Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown (1986) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
14 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
8/10
Awesome!
13Funbags22 March 2019
The video quality is terrible but the content is hilarious. Too bad the real Charlie Brown wasn't like this.
9 out of 9 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
The kind of thing that nowadays would prove a YouTube hit
Foux_du_Fafa24 January 2010
A CAL-ARTS student film by Jim Reardon (who worked on numerous episodes of "The Simpsons"), "Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown" does what it says on the tin: numerous beloved fluffy characters go after Charlie Brown by order of the Pumpkin King. It's all done in B+W and resembles pencil tests, much like most films made by animation students. Yet I can imagine that it would have stood out a lot from its contemporary CAL-ARTS productions in terms of tone, as it really does feel like not a sort of Disney/WB homage or an art-house film but rather the kind of spoof that one would find on YouTube or MySpace. Thus, this can be viewed today as a good piece of immature fluff that was perhaps ahead of its time in terms of style and tone. If you can track it down somewhere, it's worth taking a peak.
8 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
8/10
Great little student film
uruseiranma4 April 2005
Bring me the Head of Charlie Brown was a CalArts student film and thus was not usually known, though it's a hilarious riff and parody, even if it's a bunch of guys doing the voices.

The Great Pumpkin places a bounty on Charlie Brown, and the entire Peannuts gang sets out to collect the reward. Charlie is then set upon by exploding footballs, falling pianos, and whatnot.

By the end, Charlie's had enough, and lays down a suppressive fire, taking out the PEanuts gang, before stating "Happiness is a warm Uzi."

Kind of morbid at times, but it has some great funny moments, and given the humorous way that the student film is to make this like another Charlie Brown holiday special, all the more funny.

Jim Reardon would go onto write for Tiny Toons and direct episodes of The Simpsons, and here, you can see that he was surely fitted for the job.
4 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
The ultimate Peanuts parody ever!
Ryuusei11 May 2001
(Revised on 4/9/2005 - I originally wrote it in 2001 out of memory!)

I'm sure many people have watched twisted parodies of Charles Schulz beloved PEANUTS comic strip like MAD TV's "South Parknuts" and Saturday NIGHT LIVE's Peanuts tribute sketch in 2000, but none of them have the fast-paced thrills of this obscure animated student short done at the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 1986 by renowned animator Jim Reardon (who later worked on cartoons like MIGHTY MOUSE: THE NEW ADVENTURES and THE SIMPSONS)! The short has been screened at Lunacon (a sci-fi con I regularly attend) since about 1997 or 1998, and I was immediately hooked! This was the best of the old CalArts student shorts among what Lunacon showed (before I saw Craig McCracken's WHOOPASS STEW, which later became THE POWERPUFF GIRLS)!

Most of the other Peanuts parodies always had Charlie Brown die or commit suicide, to all of which I say, "been there, done that," but this was about the first time I've ever seen Charlie Brown unleash the beast within (something I, and possibly some other people, always wanted to see him do after some of the Peanuts Gang were so cruel to him)! In this short, the Great Pumpkin puts a bounty on Charlie Brown's head, and the rest of the Peanuts Gang race against each other to kill Charlie Brown in all sorts of ways, until Charlie himself, when getting chased by the gang at one point, becomes Rambo/Schwarzenegger-like and goes around blowing away all of the Peanuts Gang with his uzi! Then, for some reason, we see other cartoon characters slaughtering each other (Mickey Mouse, Popeye, the Hanna-Barbera Godzilla with a sound byte from GODZILLA '84 etc.), and amongst all the carnage and destruction, Charlie Brown stood victorious! The climax was just hilariously chaotic! There was even a funny (and long) disclaimer in the closing credits ("This film is not intended to ruin the good name of Charles M. Schulz's PEANUTS characters," etc. etc.)!

This short may not be for the more sensitive fans of PEANUTS, but if you're lucky, give BRING ME THE HEAD OF CHARLIE BROWN a try! It is, by far, the best of the twisted PEANUTS parodies!
8 out of 10 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
7/10
Funny Video!
whateverarchive2011 November 2017
This Video is funny, but I like Charlie Brown Anyways.

