It’s time for a palette cleanser here at Camp Crappabuttawipe, my Enemaniacs!

We’ve had a bit of a rough patch here, guys. I think the only way to get B-Movie Enema back to feeling good about, well, life, is to revisit a classic from my childhood. Like with Ernest Goes to Camp, this movie, concerning a group of campers, is one I watched a TON as a kid. It’s time to bring out the Peanuts gang and talk about Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown.

This was chosen for the Camp Crappabuttawipe summer theme, not because it’s crap or something I wanna wipe-a my butt-a with. No. This was chosen because I dearly love this movie and knew, at some point, I needed a pick-me-up if things got dire during this summer. I finally needed my buddy Charlie Brown to come off the bench and pitch me a shutdown inning before things got out of hand with bad movie after bad movie.

And, trust me, after Return to Sleepaway Camp, I needed Chuck to help me out.

As pretty much everyone knows, Peanuts was created by Charles M. Schulz. It began life as a comic strip in 1950 and ran for nearly a full 50 years. In fact, the final strip was published on February 13, 2000, one day after Schulz passed away at the age of 77. While the closeness of his death and the publication of the final strip have often been commented on as one of those coincidental things that show how closely an artist can be tied to his art, the retirement and conclusion of Peanuts were always planned. The final strip that was published that day after Schulz’s passing was some character images of memorable moments and scenes with Snoopy typing Schulz’s final words on the series, stating he was retiring and that his family did not wish for him to pass Peanuts to a new creator. It’s a lovely final strip that talks about the immense pleasure of writing his creations and how lucky he was that fans enjoyed and loved them.

Peanuts wasn’t just a staple in the funny pages. Like so many comic strip characters that resonated with children, and even adults, Charlie Brown and his friends, especially his beagle Snoopy, were pop culture juggernauts thanks to a cultural explosion that occurred, starting in the mid 50s and culminating in the 1965 release of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Starting with that Christmas special that then spawned two more seasonal traditions, 1966’s It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and 1973’s A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Peanuts became a staple for children’s entertainment period. These specials were endearing and taught life lessons to the gang and to the audience. I think most believe that the messages delivered featured a subtle Christian theme, but the good parts, right? Like the idea of trying to be good and honor friends and family in an appropriate way, and so forth.

But TV specials and books collecting the comic strips led to bigger things… Movies. During Schulz’s lifetime, four movies were released, starting with 1969’s A Boy Named Charlie Brown. 1972’s Snoopy Come Home put Charlie’s beagle in the lead role alongside his little buddy Woodstock. That leads us to our movie here, the third film, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown. While it is generally thought to be the “worst” of the four films (Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!) released in 1980), it’s my favorite. It’s the one I always wanted to watch. I had it recorded on a videotape that I’m positive I wore out.

I think, to me (and I’m very interested to see if this still rings true), this movie represented an ideal of children being able to handle situations, circumstances, and adventures on their own. As we’ll soon discuss, this movie deals with this summer camp culminating in a big rafting regatta. Things happen along the way as the kids raft down rapids and calm, seemingly peaceful brooks. They deal with needing to be a team. They need to overcome sabotage… They grow along with the adventure. As a kid in the 80s, that’s right up our freakin’ alley!

Now, before I get into this movie, I think I need to mention that the 80s were probably the height of the merchandising juggernaut that was Peanuts. Two Saturday morning series, The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show and This is America, Charlie Brown, kept Peanuts fever at an all-time high. Along with other strips like Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes, Peanuts reprints were selling in collected book form like hotcakes. Snoopy ended up getting licensed and showing up all over the place on t-shirts and sweatshirts. He would later adopt the “Joe Cool” identity and sell even more merchandise. Next to Mickey Mouse, I’m not sure if there was any other cartoon character as popular as Snoopy… like, ever.

To this day, Peanuts stuff is being sold and produced, with the holiday specials still something that tugs at the traditions of kids who grew up with those shorts, passing them along to their kids and grandkids.

This theme song for Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown has lived rent-free in my head for the past 40+ years. I love that we see the cast in this not as the voice actors, but the characters. The whole gang is here too! Charlie Brown, Linus, Sally, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie. Hell, even Franklin and Pigpen get to play. Following behind on his badass chopper bike is Snoopy and Woodstock.

