Snoopy, Come Home

Snoopy, Come Home!
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bill Meléndez
Produced by	Bill Meléndez Lee Mendelson Charles M. Schulz
Written by	Charles M. Schulz
Based on	Characters by Charles M. Schulz
Starring	Chad Webber Bill Meléndez Robin Kohn Stephen Shea David Carey Hilary Momberger
Music by	Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman
Editing by	Chuck McCann
Studio	United Feature Syndicate Cinema Center Films Lee Mendelson Films
Distributed by	National General Pictures
Release date(s)	August 9, 1972 (1972-08-09)
Running time	80 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1 million
Box office	$245,073

Snoopy, Come Home! is a 1972 animated musical film, produced by Cinema Center Films, National General Pictures and Lee Mendelson Films, directed by Bill Meléndez, and based on the Peanuts comic strip. The songs are by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman. The film marks the on-screen debut of Woodstock, who had first appeared in the strip in 1951.

The film was first broadcast on TV Friday, November 5, 1976 as a CBS Special Film Presentation. It was released on DVD in anamorphic widescreen in the U.S. on March 28, 2006, by Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS Home Entertainment (CBS owned Cinema Center Films, which co-produced the film).

Plot

Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang go to the beach for the day. Once there, Snoopy promises to go back to the beach the next day to meet up with Peppermint Patty. After Charlie Brown has gone home to play Monopoly with the others, he notices Snoopy is late, but does not take note of it. The next day, Snoopy is thrown off the beach due to a new "No Dogs Allowed" rule. Then Snoopy gets thrown out of a library due to a "No Dogs Allowed" rule. He then gets into a fight with Linus over his blanket, and later beats Lucy in a boxing match.

Later, Snoopy receives a letter from a girl named Lila, who has been in the hospital for three weeks (for reasons unknown) and needs Snoopy to keep her company. Upon receiving the letter, Snoopy immediately sets off with a fluffy, yellow bird, whose name is called Woodstock,the newest member in the Peanuts gang, introduced in this part, to go see her, leaving Charlie Brown completely in the dark as to who Lila is.

En route to see Lila, Snoopy and Woodstock are forced to face the challenges of a world full of signs declaring "No Dogs Allowed." Each instance - on a bus, a train, and elsewhere - is musically accented by the deep tones of Thurl Ravenscroft. The pair are briefly adopted as pets by an annoying girl (identified as Clara only in the closed-captioning), but manage to escape. Snoopy and Woodstock camp out, and play football and music while preparing dinner.

Snoopy finally reaches the hospital but, again, no dogs are allowed inside. To add further insult, the hospital does not allow birds to enter either. Snoopy is foiled in his first attempt to sneak into Lila's room, but his second attempt is successful. He then keeps Lila company for the rest of her stay. Lila claims Snoopy's visit helped her to get better. She then asks Snoopy to go home with her, but he has doubts about this idea. Snoopy decides to Charlie Brown's house. However, upon seeing her watching him tearfully from her hospital window, Snoopy grudgingly runs back to her, which she takes as a sign that he wants to live with her. But first, he needs to return to "settle his affairs" and say goodbye. Snoopy writes a letter directing that certain items of his will be given away: Linus is given his croquet set and chess set, while Schroeder receives Snoopy's record collection.

The kids throw Snoopy a large, tearful going-away party, each one bringing a gift. The kids closest to Snoopy get up to say a few words in his honor. But when it is Charlie Brown's turn to speak, he is overwhelmed to the point of silence. He finally bursts into tears with Snoopy doing likewise. The rest of the gang, even Lucy, eventually follows suit when Schroeder plays "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" on his piano. Snoopy opens his mountain of presents (every single gift is a bone).

After Snoopy has left and arrives at Lila's apartment building the next day, he sees a sign next to the front door that says "No dogs allowed in this building." Lila arrives, and Snoopy is reluctantly introduced to Garfield, her pet cat. Snoopy shows Lila the sign. Now released from his personal obligation by this discovery, Snoopy leaves Lila behind and joyfully returns to Charlie Brown and the others.

Back home, Snoopy demands that the kids return the items he had given them before he left, much to their anger. The gang then leaves Charlie Brown and Snoopy together. The film ends with end titles being typed out by Woodstock, as Snoopy dictates.

