Joe Camp, the creator, director and writer of the “Benji” films, died March 15. He was 84.
Camp died Friday morning at his home in Bell Buckle, Tenn., following a battle with illness, according to his son, filmmaker and writer of the 2018 “Benji” reboot, Brandon Camp.
Camp had nearly no Hollywood experience before he raised $500,000 to make the first “Benji” film, a family movie about a lovable mutt who saves a pair of children from kidnappers. Higgins the dog, who previously appeared on the CBS sitcom “Petticoat Junction,” came out of retirement to star in the titular role.
After having no luck acquiring distribution, Camp formed his own distribution company Mulberry Square Releasing in 1974 to distribute the film himself. “Benji” would go on to gross almost $40 million ($250 million after inflation).
Camp would follow up the original with “For the Love of Benji” in 1977 and “Oh! Heavenly Dog” in 1980, which starred Chevy Chase...
Camp died Friday morning at his home in Bell Buckle, Tenn., following a battle with illness, according to his son, filmmaker and writer of the 2018 “Benji” reboot, Brandon Camp.
Camp had nearly no Hollywood experience before he raised $500,000 to make the first “Benji” film, a family movie about a lovable mutt who saves a pair of children from kidnappers. Higgins the dog, who previously appeared on the CBS sitcom “Petticoat Junction,” came out of retirement to star in the titular role.
After having no luck acquiring distribution, Camp formed his own distribution company Mulberry Square Releasing in 1974 to distribute the film himself. “Benji” would go on to gross almost $40 million ($250 million after inflation).
Camp would follow up the original with “For the Love of Benji” in 1977 and “Oh! Heavenly Dog” in 1980, which starred Chevy Chase...
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- Variety Film + TV
The role of movie and television critics has evolved over the years. More often than not, in the perpetual echo chamber that is the Internet, the conversation that surrounds any given review centers on the score or grade the film or show received. It's a reductive way to assess a critic's take, but more reductive still is the "Wait, you gave X movie a B and Y movie an A???" As if that inherently means that you are calling one piece of art more worthy than another. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert got into a heated (though short) debate during one of their shows in which Siskel called Ebert out for giving Benji the Hunted a thumbs up and Full Metal Jacket a thumbs down. Take a look below at the 3:40 minute mark. A conversation about critics' relative usefulness sprung up around Batman v Superman, recently, causing us to...
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- Hitfix
Here at Tmp, we’re a bunch of movie nerds...Seems like a no-brainer, but as such, we tend to have unique items on our Christmas lists. So if you’ve got a movie buff that you need to shop for this Christmas, maybe our own individual wishlists will aid you in finding that perfect gift.
Carla
The reason it took so long for me to write something down on my wish list is not lack of wanting something, but it is because I want everything. However, since we are not writing a novel, I did manage to narrow it down to two things:
I love Anthony Hopkins! He is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, older Hollywood actors. The man is undoubtedly a living legend in the film world. What Hopkins fan would not want an autographed photo from Silence of the Lambs? As a bonus, this...
Carla
The reason it took so long for me to write something down on my wish list is not lack of wanting something, but it is because I want everything. However, since we are not writing a novel, I did manage to narrow it down to two things:
I love Anthony Hopkins! He is one of my favorite, if not the favorite, older Hollywood actors. The man is undoubtedly a living legend in the film world. What Hopkins fan would not want an autographed photo from Silence of the Lambs? As a bonus, this...
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- by solidstudios@ymail.com (Jordan Maison)
- Cinelinx
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