On the way to camp, Sally spots a girl and her little brother (the opposite of her and Charlie Brown’s chronological relationship) standing on the side of the road at the gas station. Passing by, the girl sticks her tongue out at Sally. Sally is determined to not let this stand. However… Well, she’s on this girl’s home turf. She’s no pushover. Sally decides to step down and go back to the bus.

At the next stop, Sally is still unhappy about all of this. She complains to Charlie Brown about why they are on this ridiculous trip. There’s nothing for miles in any direction. She doesn’t quite understand the whole situation of traveling to a camp. After the kids get their selected snacks and groceries at the Last Chance Gas Station, Charlie Brown lets all the kids go ahead of him onto the bus so he can hang back to tell Snoopy he had better not stay too far behind due to the rough terrain ahead. Naturally, the bus driver shuts the door in his face before getting back on board the bus, so Charlie Brown has to brave the rough terrain with Snoopy on the back of his bike.

Snoopy gets Charlie Brown to Camp Remote in time for registration. Charlie Brown, while stumbling around from Snoopy’s dizzying driving, runs into a trio of ne’er-do-wells and their pet bobcat, Brutus. I’m not sure they are given names, but I’ll call them Tall Bully, Short Bully, and Fat Bully. Tall Bully wants to know what gives with Charlie Brown running into them. What is he, some sort of pushy kid? They make fun of Charlie Brown for having a “weird name.” They also want to know if Brown is here to try to become a man or something!

Mirroring Lucy’s situation with the gas station girl, once the gang is outside the regular comfort zone of their local neighborhood, they find out that other kids aren’t like the ones they know.

Tall Bully explains to Charlie Brown and Sally that they run this place. They have been the #1 tent the last several years, and they intend to again this year. When Brutus growls and swipes at Snoopy, even Snoopy cowers in fear of the bullies. Luckily, Linus has his trusty blanket he uses as a whip to back the bullies off and away from his friend.

The gang starts filling out their registration forms to explain why they want to go to camp. Charlie Brown says that he figures he hasn’t been much of a person his whole life, so he wanted to come to camp and make something of himself. In a way, this is kind of depressing to think Charlie Brown, still maybe only like 10 years old, knows enough about the world to think he hasn’t done much with his life. On the other hand, this is a little foreshadowing.

When they get into their tent, Peppermint Patty says this tent needs to be run democratically. And by democratically, she means bureaucratically. She says they need to vote on a tent leader. But in order to do so, they need to vote on who will make and take the ballots from the voters. But in order for her to vote for Lucy to be the vote taker, they need to have someone who will make the ballots so they can vote.

Peppermint Patty tells the girls to vote either for her as leader or against her. Lucy mentions there needs to be a nomination process. Peppermint Patty agrees and nominates herself. Then she immediately closes the nomination process, so she is the only person anyone can vote for. However, when Marcie collected the ballots, everyone voted for themselves. To Lucy’s dismay, Peppermint Patty says she will cast the tie-breaking vote, which, of course, she votes for herself. The first order of business… make their beds. Lucy says she wants to vote on whether they should make their beds at all. So… it’s another vote. Nothing is ever going to get done in this girls’ tent other than voting.

Another thing that has lived for decades rent-free in my mind? Peppermint Patty and the waterbed.

I grew up so much with the primary three holiday-themed specials and this movie, that the Peanuts gang feels like friends of mine. I don’t think I can tell you how much I’m smiling while watching this movie again for the first time in probably 30 years. Peppermint Patty’s sense of democratic decision-making. Snoopy riding his motorcycle like he’s Easy Rider. Snoopy coming in to give all the girls a kiss goodnight, only for it to turn into a gymnastics routine on Peppermint Patty’s waterbed. It’s wonderful. I’m so happy I chose this to be included in Camp Crappabuttawipe.

And, trust me, I’ve needed this for a bit after the last few slogs.

The next morning brings the first full day of camp. It starts with physical training at 0500 hours. Sally complains about making wallets because, as she says, if you need a new wallet, can’t you just go to the store and buy one? After lunch, Charlie Brown runs into the bullies again, but thankfully Linus is there with his trusty blanket to back the bullies off once again. This is all fine and dandy, but it’s time for the first competition of the summer – tug of war.

Guess who is pitted against each other first?

You guessed it. The gang ends up in the mud and completely covered when they lose to the bullies. This is not the last time we’ll hear the bullies chant “We’re number one!” in this movie. Next, they beat the lady gang members in a sack race. And, yes, they are quick to tell you they are number one!

It is also revealed that they cheat. They’ve cut out the bottoms of their potato sacks. So they can run a part of the way to make sure they have an insurmountable lead. Peppermint Patty witnesses this. She tells the girls they will really need to work hard to beat the bullies because they cheat at everything.

But tomorrow starts the biggest competition of the summer – the raft race. The bullies win every year. The bullies’ raft is incredible. They have an ultra-modern raft with radar, a motor, and all sorts of other gadgets. Everyone else needs to create their own with elbow grease and a lot of huffing and puffing to inflate them.

During the night, the bullies inflate their raft by draining the air out of both the boys’ and girls’ rafts. At the start of the race, the bullies have some motor issues. Snoopy and Woodstock, looking like they are simply going to coast on a single inner tube, have an ace up their sleeves. They have a giant sail that helps propel them… until they run aground. The bullies get their engine fixed, but the motor’s power prevents them from missing a dock, which allows the others to stay with them.

Once again, Peppermint Patty’s sense of democratic duty to make all decisions by way of vote causes the girls to run aground when they tie another vote as to which direction they will take when they approach a fork in the river. I love the animation of this too, because as they are stuck right in the middle of the two forks, you see the boys having made their decision quickly and precisely and sailing off while the Peppermint Patty is frustrated with their inability to come to a consensus.

I often say it’s the little things that make something special, and this is definitely one of those things that didn’t need to be animated, but it makes me chuckle that the guys are just cruising on while the girls are beached.

Now we get to the part of the movie that I think made this a beloved classic for me. Night falls, and each of the groups of kids needs to camp overnight in the middle of the race. This is where we get into that classic idea of the kids-in-danger type of adventure. Growing up in the 80s, I was still part of a generation that was used to exploring on our own. It wasn’t so much the concern about dangers our parents thought we might get into; it was more about getting out of the house and basically running off our youthful energy. So, whenever you got to see kids having adventures that might be fraught with excitement and/or danger, I was all about it.

Without any adult supervision, which, by the way, this movie has ZERO adult characters in it, these groups of kids need to go down the river on rafts of their own design and creation. The river is quite long, so they won’t make it in a couple of hours or even an afternoon. No, they are going to be left to their own devices to navigate the river, find a place to stop and camp for the night, and get themselves out of any kind of danger they may encounter. In a real-world setting, this would probably lead to, like, 25 dead kids, a dead bobcat, a dead beagle, and a dead bird. But in the movies, you can set the kids up to be able to handle their own business. Which will also attract the kid audience because, in smart media, they will see this as an adventure they could have (or at least imagine having in their backyards with their friends).

Also, again, the scenery of this movie is beautiful. I love how the landscapes are all drawn with a more fuzzy, more realistic terrain. But look at this picture above, they travel through a little riverside town where the houses and buildings are all on legs. Even as a 49-year-old man, this lets my mind wander to think about what young eyes would have seen on an adventure like this.

Can you tell I really love this movie?

Overnight, the bullies switched a sign warning of blasting on certain days of the week. This forces the gang to go down the wrong fork in the river, while the bullies sail on unimpeded. It backfires, though. Yes, our gang ends up getting stuck in a strait when blasting does occur, and a bunch of rocks block the way forward, but Snoopy comes to the rescue with a bulldozer that frees up the path. This actually puts them ahead of the bullies for a short bit, but all the kids have to pull over for the night when a heavy storm blows through. Charlie Brown even wonders if the other kids are okay after the big storm. That’s the danger I was talking about. This movie isn’t afraid to have one of the kids wonder if the other kids in this race are freaking dead or not. Well, in so many words. He also worries about Snoopy.

And Snoopy is worried about Woodstock because the storm separated the two friends.

Snoopy won’t even sail on until he finds Woodstock. So he gets his backpack and his walking stick and hikes to see if he can find his little buddy, occasionally stopping to howl and try to find him. Charlie Brown’s raft pulls over when they see Snoopy’s inner tube. They’re soon joined by Peppermint Patty’s group. The two groups go looking for Snoopy and Woodstock, but Woodstock is first to be found… by Brutus.

Thankfully, Woodstock has wings to escape the bobcat. The boys walk through a rocky path looking for Snoopy. Linus tells Charlie Brown to be careful because rocky terrain is a perfect breeding ground for “rock snakes.” These are snakes that will pop up behind you and hurl rocks at you. The good news, though, they aren’t that dangerous. They only throw little rocks. And they seemingly only aim for your lower legs.

