The Benji Thread

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

My mom got us to one movie late as a child. Benji the Hunted. By the time me my siblings and I think a friend or two got there the movie was well started and the dog was already lost in the woods and we had no idea what was going on.

It was so deeply bothering to me as a kid that like 40 years later I still credit that with trying to be at the theater at least 45 minutes before a film starts. An hour if I can help it.


-ZacWilliam, Like why was the dog in the woods? Who was hunting him? Why?

Was going to reply to this in the TFOne thread, but then decided maybe it's better to have its own here.

I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid. I think it came out on home video shortly after my parents and I moved to Mount Airy in 1988, and I just remember being really into it. I think I got a poster and a standee for it from the rental store, neither of which I still have, sadly.

Despite being into it, I had to look it up on Wikipedia to refresh my memory of what it was about.

That led me to find out a couple of other things regarding Benji.

1) They're still making movies about him. Well, if 2018 counts as "still". Prior to that, his last film was in 2004 with "Benji: Off the Leash!" Before that? 1987's "Benji: The Hunted."

2) The character (yes, Benji is a character) was created by Joe Camp, who only died in March of this year.

Incidentally, I don't think I've seen enough Benji movies to know if there's supposed to be any sort of character continuity between them or not. From what I can recall, I was confused by the seeming lack thereof back when I did try to watch some others besides The Hunted.