Fifty years ago, every studio told Joe Camp — who died Friday after a long illness — he was barking up the wrong tree with Benji.
While working in advertising, the Texas-based Camp dreamed of telling a Lassie-like story from the dog’s point of view, and so he penned a script about a beloved stray pooch attempting to rescue two kidnapped children. Naming the film after his own dog, Camp secured independent financing and helmed the project himself.
“He screened it for every single studio, and each one passed,” recalls Camp’s son, filmmaker Brandon Camp, to The Hollywood Reporter. “They all said, ‘No one is interested in this movie.’ ”
Without a distributor, Joe Camp formed Mulberry Square Productions with Ed Vanston to release the film, which starred Peter Breck, Patsy Garrett and mixed-breed canine Higgins. They managed to book Benji at a single Dallas theater in 1974, and more locations followed as word-of-mouth grew.
While working in advertising, the Texas-based Camp dreamed of telling a Lassie-like story from the dog’s point of view, and so he penned a script about a beloved stray pooch attempting to rescue two kidnapped children. Naming the film after his own dog, Camp secured independent financing and helmed the project himself.
“He screened it for every single studio, and each one passed,” recalls Camp’s son, filmmaker Brandon Camp, to The Hollywood Reporter. “They all said, ‘No one is interested in this movie.’ ”
Without a distributor, Joe Camp formed Mulberry Square Productions with Ed Vanston to release the film, which starred Peter Breck, Patsy Garrett and mixed-breed canine Higgins. They managed to book Benji at a single Dallas theater in 1974, and more locations followed as word-of-mouth grew.
- 3/15/2024
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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