For the Love of Benji

When I was a kid, I LOVED dogs. I still like dogs, of course, but as a kid, I LOVED them. I favored my canine stuffed animals over the others, I visited all the neighborhood dogs, I read dog books, I watched dog movies. And for obvious reasons, one of my very favorite movies as a kid was “Benji.”

I have fond memories of that movie, and I thought I remembered it so well. I can still clearly see the scene where Tiffany gets kicked across the room, the image of the heavy shoe making contact with her fluffy little white body making me tear up. Watching her fly across the room yelping and landing in a crumpled heap (Alive? Dead? We didn’t immediately know, did we?) was worse to my young eyes than any slasher movie out there. Yup, I really loved that movie. So when I saw it was going to be on cable, I excitedly set my tivo to capture my beloved Benji forever.

See, I figured since I had loved it, Lexie would too. Plus, she is a big dog freak like her mother was. I raved about what a GREAT movie it was, how exciting, how sad, how totally engrossing. She wasn’t impressed with my enthusiasm. In fact, her first question was “When was it made?”

What? Hmmm, good question. So I looked at the movie info and found out it was made in 1974. I relayed this information to my skeptical daughter, who responded by rolling her eyes and walking away.

“Wait!” I pleaded. “I swear, it is a really good movie!”

And even as I spoke the words, I began to wonder. I mean, 1974? I remember seeing it at the movie theater with my mom, and if it was in 1974 I was probably only like 5 years old. And really, how good of a movie critic is a 5 year old, anyway? Still, my memory refused to acknowledge anything but good in regards to Benji, so I convinced myself (and Lexie) that it was at least worth a watch.

I hit the play button on my tivo, and with a satisfying “bloop” the movie began. Immediately I began to worry. The opening sequence was of Benji, looking a bit more scraggly than I remembered, running through the neighborhood to really cheesy music (I think something about “love” or some other crap). When actors appeared on the screen, I cringed. I think even Benji was doing a better acting job than the housekeeper, the kids, or the dad. But Benji’s bark. Damn! That poor dog sounded like he had spent the better years of his life chain-smoking or something. He had a raspy, pathetic “ruff” that I really don’t recall him having. I mean, Benji was this hero dog, right? I could have sworn his bark was a bit tougher.

Lexie was watching the it with a smirk, and I didn’t try to stop her when she reached for her Nintendo about 10 minutes into it. This movie was pretty bad. Seeing the neighbor lady scolding Benji while halfheartedly waving her broom for chasing “Sweetie-Peetie,” her anorexic white cat, got a snort out of my daughter. When the same lady later yelled after Benji that someday she would “let her cat get him,” she snorted again. (I think it was an amused snort, but I can’t be sure.)

Then Benji met Tiffany. Ahh, finally, the good parts!! But my smile of victory vanished as Lexie laughed out loud at the ludicrous “prancing through the field” scene (which, once again, was accompanied by cheesy 70’s music). In talking to my friend Linda, I commented, “Benji has a better love life than I do, though.” Which made Lexie laugh harder.

It continued on its downward spiral, even through the supposedly exciting kidnapping scenes. And the “Tiffany gets kicked” scene that haunted me for so many years? Well… it seems my memory may have exaggerated that as well. What I remembered at five was slightly different. See, Tiffany did get kicked, but they didn’t even show it. The showed the windup of the foot, then they jerked the camera around, you heard a yelp, and saw about one second of her in the air. Not even that high, either. But, they did show the crumpled white heap. At least I got that right.

Lexie was a trooper, though, and didn’t ask me once to stop the movie (probably because she was only half-watching). But I did anyway. Because I was heartbroken that the movie I had such cherished memories of turned out to be so crappy. And Benji? Bleh. He may have started the whole “dog-star” era (after Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, of course) but he was a wimp. What could I have been thinking all those years ago? I am embarrassed. And sad that my memory failed me so.

But in my defense, I WAS FIVE, DAMMIT. I think the next time I see an old movie I remember fondly that is more than 25 years old, I will just keep remembering it instead of watching it. You know, just in case.