SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

ccthemovieman-1 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.

Poseidon-3 One of the cinema's all-time favorite pooches made his big screen debut here in what began as a low-budget kiddie flick, but turned into an almost global sensation. Higgins the Dog (hereafter referred to as Benji), a shelter rescue who had made a few appearances on the Paul Henning sitcoms "Green Acres" and particularly "Petticoat Junction", stars here as a lovable stray who spends every day of his life traipsing from location to location. Each morning begins at Breck's house (unbeknownst to Breck!) where he gets his breakfast from the friendly housekeeper Garrett and receives affection from Breck's two children Fiuzat and Smith. Then it's off to the park for a visit with policeman Carter (and a little snack.) Following a daily scuffle with Bavier's white cat, he stops by the local café for a bone from friendly proprietor Buchanan (who Benji worked with on "Petticoat Junction".) Each day ends with a trip back to his "home", an abandoned, antique-filled estate where he keeps a makeshift bed behind an old chest. Life is great. He even meets a girlfriend in the fluffy and white Tiffany! One day, however, Benji is thrown for a loop when a quartet of troublemakers comes into his house and decides to use it as a base of operations for their upcoming criminal scheme. It's up to Benji to put these folks out of business which is no easy feat when he can't talk and no one seems interested in following him. To say that the leading canine is charming and adorable is an understatement. Somehow, his trainer has managed to capture an array of remarkable expressions and movements from him and he is perfectly captivating. Today, films featuring animals usually take the easy way out and use computer animation to achieve various looks and stunts. Not here. This is a real dog making real moments happen. It's no wonder Benji was a sensation after this. Despite the use of minor TV actors in virtually every other role, very few of the humans in the film make any sort of impact. Garrett probably has the largest role and she's not bad. Like most of the rest of the cast, she's hampered by some very obvious looping in post-production, perhaps due to extraneous noise while shooting on location. The children are very awkwardly amateurish, particularly Fiuzat. Breck has little to do and does it without a lot of conviction. Buchanan is rather charming in his lackadaisical way, Carter is likable enough and Bavier does an excellent job with her minor role. Granted, the script is hardly top-notch, but as the three (young?) men of the bad guys, Lester, Connelly and Slade are embarrassingly bad. The direction does them no favors either. Special scorn, however, must go to the truly hideous bit of "acting" turned in by Walley as the gang's lone female. She is atrocious; never more so than when she tries to avoid being uncovered by Benji near the films end. During the bulk of the film, there is a leisurely pace that may not sit well with viewers used to more frenetic editing and action. However, no one can deny the innate charm of the little four-legged star (and, to a lesser extent, his furry leading lady!) Dog-lovers will take him to heart, no matter the less-than-stellar production values.

catherine yronwode In looking over previously posted reviews, it is obvious to me that people either love this film or hate it. I happen to love it. I consider it to be not only the best dog movie ever made, but also among my 10 most favourite movies of all time (yes, including Casablanca, The Thin Man, Gun Crazy, Chinatown, etc.). What makes this movie so wonderful is Higgins, the dog (under the direction of his trainer, Frank Inn). Higgins was so far beyond other dog actors that it is impossible to explain to folks who don't own dogs or train dogs. Not only is he cute and photogenic, expressive and believable, he did all his own stunts -- and he was 14 years old when he made this film!!!Folks who review this movie tend to mention the kid actors, or the creaky kidnapping plot -- but, you know, that's not the point. If you wanted to look at it that way, you could also mention the wonderful interactions between Higgins and Edgar Buchanan, an actor he had worked with for many years on the TV series "Petticoat Junction." Those scenes have a delightful sense of improvisation and charm that easily offset the whiny kid scenes. But the movie is not really about those kidnapped kids at all. It is about a small dog, his daily routines, and how, when those routines are broken, he must rise above his simple life and accomplish a great deed. In a way, the film that "Benji" most closely resembles is Buster Keaton's magnificent silent classic, "The General." The slow, repetitious set-up of Keaton with his train and Higgins with his rounds about town, the focused realism, the slightly down-at-the-heels outsiderness of the hero, the hint of love about to blossom if only the hero can provide for his beloved, the insistently lengthy attention paid to the immediacy of ultra-mundane cause and effect -- these are the same in both films. The openings have a documentary quality to them -- until, without warning, all hell breaks loose and the plot comes crashing in. Keaton's train is stolen! Kidnappers come to Benji's home! Then, in both films, we see an under-dog, so to speak, rise to the challenge of events and, working with only the slenderest of means and very little advance planning, counter one villainous turn after another, all the while attempting to right the wrongs that have been committed. The manner in which the heroes devise solutions to the problems they face, both in "The General" and in "Benji," flow logically from the daily routines we saw them perform in the documentary-like first halves of the films, so they seem believable. We gain confidence alongside the heroes, see the sense in what they are doing, cheer for them to triumph, watch them rise to the verge of success -- and then a huge blow falls, a colossal set-back occurs, and we feel despair -- they'll never make it now, too much time and too much ground have been lost! But again, they apply themselves to the task, and now we hope against hope that they will be able to pull it off in time ... except that most people watching The General experience jaw-dropping amazement at the stunts and most people watching Benji really have no idea how great Higgins' stunt-work really is, and spend the last third of the movie in tears because Benji is such a small dog, and he's so dang CUTE, and ... awwww. I've watched "The General" at least 10 times and never cried once. I've watched "Benji" 10 times and cried every time. I cried just know, merely writing about it. But "Benji" is not just a cute dog movie, any more than "The General" is just a Buster Keaton comedy. Like the best of Keaton's work, it is a heroic movie, and a love story, and a story of physical action and bravery. I just love this movie, that's all.

preppy-3 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.