Platicsco
Good story, Not enough for a whole film
Stoutor
It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Darth-Helmet
Willard Stiles (Bruce Davison) is a social misfit with a lousy job ran by a boss named Al Martin (Ernest Borgnine) and a dominating mother named Henrietta (Elsa Lancaster). He makes friends down in the basement with rats even a big one which he names as Ben, he not only can communicate with the rats but they can follow his command even to kill people.Co-starring Sandra Locke, this 1971 horror thriller is one of the better killer animal movies. This movie kicked off Bruce's career and this movie was shot on a small budget by Cinerama releasing and became a surprise box-office hit in the summer of 1971. After this movie's success Borgine was offered higher salary since then, the film spawned a sequel and a remake in 2003. Based on an obscure novel called "The Ratman's notebooks", this is a chilling and very enjoyable killer rat take on Psycho and quite similar in aspects to Hitchcock's masterpiece. This movie with Jaws's success lead to killer animal films that dominated the 70s and early 80s and made people fear rats. I like Davison's performance as the social misfit turned villain and Willard is a sympathetic character you feel bad for and feel like booing at his boss Al Martin whom was superbly performed by Ernest Borgnine and the mother was nicely performed by the Bride of Frankenstein herself.
Theo Robertson
This is a film whose sequel is better known . BEN is remembered by people of a certain age after being broadcast one night and everyone discussing it in class . Rats were a mainstay of horror helped no doubt by the notorious British horror writer James Herbert whose novels were a massive favourite of British schoolboys in the 1980s . WILLARD is a film I had no knowledge and as far as I know had never been shown on British network television or if it had no one I knew had ever seen it and I only knew of its existence by looking up BEN on IMDb to find that fondly remembered film was a sequel to this one . I also managed to confuse the name Bruce Davison with Bruce Dern and had visions of a bitter and twisted misanthrope plotting cruel revenge against a world who has rejected him . This as it transpires in not how WILLARD pans out There's a strange tone to this film . While up and coming film makers like George A Romero and Wes Craven were pushing the boat out as to what they could get away with WILLARD looks and feels exactly like a film that treats the Hats code as the word of God which was no longer in effect during its production . In fact much of it feels like it might be a romantic comedy or a Walt Disney film as a socially inept put upon young man trying to find some sort of target in life as destiny conspires against him Davison occasionally over plays the eponymous title character , but you do feel genuine pity for him as he returns home from work on his 27th birthday and the guests of the party are all friends of his infirm mother . He has no social life and his life revolves around work where he is bullied by his heartless boss played expertly by Ernest Borgnine . As some people have picked up on - it's too obvious not to notice to be honest - WILLARD spends most of its running time as a character driven drama with an element of black comedy and even when it does throw its hand in and becomes an out and out horror revenge drama it's quite bloodless . Some people might think this a completely bland film for that very reason but it makes a nice change even in a film from 40 years ago where character is to the fore instead of gore
wayno-6
MAY CONTAIN SPOILERSAh rats! No wait. That is the whole plot in 2 words.From "Marty" to Martin. My how Ernest Borgnine, fell from grace.How many of you knew, that Willard is the first name of Republican Presidential nominee, Willard Mitt Romney? Okay whoever named this kid is thankfully out of the gene pool. Who the hell names their kid after a baseball glove? What's next? A boy named shuffleboard?Okay anyway - the famous tag-line: "Where dreams end...Willard begins." That may apply to our poor baseball glove. No I could not begin to tell you how devastatingly challenged the contact lens acting, plot, dialogue, and scenery are. Nor could I tell you how dreadful the music is. While this is NOT as bad as Manos: The Hands of Fate, I am not too sure I'd ever watch this quality challenged cinematic blunder again. It is NOT even good fodder for Mystery Science Theatre.I think Alan Alda's quote: "There certainly is NO lack of slowness" sums it perfectly.
asgbeat
I wildly concur with Lambiepie-2 - my L.A. horror-home-girl for life - that the command "Tear 'em up" immediately sailed into the lexicon of my favorite film lines after seeing "Willard." This flick is one of several from the early '70s that I defiantly cling to for all the thrills and laughs it gave me as a kid. I even shed a tear at the grisly demise of Socrates. I didn't see "Willard" in its original 1971 release. I was only 6 then. I caught it a few years later as part of some GP-rated double feature. Watching "Willard" decades later on a prized $35 LASER DISC, I cringed at its hokey made-for-TV pacing. However, I became a Bruce Davison fan for life because of "Willard," faithfully following him through a maze of impressively eclectic performances - from "Short Eyes" to "Longtime Companion." His gifts were so wasted in "X-Men." I, too, remember Mr. Davison paying moon-tanned "Elvira" a visit on her horror-snicker-flickers show one Saturday night to reminisce about sharing screen time with vermin - that would be the rats AND Ernest Borgnine. In all fairness, mad props are due to ol' Ernie for inhabiting the asshole you love to hate as Stanley Willard's lecherous and conniving boss.Much as I loved Crispin Glover in "River's Edge" (a haunting and disturbing film about teens finding a dead girl in the woods which also starred the luscious Ione Skye and a demented Dennis Hopper as a character named "Feck"), I could tell from the tone of the "Willard" remake's trailer alone that I would have zip-zero interest in sitting through it. I imagine Crispin was over-the-top and that the CGI-enhanced flesh eating rodents chewed up more than their fair share of the scenery AND the extras. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for splatter, menace and entrails ("The Toolbox Murders," "Don't Answer the Phone" or "The Last House on The Left," anyone), but there was a creepy, era-specific charm to the original "Willard." Bruce Davison left an indelible and unshakable impression in this - a remarkable role for his first as the title lead.Now, where can I find a copy of "The Ratman's Notebooks" to keep me up at night in the new year?!