I give this video a 7.5 out of 10.

Note: This Video May Be Gory, or may ruin your childhood, watch at your own risk. But it is Very Funny.

The Funniest part is where Charlie Brown Screams Like Tom the Cat after Snoopy ate his apple and his hand. But the part is a bit gory.

Also, the video looks a little too outdated since it is on Black and White.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Hilarious. 100 percent laugh riot.
ultramatt2000-111 August 2005
This short created by Jim Reardon (who wrote episodes for TINY TOON ADVETURES), pokes fun out of the Peanuts cartoons. As one person who commented on it at Internet Movie Database saying it was "The Ultimate Peanuts Parody". the voices don't sound like the ones in the cartoons we usually watch, they sound like adults. Charlie Brown's voice sounds foreign, and Lucy sounds like John Wayne! When Charlie Brown screams, you don't hear "AAAUUUGGGHH!!!" you hear a man screaming in extreme pain! This short references another student film called Snookles (made around at the same year of this short). The King of the Monsters appears cameo in this short (referencing the Coca Cola commercial around the time of GODZILLA 1985 and BAMBI VS GODZILLA see the tail). There are a lot of other cameos including Rocky, Richard Simmons, Popeye and Micky Mouse. This film should be shown on the Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted Film Festival or should be released on DVD by Fred Olen Ray's Retromedia or Something Weird. This is a great film for aspiring film-makers and for anyone to get into the animation business. Rated PG-13 for violence and gore.
5 out of 8 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
1/10
A Despicable Abomination
nuggetboy-9846630 April 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Why is this even a thing? This is one of the most heinous, vile, wicked, evil things I have ever seen done to a franchise. I haven't seen the whole short, only a tiny bit here and there, and no, I'm not watching the whole thing. I have standards. But I read more about it on the wiki, and, it's disgusting. First of all, I get that this was just meant to be a joke and that it was made without the involvement of Schulz and that this is a fan film, but I don't care. It is just WAY too gruesome for it's own good. Linus strangling Charlie Brown?! Snoopy getting shot?! Snoopy biting off Charlie Brown's arm?! Sally having her head chopped off with an axe?! What in the world am I looking at?!?! And Charlie Brown holding guns and shooting at the others, and the ending of him having a cigarette with the Little Red Haired Girl next to him?! (although I don't think she's smoking she's just in another bed next to Chuck) How in this green and blue planet can ANYONE find this funny/entertaining?! No! This isn't funny! Everyone is out of character. It's way too brutal. It's about the characters trying to kill Charlie Brown for absolutely NO reason, in which they would NEVER do. It has a kid smoking, yeah, SMOKING! This is one of the most abominable things I've ever seen out of a franchise, especially one that is centered around kids' struggles and adventures in everyday life, their dynamics, messages that are told in certain stories. This is a franchise I grew up with. I think the very first one I saw was either the Christmas special or the Halloween special, and I'm pretty sure I saw a few times with my friends back in elementary school(like maybe 2nd grade, I'm 17 now) and I had a good time. Again I know people look at this like it's a Youtube thing, as this hidden joke or whatever, but here's the thing. This was produced back in 1986. Yeah, the same year Happy New Year Charlie Brown premiered. I NEVER thought that something like this could be done to the franchise back then. Nowadays, it might make sense, because that's just how people are now, unfortunately, but even back then?! How?! Look, I'm not gonna let this fan film ruin the Peanuts for me, because it can't. I grew up with this franchise. I've seen its many highs and many lows, but THIS is the bottom of the barrel. I hold no bitterness toward the people involved in its creation, but, no.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Fun student film
Alphax17 August 2006
This is a great student film, with bonus points for making fun of such a cherished cartoon icon.

Lots of garish humor, over-the-top violence, and blatantly sadistic comedy. The things that make student films great.

Audio and voice-overs are rather sub-par...but I think it might have been intentional to just lampoon the voices rather than trying to copy them.

Model wise, they're pretty dead-on to the Charlie Brown art form.

Interestingly, most of the people who worked on it have had some impressive careers and worked for major studios.

