Willard (1971)

Nervous young lad, living in a dilapidated Los Angeles manor with his nagging mother, befriends the rat population in his backyard, which comes in handy when he needs help committing a robbery or scaring off his enemies. Daniel Mann, the director of "The Rose Tattoo" and "I'll Cry Tomorrow," couldn't have been very happy about directing this venture, yet the low-budget picture grossed over $19 million at the box-office (a huge haul in 1971). It's an unpretentious exercise, and Mann does attempt to bring out the character drama within Gilbert Ralston's screenplay--and nearly succeeds. Bruce Davison works hard at creating an original, eccentric anti-hero, and the tone of the film is surprisingly jaunty, not excessively ugly or downbeat. Mann sets a brisk pace but, despite all efforts, this is still a picture designed mainly to give a squeamish audience a few visual jabs, and there isn't much to contemplate at the finale. ** from ****

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.

Willard was a good movie & Ernest Borgnine earned his pay. When they lose his character by rats. A stunt double didn't want to be covered with rats & Ernest Borgnine did the stunt work his character was written off. In "Convoy" as Sheriff Lyle Wallace aka Dirty Lyle one thing Dirty Lyle don't want is face a black girl named Denise Willard & her "Rat Pack" and this ghetto princess would be a "Dr. Ashida" to rats showed Dirty Lyle giant rats. Ernie Borgnine was a great performer as they say, "Old Movies Stars may die, but they never fade away!" Dirty Lyle, beware of the inner-city girl & her giant rats. And having my mind like "Dr. Ashida" from a Jonny Quest episode.

Daniel Mann directed this surprise box office hit that stars Bruce Davison as Willard Stiles, a much put-upon young man who lives at home with his infirm mother(played by horror icon Elsa Lanchester), while at work in a company his late father started, he is being forced out by his loathsome boss(played by Ernest Borgnine) There is a pretty lady at work(played by Sondra Locke) who is nice, but Willard doesn't know what to say to her. His only real friend is his pet rat Ben, along with Socrates, and a growing army of rats caused by both his feeding them, and Ben's intelligence. When his mean boss kills Socrates, this sends him over the edge on a murderous campaign of vengeance that will be his undoing... Good acting and premise almost undermined by slightly indifferent direction, though this is otherwise a memorable, entertaining thriller that led to sequel "Ben".