BENJI THE HUNTED
US, 1987, 88 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Joe Camp.
Benji the Hunted is the third of Joe Camp's films starring the canine with the cuddly name. There was the original Benji in the mid-1970s and For the Love of Benji. Other Joe Camp films include the humorous Oh Heavenly Dog (where Chevy Chase is murdered and comes back in the form of a Benji-like dog) and the youth comedy thriller, The Double Mc Guffin.
This film was made under the auspices of the Walt Disney company. The Oregon and Washington State mountain locations are spectacular. Benji is as attractive as ever. His main job in the film is to survive in the wild and to look after four cougar cubs after their mother is shot by a hunter. He tries to lead then to their father. In the meantime, he is harassed by the hunter as he tries to get food for the cubs and there is the continual menace of a wolf - who eventually goes over a cliff, tricked by Benji to the acclaim of the audience. Benji also has a sequence which is literally cliff-hanging. There is a jaunty musical score - and the presence of humans in the film is minimal.
1. The appeal of films about dogs? Animals? Family entertainment? Delight for children?
2. The popularity of the Benji films, Benji as a lovable dog, given a personality? Adventures? Audiences identifying with the dog and his concern, emotional identification?
3. The beauty of the Oregon and Washington State mountain scenery? The forests, the coast? Beauty and danger?
4. The minimal presence of humans in the film: the initial information, the television interviewer and Benji's being lost at sea during the film-making? the interview, the continued helicopter search - and the final reconciliation when Benji had finished his mission? The hunter and the shooting of the cougar, looking after Benji and tying it up? The wolf?
5. The basic situation of concern about Benji the film-making, Benji as the dog star of film? The storm, the waves on the coast, Benji's survival, climbing the hill, sleeping, surviving in the forest?
6. The hunter and the death of the cougar, the discovery of the cubs, his caring for them and keeping them together, his wanting to feed then - the mulberries, getting the fowl from the hunter, playing with them, the wolf as Benji was tied up by the hunter, getting the second fowl? The fights with the wolf chases - and the wolf being tricked and going over the cliff?
6. The relationship between Benji and the cubs? The cubs and their size, playful, audiences sad because of the shooting of their mother and Benji's tending her as she died? The male cougar and one of the little ones attaching itself to him? His continually moving ground and Benji trying to track him and bring the cubs to him? The various adventures on cliffs, in the forest, in the water? The eagle and its menace and losing one of the cubs? The eventual heroism in Benji lifting each of the cubs to the top of the cliff? The final meeting and reconciliation?
7. Benji having a personality, the film's use of close-ups, clever photography for Benji's expression, reaction shots? Insertion of flashbacks to indicate memory and motivation? (The credits indicating that some of the actions sequences were simulated?)
8. Enjoyable human parallels? Audiences being charmed by the animal as well as identifying with the heroism? The continued popularity of dog films?