If you want to see it, check the message boards for a couple of links to it (or just google search it).
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
A hilariously sick and twisted cartoon short parody of those beloved Peanuts TV specials
Woodyanders30 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
After the Great Pumpkin places a huge bounty on the ever-hapless Charlie Brown's head, the Peanuts gang try to bump poor Charlie off: Schroeder drops a giant piano on him, Lucy tries to get Charlie to kick a bomb that's disguised as a football, Snoopy bites his hand off (blood gushes everywhere from the grisly stump), and Linus even attempts to strangle Chuck with his beloved blanket. So Charlie, sporting a gnarly Travis Bickle-style Mohawk and packing an Uzi, opens up a king-sized barrel of marvelously gory and excessive over-the-top violent death and destruction on the whole nasty lot of 'em. Writer/director Jim Reardon, who went on to direct countless episodes of "The Simpsons," pokes blithely wild and deranged anything-goes no-holds-barred wicked fun at everything from Sam Peckinpah to Richard Simmons to even Mickey Mouse and Godzilla. The animation is admittedly crude, but still effective and the adult voice actors ham it up with lip-smacking brio. Better still, the amusing novelty song "Charlie Brown" by the Coasters even plays during the gut-busting ending credits (the disclaimer at the very conclusion is absolutely priceless!). Favorite line: "Happiness is a warm Uzi." A gloriously tasteless hoot and a half.
3 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
10/10
My review of "Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown"
jacoblee-0443010 April 2016
Wow. Wow! What can I say about it? It's just a "Peanuts" cartoon with a twist! Out of all the parodies I've seen, this is the best one out there. The only thing that made me skeptical was that Jim Reardon was one of the people involved with "The Simpsons" before I even watched it.

After I watched it, I was like "Whoa! That was so brutal!" I've watched it a bunch of times it actually influenced me to write an animated short that spoofs "Zootopia".

Anyway, before I start ranting about the cartoon, let me just make this clear: I absolutely love this cartoon. It's so violent and so hilarious I don't even know what's going on yet until the climax. That was hysterical. This pays tribute to Sam Peckinpah who directed "The Wild Bunch" and other movies he directed.

Not only does this cartoon parodies the "Peanuts" specials, it also spoofs "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", "Commando", "Rambo" and more in particular. Come on, it's Charlie Brown going on a rampage on the Peanuts gang, and you know, I'm a huge Peanuts fan.

One of my favorite part in the entire thing is the climax. The first time I saw it, I was just not only blown away, but also laugh-out-loud to the max! And my favorite quote? "Happiness is a warm uzi!"

So, overall, if you're busy looking for the perfect satire of a movie to watch, this is the best example. So I'm going to give this a 10 out of 10.
2 out of 3 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Very entertaining short
gangstahippie8 September 2007
Rated NR(would be Rated R for Pervasive Strong Graphic Violence/Gore)

Bring Me the Head Of Charlie Brown is an animated short film made by some students at Calarts in the year 1986.If you want to watch the film, it is available on youtube.The short is basically about this.The great pumpkin puts a bounty on the head of Charlie Brown.So basically everybody in the Peanuts gang tries to murder him to get their reward.After a while Charlie Brown cant take it anymore so he starts going on a murder rampage killing all the peanuts characters.The film is shown as a commercial.Bring Me The Head Of Charlie Brown is a funny animated short and I recommend it.
3 out of 6 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Dark and gory student project for future Disney director
minutolo11 February 2021
The director of this short now works for Disney.

Think about that for a sec.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
9/10
Everyone's joked about it
ericstevenson16 July 2023
It seems standard for people to joke about Charlie Brown getting revenge on the other "Peanuts" characters if not outright killing them. Here's an entire short devoted to it! The worst part is easily how bad the video quality is. The sound effects are still great. So, what exactly was Charles Schulz's take on this as he did in fact see it? He said that he did in fact find it pretty funny.

It just wasn't the kind of thing he wanted to see again. It's easy to hear the stock sound of Tom screaming. I like how the Great Pumpkin is represented as a man whose head is a pumpkin. The voices are really funny too. As a giant "Peanuts" fan, I know how to take a joke. It's a shame the same can't be said about Apu. ***1/2.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed