Benji (1974)

Wonderful character development!

A Masterpiece!

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Benji (1974): Dir: Joe Camp / Cast: Patsy Garrett, Peter Breck, Deborah Walley, Frances Bavier, Tom Lester: Joe Camp's delightful family film explores the wonders of a scruffy dog who encounters a host of friendly people. Among them are an elderly diner owner who feeds him leftover scraps. He encounters a police officer who speaks of his upcoming wedding and even gives Benji advice. When he arrives at one particular back porch he is greeted by two children and their nanny who states that their father would disapprove of them owning a stray dog. Central plot regards the kidnapping of Benji's young friends and his frantic pursuit to find help. Structure is repetitious but the deserted mansion takes an ominous appeal. Skillfully directed by Joe Camp who demonstrates a point of view from the dog itself. Patsy Garrett holds her own as the nanny whose advice is genuine and will heed Benji in crucial time. Peter Breck as the father of the children does little more than go to work and disapprove of a dog. The criminals are also wooden and one wonders why they would risk kidnapping the children to begin with. They prove early that they're not too swift. Deborah Walley as the lone female of the group sympathizes with the children and will be the weak point for Benji. Perhaps too intense for young children the film showcases the intelligence of one little dog. Score: 6 ½ / 10

Big Budgets, High Tech Special FX and lot$ of Big Buck$ Ballyhoo in promotions and advertising are elements that we associate with Big Box Office $ucce$$! And it is to some extent that we would heartily concur. It never hurt to have all of these big guns firing full blast when a picture is going into general release. The thought prevailing thought here is that you gotta let'em know yer picher's out dere! Personal appearances or "special guest starring "promotional tours are an extension of all this. Thus, the Producer, Director, Star or other Actors involved are sent out on a tour; making the rounds of the old usual circuit of "Plugola". They get booked, along with a Clip from their film to be on Letterman, Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Today Show, Good Morning America, Regis, The View, etc., etc..But investing all the above and then some, will not guarantee even a modest success. A good case in point is the Triple Strength and Elongated spot granted on ABC Television's GOOD MORNING America to plug the current Left Wing Propaganda film, LIONS FOR LAMBS.GMA Hostess, Diane Sawyer devoted an at least a double segment to its promotion. The piece featured Stars Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Star/Producer/Director Robert Redford. The usual questions and mandatory clips were strongly in evidence; but Miss Sawyer added in a heavy dose of syrupy small talk and giggles to season the whole thing. And even with this extended mutual admiration society and personally oriented "Gigglefest' , with plenty of voice-over laughter and schmoozy banter by Hostess Sawyer, this the greatest film since CITIZEN KANE, is bombing big time at the one place where all the B.S. in the World cannot help, at the Box-Office!* In direct contrast, we have some rather small, sort of non-descript films can barely get released; but somehow do. Then, because they do have something to offer the Public, they take off like a snowball rolling down a steep slope, getting more and more speed and power as it goes. All of this because of having a story that has something for Mr. & Mrs. John Q. Citizen. As for examples over the years we have examples such as: AIRPLANE!(1980), MY BIG FAT Greek WEDDING (2002) and even American GRAFFITI (1973).So this brings us to Today's Lucky subject, namely Independent Writer/Producer/Director Joe Camp's BENJI (1974). Mr. Camp took a good, veteran cast of players and building around it with some largely unknown players, like Cynthia Smith and Allen Fiuzat, the Kids in the story. The adults in the film are mostly well known to the public from their previously done work, mostly in front of TV Cameras. The cast included Peter Breck, Frances Bavier, Patsy Garrett and Edgan Buchanan.There was one more veteran player and he was "Higgins" the mongrel pup who had been featured on "PETTICOAT JUNCTION" (1963-70). He was one happily retired pooch when Owner/Trainer/Wrangler, Mr. Frank Inn brought him in for an audition. So here he was! Higgins was a bigger Star than ever before.Director Camp went through painstaking steps to tell so much of the story from the "Dog's Eye View." The methods applied were akin to that applied in the Days of Silent Pictures. The Story was very visual and would have suffered with too-much of a script, especially if poor little Benji had too many lines to memorize and deliver.It has been said that "……Children and Dogs bring People together." and a Movie like this sure stands as testimony to the veracity of this old proverb.When you watch it, have your Kids or Grand Kids with you. And try to see it as if though their eyes.

You know the movie could have been a lot better when the animal - in this case, a little dog - is the best actor on the screen! The acting in this film is so bad, so amateurish, by dog got embarrassed watching this. He ("Rusty," our Golden Retreiver) could have done a better job than the people in here.By now this is almost a trite story: kid finds animal, pet is not liked nor wanted by one of the parents but the "pet" winds up saving one the kids and is now a hero and an official member of the family. Sound familiar? I remember this movie being a big hit, but never got around to seeing it until the mid '90s on VHS. I was shocked how bad it was. Why so much fuss over a film? Was it because there was so much sleaze in the early '70s that a nice family film stood out in the crowd? Possibly. There wasn't a whole lot of wholesome entertainment in the decade of the '70s plus a lot of people are suckers for cute little animal stories. Who could resist this cute little dog? Not me. But the movie I can resist: it's a Grade B storyline with horrible acting. Recommended only for small-dog animal lovers and I mean "lovers" because even the average pet owner will fall asleep trying to watch this film in this day-and-age.

Good one. It has a few funny scenes. Most of the actors except for Ms.Bavier are obscure. THe filmography is good. It is clearly evident that the film is shot somewhere in the southern Uninted states. I wish that there would be more films like this one out today instead of what Hollywod is putting out now. I did not hear any foul words in it. Now Hollywood has to put a few foul words in every film. I was thinking about that movie recently and finally rented it 2 months ago. I would recommend this to anybody especially if they like dogs and other animals. The only draw back is toward the end there is one simi-violent scene.