Willard e i topi

Bruce Davison plays Willard, a repressed 29 year old with no social life outside of his mother (Elsa Lanchester) and her loudmouthed friends who constantly nitpick everything about him and tell him why he's never amounted to anything. Even worse, his boss (Ernest Borgnine at his nastiest) stole the company from Willard's deceased father and seems intent on running it into the ground and never giving Willard a chance to take over. Everything changes when he befriends a few rats he finds in his home and he realizes that he has the power to force them to do his bidding. It looks like everyone who ever doubted or wished ill will of Willard is about to get what's coming to them.

More psychological character study than outright horror film, Willard is blessed with a strong script with great characters and wonderful performances all around. If you're here for big shocks, jump scares, or buckets of blood, I'd suggest looking elsewhere, because this movie barely even earns its PG rating. What keeps it interesting are the characters and their human drama. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, then I highly recommend this movie.

A mousy, introverted young man befriends and teaches rats basic commands. Soon his home and life are preoccupied with this rodent infestation, coming particularly close to two rats, Ben and Socrates. Willard is played with great skill by Bruce Davison, communicating to the audience his despondency with family life as well as with his job. He has a love-hate relationship with his dotty, doting mother, played with the usual charm only Elsa Lanchester can exude. His relationship with his mother's friends is distant, and with his employer Martin, disastrous. Martin is played with relish by Ernest Borgnine, making the audience feel little sympathy for his fate. Naturally, Willard trains the rats to do "bad" things and this leads to a battle of wills between Willard and the main rat Ben(the lead character in the film's sequel BEN). Overall, the film is rather slowly paced, but well-acted and rewarding in the end.

A truly memorable 1971 thriller that has became a bit of an underground classic.

Handsom, shy Willard Stiles doesn't have an ideal life. He lives with his domineering widowed mother, is bullied by his boss, and doesn't have any friends. That is, until he befriends the rats in his garden and learns that he can make them do his bidding!

Highlighted by a touching and sympathetic performance from Davison, Willard is a different kind of "nature-strikes-back" film. It's a rare occasion where the human characters, rather than the animals, drive the film to its intense climax. There's plenty of twists and turns to be had, as well as a few moments of skin-crawl, especially for those who aren't fond of rodents! The movie also has a bit of a darkly humorous side to it. It's a bit of a rare movie to find these days, but seek it out and hope for a much-needed DVD release of this B movie classic.

Followed by a rather dark remake in 2003

*** 1/2 out of ****

A little flick that blends elements of psycho-drama and animals-run-amuck, along with a hint of old-dark-house. Willard is a socially-maladjusted young man who lives in a gloomy, Victorian house with his co-dependant mother. Their relationship constitutes the weird part of the movie, nudge, nudge. Willard is tolerantly allowed employment at his late father's business, presided over by passive-agressive Ernest Borgnine. With no social life and no friends, Willard resorts to training rats with above-average intelligence. Of course, things take a dark turn when Willard's mother dies and Borgnine's bully tendencies come to the fore, prompting the put-upon Willard to use his rodent buddies to even the score. Also on hand is Sondra Locke as caring co-worker who tries to enter into Willard's world and may be his means of salvation. You find yourself rooting for her to win out. Spawned a more (in)famous sequel, BEN, remembered primarily for it's theme song, which provided Michael Jackson with one of his first solo hits. Very appropriate, in hindsight.

Bruce Davison memorably portrays the title character in this entertaining animal-themed thriller that was a big hit back in its day. Willard Stiles is a wimpy, awkward doormat of a man, regularly chewed out by his demanding boss Martin (Ernest Borgnine) and harangued by his clingy, equally demanding mother Henrietta (Elsa Lanchester). He has zero friends in the world, until he decides to take pity on the scores of rats infesting his property. He even gives the two most dominant characters names: "Socrates" is a gentle white rat, "Ben" a more aggressive brown rat. Willard soon becomes able to get the rats to do his bidding, which comes in handy in such matters as revenge.

It's not hard to see why "Willard" would have connected with audiences back in 1971. The relationship between the boy and his rodents is admittedly touching, and the head rats Socrates and Ben are very well trained (as well as rats can be trained). Now, granted, you don't always sympathize with Willard. Sometimes he comes off as a real jerk. But you feel bad for him often enough to enjoy his revenge. For example, getting the rats to ruin a backyard dinner party held by Martin. You also hope that his budding relationship with a lovely temp employee (the appealing Sondra Locke) will better his situation, or at least brighten him up a bit. For this viewer, it didn't matter so much that the film "lacked style"; it was still a reasonably entertaining story (based on the book "The Ratman's Notebooks" by Stephen Gilbert) told in capable enough fashion by screenwriter Gilbert Ralston and director Daniel Mann. The music score by Alex North is simply wonderful.

Borgnine provides excellent support, obviously having fun with playing a mean, conniving boss who seems to take a perverse pleasure in humiliating Willard in front of others. Lanchester is just right during the amount of screen time that she gets. Michael Dante, Jody Gilbert, John Myhers, J. Pat O'Malley, and others comprise a fine supporting cast.

The clear lesson to be learned from this one is simply this: if you have very few friends in this world, do NOT turn your back on them, no matter how small they may be.

Followed by a sequel, "Ben", just one year later, and a second adaptation of the book in 2003 (with Crispin Glover as Willard, R. Lee Ermey as Martin, and Jackie Burroughs as Henrietta).

Seven out of 10.