''Benji'' is a 1974 American
family film
A children's film, or family film, is a film genre that contains children or relates to them in the context of home and family. Children's films are made specifically for children and not necessarily for a general audience, while family films ar ...
written, produced and directed by
Joe Camp
Joseph S. Camp Jr. (born April 20, 1939) is a motion picture director and writer who is best known as the creator and director of the ''Benji'' films, as well as '' Hawmps!'' and '' The Double McGuffin''.
Camp resides in Bell Buckle, Tennessee ...
. It is the first in a series of five films about the golden
mixed breed dog
A mongrel, mutt or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed and including those that are the result of intentional breeding. Although the term ''mixed-breed dog'' is sometimes preferred, many mongre ...
named
Benji
Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise.
Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an unc ...
. Filmed in and around
McKinney and
Denton in Texas, the story follows Benji, a stray but friendly dog, who is adored by some of the townspeople, including two children named Cindy and Paul. The children fail to convince their father, Dr. Chapman, to allow Benji to stay at their home. When the children are kidnapped by a band of robbers as part of a ransom, Benji attempts to rescue them. The film grossed $45 million on a budget of $500,000, and its theme song received an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
nomination for
Best Original Song. The film was turned down by every studio in Hollywood; Camp had to form his own film company to distribute the film worldwide. This film was
Frances Bavier
Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role o ...
's and
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
's last film before they retired from acting and died in 1989 and 1979 respectively.
Plot
Benji, a stray dog who lives in an abandoned house on the outskirts of a small town, sets about his daily ritual of visiting human friends; he has no fixed home but he desires one, and he likes the children of the Chapman family, Paul and Cindy, best. Mary, their housekeeper, feeds him, but she knows that the children's father, Dr. Chapman, must not find out about him because he'll fire her on the spot. One day their father is about to appear, so they hide Benji under the table. After outwitting Dr. Chapman, the children leave for school and Mary explains to Benji that Dr. Chapman stubbornly dislikes dogs, but he is a nice man. Continuing on his route, Benji chases a cat and greets Officer Tuttle, who announces his wedding engagement and tells Benji that he, too, will soon meet the lady of his dreams. At Bill's Café, Benji wakes Bill from his morning nap and receives a bone as payment. Returning home, Benji finds three suspicious characters, Linda, Henry, and Riley, breaking in. Although Henry and Riley are spooked by legends that the house is haunted, Linda intends to propose the location as a hideout to their boss Mitch, mastermind of their illicit activities. Henry leaves a bag of groceries behind and Benji eagerly consumes an open pudding cup.
The next morning at the Chapman home, the children brush Benji, hoping their father will accept him into the family, but Mary tells them that the doctor will not change his mind. After impressing his human friends with his new hairstyle, Benji encounters a pretty white dog in the park who is scavenging through his favorite trashcan. Benji presents her with the bone he received from Bill and she follows him back to the Chapman house where Mary brushes her, brings her food and names her Tiffany after the jewelry store. Benji and Tiffany frolic in the park, but when they return to Benji's home, they find that Riley and Henry have returned. Riley points out that Henry's groceries have been overturned and becomes increasingly anxious that the house is haunted. As Mitch and Linda arrive to survey the property, Riley tells Henry that a pudding cup is missing, but Henry warns him against upsetting their plans.
The following morning, Dr. Chapman tells his despondent children that Benji carries diseases and forbids them from keeping him as a pet in spite of Cindy's tearful pleas. Later, Riley writes a ransom note to extort money from Dr. Chapman by threatening his children, but Henry throws it on the ground, writes a new one, and orders Riley to deliver it when he gives him the signal. Meanwhile, Mitch surprises Henry and Linda by actually kidnapping the Chapman children. Benji races to the Chapman home to alert the humans but is shooed out by Mary, not understanding his message. Benji returns to steal the ransom note, hoping that by doing that, he'll make the police follow him to the source of trouble, but he is stopped and the note is taken from him. Benji is at a loss at what to do next. He then follows Officer Tuttle into the police station but gets locked in. When he barks through an intercom, he is released by a passing policeman.
Returning to the crime scene, he snatches Riley's first ransom note and is grabbed by Mitch. Tiffany rushes out and bites him and gets a vicious kick in return; she is not killed, but her leg is sore and bruised. Benji runs home where he finds that Linda has preceded him in an attempt to cut off his efforts. She snatches the note from Benji and puts it in her purse. He growls and barks, and Mary berates him and carries him away, but he bites her and lunges at Linda, causing the note to fall out. Mary reads it and rushes it to Dr. Chapman, who demands to know where his children are, and Linda breaks down in tears. Benji leads the police, the FBI, Dr. Chapman, and Mary back to the hideout. Meanwhile, the kidnappers are concerned that Linda has not returned, and Henry and Riley argue that they should leave. As they walk outside, however, the police hold them at gunpoint and the children are reunited with their father and Mary. Their father is so proud of the dogs that he says they can stay with them permanently, much to their and the children's delight.
Cast
*
Higgins as
Benji
Benji is a fictional character created by Joe Camp. He has been the focus of several movies from 1974 through the 2000s. It is also the title of the first film in the ''Benji'' franchise.
Benji is a small, lovable mixed-breed dog with an unc ...
