Oh! Heavenly Dog (1980)

Oh! Heavenly Dog

Great movie!
It is rather old, but definitely one of the favourite movies in our family collection! January 5, 2008

A comedic showcase for America's most huggable hero

1980's Oh! Heavenly Dog, Benji's third movie, is quite a contrast from Benji's first two films. Benji and For the Love of Benji were quintessential family films that told touching stories of canine cunning and heroics entirely from the perspective of the furry little hero; there, Benji's acting prowess could move you to tears in moments of crisis and lift you sky-high when Benji finally managed to safely rescue the humans he loved. Those films had funny moments, but they were basically built upon drama and conveyed serious messages. Oh! Heavenly Dog is a straight-up comedy.

Chevy Chase plays a private investigator named Browning, whom we meet during the last hour of his life. Hired to protect a certain young lady, he soon finds her - and then himself - murdered. He then finds himself in an afterlife processing center, where he learns he is considered no better than a marginal applicant for heaven; fortunately for him, he gets one last chance to prove himself worthy. All he has to do is go back to earth and solve the case of his own murder - and he has to go back in the form of a little dog because no human bodies are available at the moment. Thus we finally meet Benji (some twenty-two minutes into the film). We do see the rest of the film from Benji's perspective, but this time around, we can actually hear his thoughts - because they are Browning's thoughts. Cracking a murder case is hard enough when you have hands and a human voice; trying to accomplish it when you are a stray dog is even tougher.

Fortune smiles upon the canine Browning when he meets up with the attractive young lady he bumped into mere moments before his earthly demise, for she is actually researching a book on the murders. For her part, Jackie (Jane Seymour) is increasingly astounded to find the little dog she calls B.J. everywhere she goes while researching the crime. Seymour has a great rapport with Benji, and that is crucial to making this film work as well as it does. Benji himself is marvelous and really gets to show off his amazing skills before the camera. Among other things, you'll see him finding ways into and out of different locations, using the telephone, writing (sort of) with a pencil, performing a few stunts that look to me like they must have hurt just a little bit, and weaving his way through traffic in a number of chase scenes. This film doesn't allow for the type of emotional moments that are there to be experienced in his earlier films, but Benji's acting skills help make the ending of this one rather touching, actually. Great credit is due to Benji's trainer, owner, and best friend Frank Inn for the amazing skills Benji showcases throughout the film.

You'll notice this is a PG movie, which is quite unusual for a Joe Camp production. So, while this is still a great family film that I certainly loved as a kid, parents should be aware of the presence of adult language and a few sexual innuendoes spread over the course of the film. Being murdered and having to come back and investigate the crime in the form of a dog is bound to make a fellow curse a little bit. As for the innuendoes, today's generation of kids will probably understand most of them; back in the 70s, kids like me didn't have a clue as to the adult humor inserted into this fun film about an amazing little dog. Benji fans will eat this movie up, but it is hard to say how Chevy Chase fans will respond to it (I'm not much of a Chevy Chase fan) - still, it's impossible not to love Benji so I can't see how anyone can fail to enjoy Oh! Heavenly Dog.

Look for Joe Camp, the man behind the whole Benji phenomenon, in a cameo appearance as one half of a pair of movers. It's also interesting to note that, while the story is set in London, most of the filming took place in Quebec because England required all incoming animals to be quarantined for six months upon their arrival. Finally, one should note that the original Benji retired after his first feature film, but this second Benji is just as huggable (not to mention cute and fluffy) as the first one. February 7, 2007

Excellent Movie

I've always loved this movie and I still think it's a great classic. December 26, 2006

Omar's finest role

Just kidding. But its a nice movie and I remember it fondly. Its got stuff for everyone: dogs, Jane Seymour, Chevy Chase's great voice-overs, and antics a-plenty. I miss the days in which great actors would make kids movies and have fun. Check it out. August 18, 2006

Left field ain't a bad place to be

For the third Benji feature film, director Joe Camp decided to head far out into left field. After two films told from a dog's perspective and that consisted mostly of Benji running, it was a good move to do something drastically different, and it produced a film that matches the first one in quality.

The first unusual thing that Camp did was to hire three stars who were big box office attractions in 1980--Chevy Chase, Jane Seymour and Omar Sharif. The previous two films featured unknowns.

Next, he made Oh Heavenly Dog essentially a human story. The film really hinges on Chase's character, Benjamin Browning, who becomes a pawn in a relatively complex plot of deceit. Camp displayed an affection for conspiracy-like action/thriller subplots in the two previous films, but here that becomes the primary focus, and because of this, the script is better written and paced.

The criminal aspects of the first two films had something of an odd fit within films that were essentially geared towards young children (as did the plethora of untranslated Greek in the second film), but in Oh Heavenly Dog, Camp aims for a combination of an older, tween and teen crowd as well as adults. This is made quickly apparent in another unusual feature--a strong sense of humor, Chevy Chase-style. There are implicit gay jokes and lots of sexual innuendo jokes here. There is also very natural sounding, light profanity. And less humorously, but also more adult, there is a bit more violence.

Even more left field for a Benji movie in 1980, Oh Heavenly Dog quickly heads for the fantasy genre, and through this, Benji becomes and remains something of a fantasy character. It's a move that's completely unexpected, plotwise, but it works remarkably well. Camp's purely fantasy settings and characters are very entertaining and even a bit charming.

Because of the plot and Chase, and maybe somewhat as an intentional move directorially, most of Oh Heavenly Dog plays like a typical Chase detective film, like Foul Play (1978), or like the Fletch films (1985 & 1989) that came later. I hadn't paid much attention to Chase for awhile--I was one of the people a bit turned off by his off-screen behavior, as evidenced in his interactions with the Howard Stern Show, for example--but Oh Heavenly Dog has reawakened my interest in him, because he's excellent here. It's reminded me of how great he was in so many other films, even including later ones like Man of the House (1995).

On a final note, what a coup Camp managed in getting the music he did for Oh Heavenly Dog. Paul McCartney's "Arrow Through Me", one of my favorite solo songs of his, fits the film perfectly. Euel Box even gives us orchestral variations on it throughout the film. Camp also managed to get a couple Elton John songs, and used Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition for an art gallery scene. The music helps support an already fantastic film.
August 17, 2006

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