Willard

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.

Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is an introvert. His mother is bedridden. Her friends throw him a surprise birthday party and berate him for losing his father's business to Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine) who hired Joan (Sondra Locke) to take over his work. He has no friends but finds friendship with the rats in the backyard. Soon, his friends are multitudes willing to do his bidding.

The idea is there but this is shot in a flat, uninspired manner. The actors are either first rate or on their way. Borgnine is gloriously evil. Davison is a little green around the edges. This should be a lot more compelling. There should be more tension. It's got some creepiness but I would like more.

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.

My mom remembers seeing "Willard" when it first came out, and so she encouraged me to see it. It tells the story of Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison), an outcast who still lives with his mother Henrietta (Elsa Lanchester). But Willard discovers that their house has some other inhabitants: rats. He quickly befriends the critters, and then turns them into a sort of army who will obey all his commands. To add to this situation, Willard and his mother believed that his father died naturally, but it begins to look like Willard's boss Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine) may have been involved.

The old, dark house, and the young man living with his mother might bring to mind "Psycho", but "Willard" seems to me to be more of a story of an outcast taking revenge on the world that rejected him.

Made the mistake of reading the book before seeing the movie; the movie, as a consequence, couldn't possibly live up to my expectations. Nor did it. But that's not a put-down. While there were some things that irked me (the mother rat's humble "thanks" at one point, the rubber rats all too much in evidence at the birthday party, etc.), Bruce Davidson and Ernest Borgnine deliver solid performances that help keep one focused on the twisted relationships that are the core of this film. (Elsa Lanchester as Willard's mewling mother also deserves mention.) I don't know how this one would hold up today, but, back in 1971, it was a must-see.