Hawmps!

FOLLOWING THE UNEXPECTED success of his BENJI (Mulberry Square, 1974), Writer/Director/Producer Joe Camp came up with another brainstorm. Why not take a true, albeit little known story about the U.S. Cavalry and turn into a true "G" rated, family picture? THE STORY TO which refer concerned an experiment that the U.S. Army tried with the use of camels as transportation of troops. This occurred circa 1850 in the Southwest (Arizona or New Mexico*). We hear that the tryouts for "the Ship of the Desert" failed; but we can't fault Uncle Sam for trying.

WHEREAS CAMELS DIDN'T pass muster, their legacy has proved to be the perfect sort of fodder for Hollywood Producers; who are looking for something to put o the screen. After all, we've all seen Westerns featuring bank hold-ups, train robberies, cattle rusting, range wars, battles with hostile Indian tribes and so on.

BUT WE DON'T know of any one of these Horse Operas that featured camel bronk-riders, camel rodeos, camel stage coaches or camel stampedes. (Catch on?)

ALTHOUGH THE STORY is historical in origin and is proof of the old adage that: "Truth is stranger than fiction!"; the production team* decided to give it decidedly comic tone.

IT REALLY DIFDN'T take much to move it into the camp of Family Comedy, or really Farce; as the opening premise seemed to be so incredible. All that had to be done was to assemble a cast, dress 'em up Cavalry style and go out to the Mojave and film it.

ANDSWERING THE CALL to "humps" were a talented cast of mostly supporting people. James Hampton, a mostly TV actor (Hannibal Dobbs on F TROOP) headed up the list**. Following up Mr. Hampton's lead were: Christopher Connelly, Slim Pickens (from DR. STRANGELOVE), Denver Pyle (BONNIE & CLYDE), Gino Conforti, Mimi Maynard, and durable, versatile Herb Vigran. Even the trainer of "Benji" and the other four legged actors, Frank Inn, stepped before the cameras as Cavalry Camp Cook.

THE STORY ON screen, such s it was, gave plenty of opportunities for hamming, obvious humor and family friendly goings on. The writers' embellishment on what is so little known about the real occurrences of the 1850's incident gave them plenty of leeway to steer the movie in any direction that they wanted. That led us to Matinees, Family Fare and of course a "G" Rating.

HORRORS! TODAY THAT would be considered a Kiss of Death!

NOTE * We cannot lose out without mentioning how kind Writer/Producer/Director, Mr. Joe Camp, was to us so may years ago. After we had seen it with our older girl, Jennifer age 3, we dropped him a note of appreciation. He replied with a letter on official MULBERRY SQUARE PRODUCTIONS Letterhead and enclosed a BENJI Movie Poster for little Jen. Whenever a now production was coming out, he'd send her another poster; as he did for HAWMPS!

NOTE ** In all fairness, we aren't trying to relegate any of these fine thespians to a lower status. Remember, "There are no small parts, only small people!" In the case of Mr. Hampton, we remember him best for is role as prison inmate, "the Caretaker" in Burt Reynolds' starring vehicle, THE LONGEST YARD (Paramount, 1975).

I remember virtually nothing about this movie that I saw as a child in 76 or 77. But I thought I would share one of my funniest childhood memories that is associated with the film. I was living in Florida and my mother went up north to visit relatives for a week. My father undoubtedly thought that this would make a perfect time for some male bonding and decided to take me to a movie. I chose Hawmps and we came to a theatre that was packed ( I guess it had a solid opening weekend). We had arrived late (my father was perpetaully behind in time) and the movie was already playing. We walked down the rows and most were full, occasionally a row had a just one seat open, but never two. Finally my dad (who wore thick glasses and never could see too well in the dark) said "there's two seats", and pointed to the end of a row. As I made my way down I noticed that only one seat was vacant. I turned to my dad to try to explain but he said "keep going", so as a child I just figured my dad must know what he was doing, so I found a seat and sat down, noticing that beside me was a small boy, about 3 years old. Much to my shock my father proceeded to sit right on the kid! He let out a shreik that was audible throughout the theater and his father jumped up even faster than my embarassed dad did and asked him what he thought he was doing. My father quickly told me to remain in my seat and he'd meet me outside of the theater after the show. I laughed throughout the movie, but not at any of the gags--at the thought of my father nearly skwishing the kid next to me.

Hawmps is one of those films that exploits a little known morsel of history, and capitalizes on it a great deal.

Although designed as a "family" film the humor doesn't placate to children exclusively. It is a genuinely funny film, although the laughs are somewhat subtle (sometimes scaled down) in some of the gags. There aren't many large laughs in the movie (though there are a few), but there are a great deal of chuckles and smiles.

Anyone who lived through the 70's will recognize many a face in this film, giving the movie a bit of a TV movie feel. The film is scheduled to be on DVD in the fall of 2002 (Now, in fact), but has not been released as of this date.

April 28th, 2005 update; DVD Review

Well, I finally got a copy of the DVD from Goodtimes Entertainment, and I have to say that next to Platinum DVD's titles this is one of the worst DVD transfers I've ever seen.

Some history, in the early 90's I managed to find a copy of "Hawmps?" published by "Best Film & Video Corp." who put out a cheap EP VHS version that was barely watchable. I wrote a letter to Joe Camp Films to express my displeasure. The next thing I know Joe Camp is in litigation with the company that was marketing his films on VHS, and, some how, managed to get the rights back.

Fast forward again and I come across Joe Camp's "Benji" website. I call up their company, speak with one of his personal assistants, and am told that "Hawmps!" will be reissued on DVD, and that "they" (presumably the company and owners of the property) were, and I quote, "We're going back to the original negative..." Meaning a fresh, crystal clear, and remastered print of the film would be forever preserved via optical media.

Well, today I got a copy, and looking at the fuzzy picture, a large number of dirty frames (including some with editing marks on them), I can only assumed I was lied to, or, in some way, was misguided or otherwise misled. If not by Joe Camp films, then by proxy of Goodtimes DVD.

And it's a real shame too, because the film deserves better treatment. It's not the best film ever made, it's not the funniest, but it's got a certain charm and appeal that should've been better preserved. Years back, when Home Box Office aired this film, it was given a fresh color corrected print which they themselves processed before airing. It was a high quality, crystal-clear, print with sound to match. I only wish I had had sense enough to tape it when it aired all those years ago.

I'm not really sure who to blame for this fiasco, but I can no longer give my personal thumb of approval to this film, or its owners, until a better version (as was promised) hits the market.

In the meantime avoid this thing. Bad sound, bad visuals... I'll bet I could buy a bootleg off the street that's better than this crud.

One of the funniest scenes is Bad Jack Cutter (Jack Elam) submitting his resume to Sergeant Tibbs. The premise of the movie is hilarious, and it's just very well done. it ain't Shakespeare, but it ain't supposed to be. Maybe I can relate to the movie because Lt. Clemmons' story is the story of my own life.

I first saw this movie with my Mom and Dad and half the fun was watching them laugh at the movie. I would like to watch it again with my kids. Yes, the plot is silly, and the gags are somewhat slapstick, but it is just a fun movie to see on "family movie night". Don't worry about sex, violence, or language. Get the popcorn, kick back, and enjoy.