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1985’s Fletch was directed by Michael Ritchie and written by Andrew Bergman. The film is an adaptation of the popular novels written by Gregory McDonald and brings a more comedic and dry approach to its titular character, Fletch, played by Chevy Chase. Fletch is an investigative journalist working the undercover beat as a homeless beach junkie as he tries to uncover the truth behind a kingpin-level drug ring that is looming over greater L.A. While undercover, Fletch is propositioned by a rich man called Alan Stanwick who claims to be dying of bone cancer to kill the man in his upper-class home so that his family can reap the benefits of his life insurance. In exchange, Fletch will receive $50,000 cash and a ticket out of the country.

When this movie was made, Chevy Chase was arguably at the height of his career. While he’d opened the decade with a few horrible flops,...

Joe Camp, who wrote, produced and directed a series of films and TV shows that elevated a pooch stage-named Benji to Hollywood’s canine pantheon alongside Lassie and Rin Tin Tin, died today at his Tennessee home. He was 84.

His death was announced by his son, the director Brandon Camp, who told Deadline that his father died after a prolonged illness at his home in Bell Buckle, Tennessee, surrounded by family.

In addition to the long-lasting Benji franchise that began in 1974 and would continue well into the 21st Century, Camp co-wrote and directed Hawmps!, the 1976 Western comedy that replaced horses with camels, and 1979’s The Double McGuffin, a mystery film starring Ernest Borgnine and George Kennedy.

While he also wrote a series of books about horses, including the popular The Soul of a Horse and Why Horses Are Barefoot, Camp’s most enduring contribution to Hollywood was and remains the...

There was a time when Benji was the most beloved dog in America, and possibly the whole world. He was a scrappy, whip-smart little canine, and he had a tendency to find himself in one death-defying situation after another. He foiled kidnappers, international spies, murderers, poachers, and, he made first contact with extraterrestrials.

Benji isn’t just cute, he’s a badass, and Netflix even rebooted the franchise in 2018 after a decade-plus absence. Here are all of the “Benji” films in reverse order of quality, from completely unwatchable to totally paw-some.

6. “Oh Heavenly Dog” (1980)

Chevy Chase is a private detective who gets killed, but he comes back to solve his own murder in the body of Benji, a dog who was just about to die in a car accident anyway. If this sounds like a fun idea for a movie, get your ears checked. Chevy Chase phones in a bored and boring performance,...

I don't know what to say about this. It's like Liar, Liar for crazy cat ladies. That is not something that happens often, but then I am confronted with what can only be described as Barry Sonnenfeld directing "this generation's Oh Heavenly Dog," and I find myself… stumped. It looks like an entire film designed to be broken into gif form. Whatever Venn diagram there is of people who love Kevin Spacey when he's being a contemptuous prick and people who love cute kitties, the people who exist in that intersection are probably dancing in the streets right about now. For the rest of us, I'm going to guess "creeping horror" is more accurate. If he plays it as his character from Swimming With Sharks, this will be the greatest film ever made. It's not too late for more Adr, folks. And if he does battle with the kitten from Keanu,...

Criteria for a Worst Movies of the Year list must be stricter than for a Best. To earn one of these unhallowed spots, a film should not merely be poorly made (some of the worst movies of all time are quite well made), it should be obnoxious on all sorts of levels. It should be worse than the sum of its parts. Many philosophical issues are thereby raised. Should one show mercy to filmmakers who take huge artistic risks and fail proportionately? Consider Michael Cimino’s 1980 film Heaven’s Gate. I think it’s stupefyingly terrible — and its consequent box-office failure was so immense that it helped to bring down a great studio, United Artists. But given its level of ambition, should a critic working back then have deemed it the worst film of 1980 against, say, Saturn 3, Oh Heavenly Dog, Can’t Stop the Music, or The Gong Show Movie?...

You better watch out You better not cry You better have clout I'm telling you why Two Thumbs Down are comin' to town He's making a list,

Checking it twice;

Gonna find out whose

movie was scheiss.

Sandy Claws is comin' to town.

He sees you when you're (bleeping),

He knows when you're a fake

He knows if you've been bad or good

So be good for cinema's sake!

With little but scorn

and pounding of drums,

Rooty toot hoots

and rummy tum thumbs

Sandy Jaws is comin' to town

As I dream back over many happy years of movie going, some of my favorite lines from old reviews dance in my head like visions of sugarplums. Good movies, bad movies, doesn't matter, just so the line dances. I thought I'd share them in the holiday spirit. Curiously, most of the lines come from movies so bad I didn't want a refund,...