Charlie Brown’s look of exasperation when he realizes Linus is talking about people walking behind you, kicking small rocks up at the people in front of them when they are walking, is priceless.

More good news… Snoopy’s side adventure ends with a happy reunion with his buddy, Woodstock. Once Snoopy and Woodstock reunite with Charlie Brown, Linus, Schroeder, Franklin, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Lucy, and Sally, they spend the night together by a fire inside a cabin. Charlie Brown talks about the random beauty of life. They all traveled different paths, only for them all to arrive in the same cabin to have this night of dancing, reflecting, and spending a fun evening together. Peppermint Patty says that’s enough of this serious talk. It’s time for her and her girls to vote on who gets to sleep inside and who gets to sleep outside. The girls unanimously vote to kick the guys outside, despite them finding the place first and Peppermint Patty inviting the girls to hang out there without any input from the guys.

The race is back on when the bullies arrive to hurl snowballs at them (after it snowed the night before). The bullies destroy their rafts. Peppermint Patty puts it to a vote on whether or not the boys can join them or be left behind in the freezing river. This does not please ol’ Chuck, who cannot believe the girls would even have to debate saving them or not.

At least the girls vote unanimously to rescue the boys and have them join their raft to catch up and race the bullies. Peppermint Patty even hands leadership over to Charlie Brown. I love how often Charlie Brown is given leadership in Peanuts media. This usually happens after the characters consistently shit on him for being worthless. This also usually leads to one more debilitatingly poor series of incidents and decisions that causes Charlie Brown’s friends to utterly belittle him for everything in his life.

For example, when the bullies switch another sign that leads the gang down a raging log flume that gets them stuck on a water mill. They blame him for losing the race. When Charlie Brown fixes the mill that the bullies also sabotaged, they blame him for killing them, even after he risks his life to remove the log that disabled the mill. He can’t win for losing, and he definitely can’t win for winning.

After each raft survives a small waterfall, the bullies are shipwrecked against a rock. Only Snoopy and Woodstock are ahead of Charlie Brown and the gang. Charlie Brown’s quick decision to have the boys paddle causes them to pass Snoopy with the finish line in sight. But when the girls each stand up and cheer for taking the lead and looking like they are about to win, the boys are knocked out of the raft. The girls go back to save them, allowing Snoopy to pass them. Then the bullies pass both, until their raft deflates and they are stuck in the river, only a few yards from the finish line. Brutus uses a claw to pop Snoopy’s inner tube. Woodstock thinks quick and grabs some twigs and a leaf to build a raft with a sail on it and cruises to victory.

I love that it was Woodstock that won. Charlie Brown and Snoopy are the stars of Peanuts, but they don’t win the race. They get something else. Snoopy slaps around Brutus to finally shut that little bastard up. Charlie Brown wins the admiration of his friends because he’s gained undeniable leadership skills that they all look up to.

Naturally, Charlie Brown gets the bus door shut on him, so he has to hitch another ride with Snoopy.

I dearly love this movie. Is the movie kind of light on plot and meanders at times? Sure, but it’s so full of good vibes. Even when it meanders, it comes off feeling like the meandering days of youth. I remember many a day in the summers between school years when I would get up, go outside, and just see what happened next. I mentioned earlier, the Peanuts gang felt like actual friends to me. Each character had a different attitude and personality. I always felt bad for Charlie Brown and wanted to be his bud.

There is such a beauty to this movie in the dialogue, the scenery, and the way it makes me feel almost four and a half decades after seeing it for the first time. The colorful and cheery attitude that is woven into every bit of this movie makes this a movie that I cannot stop smiling all the way through the 75-minute runtime. Sometimes, the way you remember a movie can change over time. As you grow older, a movie you really liked as a kid might come off a little silly or something that is not as good as you remembered. Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown is not one of these movies. It’s one of those movies that returns you to those halcyon days of your youth.

We’re really down to the last days of Camp Crappabuttawipe. Next week, we have the penultimate review of the whole summer theme. It’s a recent movie too. So join me in seven days as I discuss 2025’s slasher comedy, Hell of a Summer, starring one of those kids from the Stranger Things!

Now, if you’ll pardon me, I’m gonna dance all goofy like at Woodstock’s victory party.