*
Patsy Garrett as Mary
* Cynthia Smith as Cindy Chapman
* Allen Fiuzat as Paul Chapman
*
Peter Breck
Joseph Peter Breck (March 13, 1929 – February 6, 2012) was an American character actor. The rugged, dark-haired Breck played the gambler and gunfighter Doc Holliday on the ABC/Warner Bros. Television series ''Maverick'' as well as Victoria Bar ...
as Dr. Chapman
*
Christopher Connelly
Christopher Connelly (September 8, 1941 – December 7, 1988) was an American actor, best known for his role as Norman Harrington in the successful prime time ABC soap opera '' Peyton Place''. He stayed with the series during its entire f ...
as Henry
*
Tom Lester
Thomas William Lester (September 23, 1938 – April 20, 2020) was an American actor and evangelist. He was best known for his role as farmhand Eb Dawson on the television show '' Green Acres''. He appeared in two feature animal films, ''Gordy'' ...
as Riley
*
Mark Slade
Mark Van Blarcom Slade (born May 1, 1939) is an American actor, artist, and author, particularly remembered for his role of Billy Blue Cannon on the NBC Western television series, ''The High Chaparral''.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of ...
as Mitch
*
Deborah Walley
Deborah Walley (August 12, 1941May 10, 2001) was an American actress noted for playing the title role in '' Gidget Goes Hawaiian'' (1961) and appearing in several beach party films.
Early years
Walley was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut to Ice ...
as Linda
*
Herb Vigran
Herbert Vigran (June 5, 1910 – November 29, 1986) was an American character actor in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1980s. Over his 50-year career, he made over 350 television and film appearances.
Early years
Vigran was a native of Cin ...
as Lt. Samuels
*
Frances Bavier
Frances Elizabeth Bavier (December 14, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American stage and television actress. Originally from New York theatre, she worked in film and television from the 1950s until the 1970s. She is best known for her role o ...
as Lady with Cat
*
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
as Bill
*
Terry Carter as Officer Tuttle
* Larry Swartz as Floyd
* J.D. Young as Second Policeman
* Tiffany as White Dog
* January L'Angelle as Student (uncredited)
* John P. Biff Painter as Store Burglar
Theme song
The movie's theme song, "I Feel Love", recorded by the
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
musician
Charlie Rich
Charles Allan Rich (December 14, 1932July 25, 1995) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and musician. His eclectic style of music was often difficult to classify, encompassing the rockabilly, jazz, blues, country, soul, and gospel g ...
, won a Golden Globe award for
Best Original Song in 1975.
Production
The outdoor scenes were filmed primarily in
McKinney, Texas
McKinney is a city in and the county seat of Collin County, Texas. It is Collin County's third-largest city, after Plano and Frisco. A suburb of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, McKinney is about north of Dallas.
The U.S. Census Bureau lis ...
; and the house located at 1104 South Tennessee served as the "haunted house" where the Chapman kids were held hostage, as well as serving as production headquarters during the filming. The house has since been renovated into a
bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast (typically shortened to B&B or BnB) is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast. Bed and breakfasts are often private family homes and typically have between four and eleven rooms, wit ...
. The park scenes were in Dallas. The municipal building was filmed in
Denton, Texas
Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous ...
.
The film and the ensuing franchise was created after Joe Camp expressed concern over the overabundance of family films released through the
four wall distribution In the film industry, four wall distribution (also known as four-walling) is a process through which a studio or distributor rents movie theaters for a period of time and receives all of the box office revenue. The four walls of a movie theater giv ...
concept. He told ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' magazine in 1977: "It has become an industry-caused thing, but the
G rated classification has to some degree become 'if it's G, it can't be for me'." Camp observed that four-wall companies had saturated the market for G-rated product; in response to the diminished quality of their films, he created ''Benji''.
Higgins appeared on screen with
Edgar Buchanan
William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the ''Petticoat Junction'', ''Green Acres'', and ''The ...
, with whom he had appeared in the TV series ''
Petticoat Junction
''Petticoat Junction'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 1963 to April 1970. The series takes place at the Shady Rest Hotel, which is run by Kate Bradley; her three daughters Billie Jo, Bobbie Jo, and ...
''; this was the final film for both.
Reception
Produced on a budget of $500,000, it grossed $39.6 million in the United States, making it the
ninth highest-grossing film of 1974. The film grossed a total of $45 million in worldwide receipts.
The film earned an 86% approval rating on the
review aggregate website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
.
''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' called the film "a very superior piece of family fare. Its star is a dog, ragtag in appearance and with a winning way that should endear it to every audience fortunate enough to catch the picture."
Gene Siskel
Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the '' Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his ...
gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, calling it "agreeable" but criticizing "a few cheap grabs for emotion." Linda Gross of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' called it a "cheery family film" that was "prettily photographed." Michael Grossbard of ''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...
'' described the film as "quite effectively told from a doggy-eye view" and wrote that Joe Camp "seems to have cracked the Disney monopoly on family entertainment with his first effort, though the Master in his heyday had more wit, originality and artistry."
Higgins was nominated for a
PATSY Award The PATSY Award was originated by the Hollywood office of the American Humane Association in 1939. They decided to honor animal performers after a horse was killed in an on-set accident during the filming of the Tyrone Power film ''Jesse James''. T ...
for the best animal performance of the year in a feature film, but lost out to Tonto the cat from ''
Harry and Tonto
''Harry and Tonto'' is a 1974 road movie written by Paul Mazursky and Josh Greenfeld and directed by Mazursky. It features Art Carney as Harry in an Oscar-winning performance. Tonto is his pet cat.
Plot
Harry Coombes (Art Carney) is an elderly ...
''.
In 2006, the film was nominated by the
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private funding and public membership fees.
Leade ...
as
one of the most inspirational films of the past 100 years.
See also
*
List of American films of 1974
A list of American films released in 1974.
''The Godfather Part II'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Highest-grossing films (U.S.)
A–Z
Documentaries
See also
* 1974 in the United States
References
External links
1974 films ...
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benji (Film)
1974 films
1970s adventure films
American mystery films
Films about dogs
Benji
Films directed by Joe Camp
Films scored by Euel Box
1974 directorial debut films
1970s English-language films
1970s American films