Benji – 1974
Director
Joe Camp

Writer
Joe Camp

Stars: Peter Breck, Deborah Walley,Patsy Garrett

Review by Wayne Malin

Pretty dreadful–but kids might like it,

This adorable dog (called various names during the film) is seemingly loved by the whole town…but he’s alone. He is friends with two children (Cindy and Paul played astonishingly bad) but their father won’t let them have a dog. Then Benji meets Tiffany–ANOTHER adorable dog. They (instantly) fall in love and it leads to a hysterical montage of the two of them frolicking in the grass, drinking from a fountain…in slow motion no less! Also Benji lives in the cleanest abandoned house I’ve ever seen. Then the two kids are kidnapped by the most inept, unfunniest kidnappers I’ve ever seen and–wouldn’t you know it–they hide the brats in the exact house Benji lives in!

WOW was this bad! A huge hit (for some reason) in 1974 which led to many sequels (which I will NOT see). The film is just terribly acted with “humor” so unfunny and badly done that you just stare at the TV in amazement. The film also has a song that is played NONSTOP during the movie–so much that you want to scream. It was inexplicably nominated for Best Song at the Oscars–it didn’t win. Yeah–the dogs are adorable and much better than the human actors–but I need more than cute dogs to keep me interested.

You might think I’m being a little hard on a kids film but I saw it with my 5 year old nephew. Within 20 minutes he was bored silly and basically stopped watching. I kept watching in hope that it would get better–it didn’t. Really lousy–but VERY patient kids or dog lovers might like it.

Note to parents: It’s G rated but a dog is viciously kicked a few times. You don’t see it–you just hear it and the dog survives but this might bother real young kids