Cast

• Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock
• Chad Webber as Charlie Brown
• Robin Kohn as Lucy Van Pelt
• Stephen Shea as Linus Van Pelt
• David Carey as Schroeder
• Hilary Momberger as Sally Brown
• Chris De Faria as Patricia "Peppermint Patty" Reichardt
• Linda Ercoli as Clara
• Lynda Mendelson as Frieda
• Johanna Baer as Lila

Snoopy's first owner

Lila is a minor character in the comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. She was the original owner of Snoopy, before his eventual life with Charlie Brown and friends, and she was also the original owner of Garfield (character), before his life with Jon, Odie, and pals.^[1]

Lila was first mentioned in the strip in the 1960s. It was revealed that she was the first person to take Snoopy home from the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm (where he was born and raised), but she was forced to return him after her family moved to an apartment building where dogs were forbidden. Charlie Brown lamented that Snoopy probably wished Lila was still his owner, and Linus replied, "I doubt it, Charlie Brown. He wouldn't have been happy in an apartment." The last panel showed Snoopy sitting on top of his doghouse in his World War I flying ace regalia, proving Linus was correct. She eventually made an appearance in the strip in 1968.

After making her first animated appearance in Snoopy, Come Home, Lila later appeared in 1988's "Garfield: His 9 Lives" in the "Gafield" segment in Garfield's flashback sequence and 1991's Snoopy's Reunion in Snoopy's flashback sequence further explaining his genesis.

Reception

The film was a box office failure at the time of its original release; it made back only $245,073 of the $1 million budget. However, it has since become a success due to multiple airings on television in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as video and DVD sales. In some telecasts of the film, some of the fight scenes between Snoopy, Linus and Lucy were edited out, as was Sally's discovery of a copy of the book Sambo in the library.

The film's theme of loss made it unusually sad and wistful. Snoopy and Charlie Brown's parting, Charlie Brown's inability to cope without his friend, and Snoopy's farewell to his former owner Lila are often pointed out as poignant moments in the history of Peanuts.^[2]

The film currently holds an 89% 'fresh' rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.^[3]

Snoopy speaks

Snoopy, Come Home! marked the first time Snoopy's thoughts are fully communicated to the audience outside of the comic strip. This was achieved by having his typed correspondences appear at the top of the frame, giving the viewer full access to his thoughts. Previously, Schulz had opted to mute Snoopy entirely, except for inflected squealing and growling. Snoopy's thought balloons, though overt in the strip, are not translated in the animated projects.

Music score

Snoopy, Come Home! was the only Peanuts animated project produced during Vince Guaraldi's lifetime (1928-1976) that did not contain a musical score by the noted jazz composer. Guaraldi had composed all the previous Peanuts animated television specials as well as the debut feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Music for this film was instead provided by the Sherman Brothers, who had composed some of the music used in various Disney films & theme park attractions. Schulz said this was an experiment, as he had wanted to have more of a commercial "Disney" feel to Snoopy, Come Home. Schulz later said he would have utilized Guaraldi's services for the third Peanuts feature, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, had the composer not died suddenly in 1976.^{[citation needed]} A soundtrack was released by Columbia Records, but is now out of print.

Songs

1. "Snoopy, Come Home!"
2. "At the Beach"
3. "Do You Remember Me?" (Lila's Theme) sung by Shelby Flint
4. "Me and You"
5. "No Dogs Allowed" sung by Thurl Ravenscroft
6. "Getting It Together"
7. "Fundamental Friend Dependability ("Clara's Song")
8. "Charlie Brown's Calliope"
9. "It Changes"

Awards

The film won a CEC Award for Best Children's Film.

References

1. ^ Charles M. Schulz, The Complete Peanuts 1965-1966 (Fantagraphics Books, 2007), Back Matter.
2. ^ "Greatest Film Tearjerkers, Moments and Scenes, pt 25". http://www.filmsite.org/tearjerkers25.html. 
3. ^ Snoopy, Come Home at Rotten Tomatoes

External links

• Official Peanuts site
• Snoopy, Come Home at the Internet Movie Database
• Snoopy, Come Home at AllRovi
• Snoopy, Come Home at Rotten Tomatoes
• Peanuts Pictures at DVD Active