Benji (1974)

**** out of ****

I think I was in 4^th grade when one spring afternoon my class and a couple of others were herded into the school library to watch the movie “Benji” on TV. It was probably my first encounter with a VCR. Since that day I have loved this little film, and watch it at least every couple of years.

Despite my four star rating, it isn't without flaws. The movie was made on a shoestring budget and many of the actors are pretty amateurish, especially the two child actors, whose performances would most kindly be called “wooden”. The sets are often poorly lit and in a coupe of cases look more like houses that were convenient to shoot in instead of actual movie sets. And in the first reel all of the dialogue is dubbed, leaving it feeling strangely eerie due to the lack of ambient sound.  For that first half hour the sound recording of the footage must have been very poor for the filmmakers to prefer dubbed dialogue......

…..but none of that matters. It's still absolutely impossible not to fall in love with this story, and more impossible not to love the lead character. “Adorable” just isn't a strong enough adjective for him.

“Benji” is a little stray mutt that lives in an old abandoned house. He spends his days roaming around town visiting the various human friends he has made over the years, always starting with a couple of kids named Paul and Cindy who clearly love him to death. Most of the first half of the movie deals with getting to know this little guy and what he does every day. His schedule gets altered when he runs across (and falls in love with) a Maltese cross named Tiffany, and when a couple of strange guys keep visiting his abandoned house, but basically Benji lives a very carefree life.

But then it all gets tied together when the strange guys turn out to be con-men turned kidnappers when they snatch Paul and Cindy (the same kids he visits every day) for ransom. It's up to Benji to try to save the day.

One of the things that makes this movie so wonderful is the cinematography. It's simple but ingenious in many places where just the sequencing of the shots and the angles used clearly show you what Benji is thinking – this adds so much to the enjoyment of the film that it's probably the best thing about it (other than it's canine star). Succinct and smart, without a wasted frame, the story is told in a way that makes this small independent effort one of the great family movies ever.

And of course, there is Benji himself. Played by Higgins (already well known from the TV show “Petticoat Junction”) there are few more loveable characters in cinema, and no better canine stars. Already quite old when “Benji” was shot, this is the best dog-actor you'll ever see. The little guy could convey his mood with just his walk or his eyes – I bet people used to fight just to pet him on the set. He is the undeniable star of the show, and his ability (and the ability of his trainers) is why this movie works as well as it does.

I watched this most recently with two 9-year-old kids that had never seen it before and they never looked away from the screen once, showing this movie holds up as well today as it did when I first saw it 35 years ago. There would be very few people of my generation that haven't seen it but for the newest generation, brought up on Pixar, the Avengers and Transformers, this would be a great find. Movies don't have to be $100 million extravaganzas to entertain the kids – get yourself a copy of the little indy film (made for a mere $500,000) and you won't be sorry. And your heart will ache for the little stray today just like it did when you were a kid. I promise.