Willard

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.

This movie scared the pants off me as a kid - literally! Now I like rat movies as much as the next guy, but this one was CREEEEEPY! I suppose it was Ernest Borgnine's performance as Mr. Martin, Willard's boss, that made the whole movie so disturbing. It's so creepy because it's true! I once had a boss who reminded me of Ernest Borgnine, but fortunately I never tried to bring my pet rat to work with me!

Anyway, here's my advice - if you like rat movies, or movies with Ernest Borgnine, then see "Willard" tonight. If you DON'T like Ernest Borgnine and you DON'T like rat movies, then maybe "Willard" is not for you. I don't want to give any more of the plot away, but IF you do decide to watch "Willard", make sure you don't see it alone!

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.

The progenitor of the 'when-good-animals-go-bad' trend in '70s schlock films, "Willard" brings us the story of a boy and his rat, or eventually his rats, given the fecundity of rodents. The movie has the look of '70s TV and in places could be an extended episode of "The Night Stalker" or "Night Gallery" (especially the close-ups of busybody neighbour Charlotte (Jody Gilbert)). Bruce Davidson is quite good in the titular role, playing Willard as a normal looking nebbish, which makes his ascent to ratte-führer even more incongruous. His mother is played by the great Elsa Lanchester (one of the few actresses who could out-ham husband Charles Laughton) and Ernest Borgnine rounds out the main cast as Willard's lascivious dirt-bag of a boss. The story, script and direction are pretty simple, although there are some good jump-cuts to show people can be rats too (the best is the cut from the humans stuffing their faces at a particularly unappetizing buffet to the rats stuffing their snouts in Willard's basement). The rat wranglers earned their pay, as some scenes include hundreds of the rodents and Davidson seems completely at ease with the animals, which contributes to the film's verisimilitude. More fun than scary (unless you are musophobic) and not particularly gruesome, the movie appeals more to boomer nostalgia than to cinematic connoisseurship. Followed by a sequel "Ben", which contains the prettiest ode to a rat ever put on film.

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.