"Benji" is one of the greatest movies of all time


Damn your only-two-posts-in-a-row rule, Discourse!
(Help, I’m being repressed!)


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Yeah, the movie’s 62 years old. Pretty sure the statute of spoiler limitations has run out.

Unless you were joking, in which case: Rosebud’s the sled.

True Story:

In 1979, Benji starred in a movie about a bionic/robotic dog, eponymously titled “C.H.O.M.P.S.”. That same year, a movie based on the Gospel of Luke came out, and being in the Bible Belt, of course it got (literal) top billing in the twin theatre (twin!) where it played. So the marquee read:

JESUS
CHOMPS

Well, that was hilarious enough, but eventually C.H.O.M.P.S. moved on/ran away/reunited with his human masters, and was replaced by a film starring Richard Gere as an American soldier in WWII. This movie was called…

Well, read the marquee for yourself:

JESUS
YANKS

I’ve been laughing about that for forty years.

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http://i.imgur.com/S5KLYGf.jpg

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I’m sorry. What?

For kids who couldn’t get enough Benji…

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If it’s gotta be a dog I’ll go with this one:

image

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Oh, you know, just ruining the magic. Someone sent that over to me the other week.

George Lucas really missed a chance when he didn’t put a Saint Bernard in The Empire Strikes Back.

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He did

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Then where is the little barrel of Cognac, I ask you?

It was hidden in the bowcaster. Also i like to think it was a Pangalactic Gargle Blaster

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Two dog movies/shows I sorta remember from the 70s era @fnordius mentions above…

Around the time of Benji there was a children’s movie a la Pippi Longstockings about a huge St. Bernard (or maybe a sheepdog) out of Austria (?). Danged if I can remember his name. Apparently he was much bigger in size than Beethoven?

Also, a dog show I watched religiously on Saturday mornings, though I can’t remember the outcome…

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Was this Belle and Sebastian?

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OMG I loved that show SO much.

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Yeah, I’m thinking of trying to find it on Youtube or streaming to see if it still holds up. I’ve always been a cat person but I felt so bad for Joe.

This may have been it. Sounds like something ripe for MST3K, too. :upside_down_face:

@nungesser Sorry, but mine was a decade earlier, and live-action.

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Please let me know your findings. I’ve got two littles that may enjoy it, but if it’s bad, I prefer to hang on to my memories.

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Yeah, I’d forgotten all about George! Now I have to find it.