C.H.O.M.P.S. aka CHOMPS (1979) from Code Red

[jkoffman]

Coming 2/22/22 from Code Red, distributed by Kino Lorber.

News: Code Red: 2K Restoration of C.H.O.M.P.S. Detailed for Blu-ray

Blu-ray Extras Include:

• Brand New 2K Master
• NEW Audio Commentary with Star Wesley Eure and Co-Writer Duane Poole, Moderated by Film Historian Nathaniel Thompson
• New Interview with Star Wesley Eure
• Theatrical Trailer
• Optional English Subtitles

Cast
Wesley Eure
Valerie Bertinelli
Conrad Bain
Chuck McCann
Red Buttons
Larry Bishop
Jim Backus
Hermoine Baddeley

Crew
Directed by Don Chaffey

The crime rate is going through the roof—and at Norton Securities, business is going to the dogs. Desperate to save her father’s company, Casey Norton (Valerie Bertinelli, TV’s One Day at a Time) and her fiancé, electronics genius Brian Foster (Wesley Eure, TV’s Land of the Lost), are about to unveil a secret weapon that’ll have burglars begging for mercy: C.H.O.M.P.S. (Canine Home Protection System), the world’s first computerized watchdog! Faster than a speeding pit bull and able to leap tall fire hydrants in a single bound, this powerful pooch is programmed to sink his teeth into crime. But when the company’s rivals hear about C.H.O.M.P.S., they hire a pair of prowlers to destroy him. Now Casey and Brian must catch the crooks and outsmart the competition, before Norton Securities winds up in the doghouse! Co-starring Conrad Bain (TV’s Diff’rent Strokes), Chuck McCann (Hamburger: The Motion Picture), Red Buttons (The Poseidon Adventure), Larry Bishop (The Devil’s 8) and Jim Backus (TV’s Gilligan’s Island), C.H.O.M.P.S. is the family farce that will “short circuit” its way into your heart! Directed by Don Chaffey (One Million Years B.C.).

[jkoffman]

CHOMPS is a total guilty pleasure for me. I grew up watching it many times at my friend's house, the only kid I knew with HBO. The first live-action movie I remember that had a talking dog who swears. Also Valerie Bertinelli's first movie. It's stupid low budget TV movie vibes with Home Alone robbers type action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcEV9VrSh3E

[Jawaburger]

I like this movie more than the Benji movies, super looking forward to picking this up.

[Keyser Soze.]

1 sale down, 299 to go!

[The Great Owl]

C.H.O.M.P.S. (Canine Home Protection System) looks just like an ordinary dog, but it is actually a robot with super strength, X-ray vision, and incredible crime-detection abilities. Its creator, Brian, a young software genius played by Wesley Eure, hopes that the invention will put him in the good graces with his home security company boss, played by Conrad Bain, and his boss's daughter, played by Valerie Bertinelli, but a group of bumbling criminals is out to steal the electronic watchdog during a company demonstration. Unfortunately for the bad guys, nothing in the world can stand up to a robot dog that can jump through brick walls.

Upon its release in 1979, my seven year-old self was obsessed with the television trailers for the Hanna-Barbera live-action sci-fi comedy film, C.H.O.M.P.S., directed by Don Chaffey. I even owned a novelization based on the movie. After the groundbreaking success of both Benji (1974) and Star Wars (1977), the obvious next logical step was to combine the story concepts. Much to my surprise at the time, C.H.O.M.P.S. did not exactly set box offices on fire, and it vanished from the face of the Earth as quickly as it arrived. Now that this film has been resurrected on Blu-ray, however, it will undoubtedly earn the prestige that it has always deserved as a forerunner in the robot watchdog genre.

The mixed breed dog who portrays C.H.O.M.P.S. handles the challenge with ease, convincing us that he really is a formidable robot with a computer canine nervous system. On the human front, Eure and Bertinelli are wonderfully likable leads.

In order to lure mainstream audiences into the fold by way of a PG rating, the filmmakers inserted a curse word that is uttered in voiceover by a dog who lives across the street from the titular robot and its inventor. After seeing the movie, my younger self was convinced that real dogs curse frequently. I still believe that.


This Code Red Blu-ray looks great.