The Vintagent Classics: Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown

RACE FOR YOUR LIFE, CHARLIE BROWN  (1977)

Run Time: 1:15:48
Producer: Paramount Pictures
Director: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
Writer: Charles M. Schultz
Key Cast: Charlie Brown (Duncan Watson), Snoopy (Bill Melendez), Woodstock

FILM MAKERS

Here at The Vintagent Film Archive, we draw a hard line as to what encompasses a motorcycle movie, or “Biker Flick” (a phrase coined by Roger Corman while directing the first of it’s kind, Wild Angels in 1966). Mainly, is the motorcycle integral to the film? But sometimes, there must be exceptions (left to the discretion of the Curator). In this case, a cartoon homage to the iconic Easy Rider (1969) chopper in the 1977 animated classic Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown.

As a kid born 11 years after Easy Rider came out, this was one of the first motorcycles I saw on film, long before I saw it’s inspiration, and it never left me. I definitely count Snoopy’s chopper as a reason I ride motorcycles today. I’ve built my career as an authority on motorcycle movies by collecting and curating the good, the bad, and the bizarre of motorized cinema, and during this quiet, Covid holiday season, I think Peanuts is just what the Dr. called for, for those of us who chose to go our own way, and adventure off into the sunset. So, stay safe folks, and enjoy the genius of Charles M. Schultz and the Peanuts gang!