hyped garbage

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie may have done the impossible---actually making rats, of all things, seem sympathetic. At least it did for me. Add a plot that features a double twist on a premise of righteous revenge and you've got a cult film. Poor Willard (Davison), his skinny frame perfectly reflects the lack of respect he gets from family, employer, and himself. Worse, as the only son of a wealthy manufacturer he should be getting maximo respect. But mom's kept him on a suffocating leash, isolating him from younger folks his own age. (That birthday party amounts to a poignant hoot and an illustration of Willard's plight.) At the same time, office shark Martin (Borgnine) has taken over the business relegating Willard to a menial slot. No wonder Willard looks for a substitute family and circle of friends. And the movie being a feat of offbeat imagination, he finds them in the world of rodents, namely Ben and Socrates as leaders of the pack. Now poor Willard's finally happy if only he can keep his big house where he and the pack live in symbiotic harmony.Davison delivers a cracker-jack performance as the needy Willard, while Borgnine seems made for the bullying boss role. Too bad we don't see more of Sondra Locke who appears Davison's skinny blonde double-a perfect matchup. Plus, I nominate Ben and Socrates for four-footed Oscars though they have no lines, not even a woof, woof. But oh my goodness, I almost didn't recognize Elsa Lanchester without that leaning tower of wavy hair and gray racing streak-- but where's hubby Frankenstein. What a great eccentric actress she was.All in all, the flick's surprisingly well done for a horror thriller. No corner cutting that I could spot. And if you think about how the rodents, on one hand, behave, and how people behave, on the other, there may well be an unsettling message lurking inside.

Meek and browbeaten social misfit Willard Stiles (a fine and sympathetic performance by Bruce Davison) befriends a bunch of rats who are living on the grounds of his rundown house. Willard discovers that he can communicate with said rats and ultimately decides to use them as a means of getting back at his sadistic boss Al Martin (robustly played with lip-smacking nasty aplomb by Ernest Borgnine).Director Daniel Mann, working from a compact and compelling script by Gilbert Ralston, not only relates the absorbing premise at a steady pace, but also firmly grounds the premise in a plausibly drab and grim workaday reality. Moreover, the rats are exceptionally well trained and convincing; the scenes with Willard bonding with his rodent buddies give this picture some real heart and warmth. Moreover, it's more of a low-key character study of a sad passive oddball than an all-out horror movie, with the bulk of the creepy stuff occurring in the last third (Martin's brutal comeuppance in particular is especially satisfying to behold). Sondra Locke makes an appealing and favorable impression as sweet temp Joan, Elsa Lanchester likewise excels as Willard's loopy and overbearing mother Henrietta, and Jody Gilbert contributes an amusing portrayal of annoying nosy neighbor Charlotte Stassen. Both Alex North's lush orchestral score and Robert B. Hauser's sunny cinematography are up to speed. A solid little film.

Willard (1971) *** (out of 4) Effective film about Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison), a rather awkward man who is pretty much pushed around by everyone who knows him. His entire life is devoted to his mother (Elsa Lanchester) but after she dies he sinks further into a strange mental state where he only friends are rats. Soon his boss (Ernest Borgnine) tries coming after the home he's lived in all his life and Willard decides enough is enough.WILLARD is a film that I watched when I was around ten or so and I really didn't care too much for it. Revisiting it over twenty-five years later it's easy to see why I didn't like it. As a kid I loved gory and over-the-top horror movies and that's certainly not what WILLARD is. No, this here is really a bizarre character study but one that manages to be highly entertaining because of four great performances in the film as well as a good story and a great character.There's a lot to really enjoy here but what impressed me most is the fact that for a "horror" film there really aren't any horrific moments until the finale. You certainly couldn't make a horror picture like this today but at the time WILLARD was released it became a huge hit. I really loved the low-key style of the picture and the fact that it spends the majority of its running time building up the lead character. Even though the viewer can tell that there's something wrong with Willard, we still feel sorry for him and want to see him win over his enemies.The screenplay gives us time to get to know and like the character but we're also treated to some great performances led by Davison. He really is wonderful here as he has a lot of details to the character and he pulls them off. Whether it's the nerd side of the character or the more broken down mental side, he nails everything perfectly. Sondra Locke is also extremely good in her supporting role as the love interest. Lanchester is always wonderful no matter what she does and that's true here as well. Then there's Borgnine who is terrific as the villain. He was a terrific character actor and he brings so much evilness to this character without making him campy or over-the-top. He's just the typical jerk that most of us know.WILLARD was eventually remade but it came nowhere near the level of quality as this original. The film manages to have an effective atmosphere throughout and there's just so much right with the picture that you can overlook what flaws are here.

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.