at the last second, but note that CBS commercials for the show's first airing used the original title.).
You're not even running for office, Charlie Brown..
With the office of class President available in the coming elections Linus and Russell compete with each other in an effort to take over the school.
Lucy threatens most of the students into voting for Linus while everyone else pitches in and helps.
Even Snoopy and Woodstock help out with the picket signs.
Snoopy also comes to school as 'Joe Cool' and fails to impress anyone.Linus wins the campaign by one vote but turns himself into a laughing stock when he mentions the Great Pumpkin in his inauguration speech.
It's fun and entertaining, even if some of the scenes bear no relevance to the story.
Why exactly is Snoopy turning up to class?
And the title is a bit odd.
Charlie Brown doesn't even compete, so he's obviously not going to be elected..
You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown is subtly satiric take on politics.
The most memorable sequence in this Peanuts special is the "Joe Cool" one with Snoopy in sunglasses and Joe Cool T-shirt at the water fountain failing to impress the girls who pass him by.
All this is done to Vince Guaraldi's vocals for "Joe Cool".
Cool indeed.
Linus thinks Charlie Brown should be school president.
Lucy polls the student body and finds Charlie has no chance.
Linus becomes the nominee after sister Lucy "persuades" various classmates to support him.
Linus almost blows it when he mentions the Great Pumpkin.
It's eventually a close race between him and Russell...Nice satire of the political process made in an election year (1972).
Shown after It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown on ABC on October 27, 2006 in edited form since the previous show was shown intact resulting in an extra five minutes.
Still worthwhile viewing and it is available on DVD intact with Pumpkin..
I really enjoyed this, actually.
It's a bonus episode on the Great Pumpkin DVD, so watching it was a serendipitous experience for me.
As for the 25 minutes without Joe Cool, I thought they were enjoyable also.
I especially like all the adult jokes thrown in, all the little political jabs (non-partisan) that are made throughout.
Lucy and Linus taking callers on a live radio talk-show, campaign speeches from Shroeder, and the great race for votes between Linus and Russell...all poking gentle fun at our election process without getting nasty.
I loved it.
Plus, it is a perfect fall time episode, which alludes to the Great Pumpkin...And, it there is a relatively happy ending.
Unusual for a Peanuts cartoon..
Another enjoyable Peanuts TV special.
Linus runs for school president with Lucy and Charlie Brown serving as his campaign managers.
This time Charles M.
Schulz's characteristic sweet and witty humor is well used to take plenty of sly satirical digs at politics and the intrinsic absurdity of the whole electoral process: Lucy intimidates people to vote for her little brother, Linus gives a gloriously histrionic first speech in which he makes all kinds of ridiculous promises, Schroeder compares Linus to Beethoven, Linus appears on a talk radio show and gets bombarded by clueless callers who can't get their questions right, and Linus almost blows the whole campaign when he talks at length about the Great Pumpkin in his second major speech.
Of course, Snoopy is in his usual delightful mischievous form: The irrepressible beagle ransacks a refrigerator and makes an elaborate breakfast for himself, assists Sally by making campaign signs (he puts a paw print on the sign he makes), and, in the show's single most hilarious segment, goes to school as grinning hipster Joe Cool only to wind up being ignored by all the kids (Joe Cool even has a great groovy theme song).
Vince Guaraldi's bouncy and sprightly score further adds to the considerable frothy fun.
A pleasant romp..
fun but lacking inspirational insight of 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'.
Sally can't open her locker and she brings in her big brother Charlie Brown for Show-and-Tell.
Linus pushes Charlie Brown for student body president but Lucy tells them that he has no chance.
With Lucy's bullying demeanor, her poll indicates that Linus has 99% support.
Charlie Brown is assigned to assist campaign manager Lucy with the help of Snoopy and Woodstock.
While the rival candidate Russell Anderson promises to do his best, Linus promises the moon.
The campaign is going great until Linus talks about the Great Pumpkin.
It's a close race and Russell breaks the tie by voting for Linus.
In the end, Linus finds he has little power to the dismay of Sally who just wants to open her locker which is too tall for her.This is a fun Charlie Brown show but not as famous as 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' or 'A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving'.
It doesn't really get replayed on every election day.
It also lacks an inspirational or feel-good central idea.
The ending is a little cynical.
This one centers more on the Van Pelts and the Browns.
It's fun to see Joe Cool and Woodstock.
This is a bit of fun..
You should of been elected, Charlie Brown..
You should of been elected, Charlie Brown..
I got this show as one of the bonus episodes on the 3 Peanuts holiday pack.
I think this show is the only poor show in the collection.
At the beginning when Sally was walking home, she didn't said anything.
I'd like the beginning if Sally said "I hate school!
It's driving me crazy!" 2.The song at the title screen, it sang: "You're elected Charlie Brown!", but they should of sang: "You're NOT elected Charlie Brown!" 3.When Sally showed Chalie Brown for show and tell I didn't get what Sally said.4.I watch this with captions because I like to know what are the people saying, and I don't want captions to say in-proper spelling.
When Lucy was asking to vote for Linus to Rucelle and he says why he said no, he said the sort word for "because" and the captions said it to.
I HATE it when that happens.5.When Linus was on the talk show, who was talking on the phone?6.I didn't know what was the reason why Linus didn't get elected.
I should of knowed.Well, this show is poor.
Ignoor this one and stick with the other shows in the 3 Peanuts holiday pack..
Another central character this time and some interesting references.
This 1972 short film has a bit of a misleading title.
They always included Charlie Brown, but really here the candidate for class presidency is Linus.
Maybe this is also why I enjoyed this half hour special more than other Charlie Brown short films.
Hands down, brown's self-pity and whining gets annoying at times.
But most of the rest is as always about this movie.
It is directed by Melendez, written by Schulz and as almost always Emmy-nominated.
At this point in 1972, they made one new peanuts film every year, frequently even two.
And the year is also interesting for another reason.
This half-hour television movie came out not too long before the Presidential election.
And while the race between Nixon and McGovern could not have been any more one-sided, the race between Linus and Russell could not be any more close.
In the end, one vote is decisive.
There are some more parallels.
Pay attention to how a random pumpkin reference by Linus almost costs him the victory in the end.
It's a tough world and one unlucky statement can destroy all ambitions.
Also in one scene we see how Lucy intimidates voters into choosing her brother.
The rest of it is pretty harmless though.
The call-in show with Linus answering questions was maybe the funniest thing even if Snoopy had to yawn.
I didn't have to while watching this short (unlike some other Peanuts shorts), so this gets a solid 3 out of 5 stars, also a majority.
Recommended.