I picked up the Goodtimes DVD of BENJI for my 5-year-old son for Christmas, and on Christmas night we sat down to watch it together, neither of us having seen it before. A quick run-down of the plot:
Benji, stray dog extroardinaire, visits many friends throughout his daily rounds (and is called a different name by each), including two kids who live with their father and a housekeeper. The kids and housekeeper adore Benji, but the father, traumatized by a past experience with a stray, won't let them keep him as a pet. The kids brush out his coat to make him look more presentable, but to no avail. Benji even finds himself a babe named Tiffany, to show he can settle down, but that doesn't work either. However, when the kids are napped by thugs, and all hope seems lost, who should come to the rescue but...
I must say that Benji (aka Higgins, a Petticoat Junction alumnus) is a way better actor than many members of today's $20 million club. He's an absolute natural, with nary a false moment in his performance. And I'm being completely serious. This is obviously a star vehicle; the kidnapping plot is extremely flimsy, much of the dialogue between the thugs is abominable, and the unbelievable slow-motion love-frolic between Benji and Tiffany is waaaaaaaay over the top, but Joe Camp and Frank Inn (Benji's trainer) manage to wring every ounce of appeal out of one of the most charismatic animal performers I've ever seen. When Tiffany gets brutalized by the bad guys, you can almost see the pain in Benji's heart. And I was cringing too...
Thrown in for good measure are character actors Frances Bavier (Aunt Bee on "The Andy Griffith Show") and Edgar Buchanan, whose final film this was.
I don't know how I got through childhood without ever seeing this one, but I'm glad I finally caught up with it. The kind of family film they don't seem to make any more...you know, the kind with no brain-dead potty humor. And thank the gods for that.
Oh yeah -- my kid liked it too. :)
Jeff, I suspect Benji had more charisma than a lot of screen actors of the era and frankly is 100% of the reason why so many people paid to see that movie when it came out. The first BENJI film was one of the top grossing films of its year, and I think one of the most successful independent films of the 1970s.
The sequel, FOR THE LOVE OF BENJI, brings the action to Europe and includes Ed Nelson as a heavy. It's actually a better made film than the first and did very well in the 1977 box office rush against numerous big productions.
BENJI THE HUNTED almost entirely dispenses with the humans and relies on its animal cast. I can't recall if it was Siskel or Ebert, but one of them loudly defended the movie in 1987 as being terrific family entertainment.
All of the movies were made by Joe Camp via his Mulberry Square Productions, and though he made other essentially family-oriented films (HAWMPS, THE DOUBLE McGUFFIN) they didn't meet with the same kind of success as the Benji films. The little mutt also turns up in Camp's OH HEAVENLY DOG, as the reincarnated form of Chevy Chase.
I've seen some sort of BENJI Christmas special (with some of the original cast) in the bargain bins recently.
The latest entry, BENJI: OFF THE LEASH! is due out on DVD any day now.